82 replies to this topic

[djinkc]

A little late but glad you found the place! Any idea where you'll be after this tour?Good advice so far too.

[SchwanzBrewer]

BTW: you mentioned you wanted to brew a stout?Keep this one in mind. It was my first stout and I did it as an extract. It is delicious!Simple Stout:1lb Roast Barley6oz Flaked Barley4.5lb Light DME15 AAUs East Kent Goldings @ 60 (I think I used US Goldings because thats what I could get.)1056/WLP001/US-05 (I used 1056)I know people will say that the flaked barley needs to be mashed in a partial mash... it doesn't. There's so little of it that it hardly matters. Mine turned out like an uber guiness, really tasty, great mouthfeel, Beautiful beer. You can hardly go wrong with it because its so simple.DO NOT BE AFRAID OF STEEPING. It is incredibly easy. I steeped on my first batch ever, it was MLPA. All you are doing is making beer tea. Bring the water to 150 and put your grains in a steeping bag, drop it in for 30 minutes and your golden.One other tip that I haven't heard anyone mention is, make a starter. Your beer will come out better if it has plenty of yeast to ferment with. My first beer was a bit under fermented because I used 1 smack pack.Simple way to make a starter is (someone will have to give the credit I cant remember if this is Denny's, Palmers, or someone elses) 24 hours before you want to pitch yeast into your wort from your brew-Get a smack pack (I like them best) follow the directions on the pack and break the nutrient pack and smack everything around really good until it is mixed really well ( do not open the smack pack)Wait about a half day for it to swell up.Boil 2 cups of water in a medium pot (2 quart is fine).Add 1 cup of DME and stir it in really well to the boiling water. Let it come back up to a boil for 10 minutes.Take some aluminum foil and cover the pot, put a towel down in the fridge and set it in there for about an hour so it cools off.Clean out a 2 liter soda bottle and sanitize it.Pour the yeast from the smack pack (everything except the nutrient pouch) into the sanitized 2 liter soda bottle.If you have a funnel I would use it (just remember to sanitize it).Pour the cooled wort from the pot into the 2 liter bottle with the yeast.Cover the bottle top with a bit of tin foil and shake it up.Wrap the tinfoil over the top, but not too tight so CO2 can escape.Put the bottle in a dark spot, in a cupboard, just out of the light, but not a cold spot around 65-75 degrees is ok.When you are done brewing and have cooled your five gallons of wort on brew day and are ready to pitch the yeast slurry, just get out your bottle, sanitize the top, and dump the contents into your fermentor. I suggest racking your wort yeast slurry so you don't have to aerate. Basically you are making a 1.040 gravity day old mini beer to jump start the yeast so it multiplies the yeast numbers by 1000 or something like that. So instead of pitching with 1,000,000 cells that come in the pack, you are pitching with a billion. You would think that it wouldn't matter that much, but I guess the yeast do more converting of the sugars rather than using them as energy to multiply, but I am guessing someone has a better explanation. All I know is your beer will be twice as good if you make a starter.Cheers,Rich

Edited by rcemech, 25 May 2010 - 06:29 PM.

[BrewerGeorge]

While a starter is always a good idea with liquid yeast, it is not necessary with dried yeast. That is why I always recommend a dry yeast for the first batch.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

While a starter is always a good idea with liquid yeast, it is not necessary with dried yeast. That is why I always recommend a dry yeast for the first batch.

+1S-04 is probably my favorite overall. US-05 isn't bad but I don't have much experience so I can't say for sure. Nottingham I generally like for stouts.

[EWW]

if you have the ability to do so you may want to check out some of the podcasts on The Brewing Network if you haven't already. The Session is full of asshattery and some good info (in that order on most days), but The Jamil Show, and BrewStrong have a ton of great content. The BrewStong on cleaning, sanitation, temp control, and yeast starters are worth listening to. The Jamil Show (the original and can you brew it) have a ton of great recipes (extract and all-grain) and a good overview of techniques.

[SchwanzBrewer]

While a starter is always a good idea with liquid yeast, it is not necessary with dried yeast. That is why I always recommend a dry yeast for the first batch.

I did dry yeast once. Didn't get nearly as good of a fermentation and it took forever to start. I was disappointed (I used US-05).Cheers,Rich

[SnailPowered]

Where do you guys recommend getting ingredient kits from? Or should I use a recipe and get the ingredients separately? I looked at Midwest Supplies and the the kits that I bring up seem to never have the yeasts that everyone recommends. What is the difference between a propagator and an activator? I have done some stuff with Bondo and fiberglass so activator makes it sound like I need both lol. I guess for now it doesn't matter a ton because I am not actually going to be brewing for a few months, but it is definitely aggravating to be lost when I am trying to learn everything I can.

[BrewerGeorge]

Where do you guys recommend getting ingredient kits from? Or should I use a recipe and get the ingredients separately? I looked at Midwest Supplies and the the kits that I bring up seem to never have the yeasts that everyone recommends. What is the difference between a propagator and an activator? I have done some stuff with Bondo and fiberglass so activator makes it sound like I need both lol. I guess for now it doesn't matter a ton because I am not actually going to be brewing for a few months, but it is definitely aggravating to be lost when I am trying to learn everything I can.

I've never ordered from Midwest myself, but I suspect they will have a dry yeast option for each of their kits. I know Northern Brewer, and More Beer both do. (Or at least they did; I haven't ordered a kit in a few years.) You may have to call them to get the dry option rather than ordering online.

[SchwanzBrewer]

Where do you guys recommend getting ingredient kits from? Or should I use a recipe and get the ingredients separately? I looked at Midwest Supplies and the the kits that I bring up seem to never have the yeasts that everyone recommends. What is the difference between a propagator and an activator? I have done some stuff with Bondo and fiberglass so activator makes it sound like I need both lol. I guess for now it doesn't matter a ton because I am not actually going to be brewing for a few months, but it is definitely aggravating to be lost when I am trying to learn everything I can.

Unless there is a kit that is highly recommended by multiple sources, then I would just buy the ingredients for a recipe. There are a lot of good ones and most extract versions are very simple, but they make a better beer. Also that way you know the ingredients are fresh and havent been sitting in a package for a year and a half. Midwest and Austin homebrew are good online sellers. You can order all your ingredients and it will be shipped together, steeping grains milled, hops, dry yeast and everything. I recommend you find a local homebrew store to buy the yeast if its liquid yeast so you know its fresh and kept cold.Cheers,Rich

[SnailPowered]

Unless there is a kit that is highly recommended by multiple sources, then I would just buy the ingredients for a recipe. There are a lot of good ones and most extract versions are very simple, but they make a better beer. Also that way you know the ingredients are fresh and havent been sitting in a package for a year and a half. Midwest and Austin homebrew are good online sellers. You can order all your ingredients and it will be shipped together, steeping grains milled, hops, dry yeast and everything. I recommend you find a local homebrew store to buy the yeast if its liquid yeast so you know its fresh and kept cold.Cheers,Rich

This sounds like good advice. I like the sound of that simple stout mentioned earlier. Perhaps that is what my first beer will be. I am sure that there are LHBS in Savannah. I never looked for one because I was discouraged from brewing by my first sergeant. He used to do it and he said that it just became a hassle. Of course, I don't see him liking the things that I like so I am pretty sure that it will be one of my favorite hobbies. As odd as it might seem this is probably the LEAST expensive of all the hobbies that I am interested in hahahahah. R/C Cars and planes are not cheap even when you buy the cheapest stuff you can from Hong Kong, guns and reloading are very expensive (although I use the excuse that I am "investing" when I buy guns lol), motorcycles are two wheeled sink holes for money, and fast cars are four wheeled sink holes for money lol. So, brewing will be a hobby that is all the more affordable, and very gratifying every time I pop a top or tip the tap handle and take a long cold swig of the beer that I always wanted.

[Deerslyr]

While a starter is always a good idea with liquid yeast, it is not necessary with dried yeast. That is why I always recommend a dry yeast for the first batch.

This. I've been using dry yeast almost exclusively for a year now (I say almost because on occassion I get part of a yeast cake from my buddy). I find it incredibly easy and have not had problems getting the fermentation going. My LHBS jokes and says its because I'm a cheap attorney... he's partly right. I feel like I would have to brew at least 2 consecutive batches off of a smack pack to make it worthwhile, but I brew once every 6 weeks or so and I like to have more variety... brewing the same styles back to back makes me "tired" of the style after consuming 10 gallons. (I'm the only one in the household that drinks beer.)

[Deerslyr]

+1S-04 is probably my favorite overall. US-05 isn't bad but I don't have much experience so I can't say for sure. Nottingham I generally like for stouts.

US-05 is my "go to" yeast.

[ChefLamont]

I have recently used T-58 dry yeast on a couple of batches and it has been awesome. I haven't decided yet that it will be my goto belgian yeast, but I am close. I still like WLP500 a lot.

[SchwanzBrewer]

This. I've been using dry yeast almost exclusively for a year now (I say almost because on occassion I get part of a yeast cake from my buddy). I find it incredibly easy and have not had problems getting the fermentation going. My LHBS jokes and says its because I'm a cheap attorney... he's partly right. I feel like I would have to brew at least 2 consecutive batches off of a smack pack to make it worthwhile, but I brew once every 6 weeks or so and I like to have more variety... brewing the same styles back to back makes me "tired" of the style after consuming 10 gallons. (I'm the only one in the household that drinks beer.)

Like I said, I used dry yeast once, maybe I did something wrong, but the beer seemed under attenuated. Since then I have used liquid yeast and made a fresh starter every time and haven't had a problem.Cheers,Rich

[Deerslyr]

Like I said, I used dry yeast once, maybe I did something wrong, but the beer seemed under attenuated. Since then I have used liquid yeast and made a fresh starter every time and haven't had a problem.Cheers,Rich

Any recollection as to which dry yeast you used? And what your OG was?For a moderate gravity beer (say 1.055 or so)one pack of US-05 will attenuate well.

[EWW]

Did you rehydrate the dry yeast in boiled and cooled water? If not you are not getting as many viable yeast cells in your wort and that can cause what you discribe

[SchwanzBrewer]

Any recollection as to which dry yeast you used? And what your OG was?For a moderate gravity beer (say 1.055 or so)one pack of US-05 will attenuate well.

US-05, and no, I have no clue what it was. It was my second beer ever so I could have messed things up in some way.

Did you rehydrate the dry yeast in boiled and cooled water? If not you are not getting as many viable yeast cells in your wort and that can cause what you discribe

I did not rehydrate it. I think all I did was rack the wort into the carboy and then sprinkle the yeast in and swirl. I have no idea how warm/cold the wort was. I was using an ice bath to chill back then and it took about 2 hours to chill it to 60ish. Like I said, I just use liquid smack packs and make a starter now. Works really well, so I'm gonna keep doing it that way.Cheers,Rich

[Deerslyr]

Did you rehydrate the dry yeast in boiled and cooled water? If not you are not getting as many viable yeast cells in your wort and that can cause what you discribe

I don't rehydrate.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

I have recently used T-58 dry yeast on a couple of batches and it has been awesome. I haven't decided yet that it will be my goto belgian yeast, but I am close. I still like WLP500 a lot.

Tell me about T-58. It would be handy to be able to whip out a belgian any time I wanted with no starter.

[SnailPowered]

Should I rename this the yeast thread? lol I'm glad that you guys are talking about this because when it comes time to actually start brewing this thread is going to be as informative as the books that I bought!