Toast Beer / Homebrew Thread

[Duckula]

They’re a piece of piss really. I have started saving some of the starters too in vials and chucking them in the fridge for later use

Doing some reading up, apparently Bohemian lager yeast is one of a few strains that is commonly used to ferment at ale temperatures with a lower risk of esters. One article I read said the brewer barely noticed the difference between the lager and ale he made with the strain, in fact saying the ale was very good, so that's some good news.

 

[FKASC]

Doing some reading up, apparently Bohemian lager yeast is one of a few strains that is commonly used to ferment at ale temperatures with a lower risk of esters. One article I read said the brewer barely noticed the difference between the lager and ale he made with the strain, in fact saying the ale was very good, so that's some good news.

Sweet - that was a nice bit of luck!

 

[DanWCE]

Doing some reading up, apparently Bohemian lager yeast is one of a few strains that is commonly used to ferment at ale temperatures with a lower risk of esters. One article I read said the brewer barely noticed the difference between the lager and ale he made with the strain, in fact saying the ale was very good, so that's some good news.

I haven't brewed a lager yet but from what I understand when the temps are lower fermentation activity is much slower and restrained so you'll often not get a krausen. Interested to hear how it goes.

And as always, airlock is not a great way to check fermentation activity, particularly with a cool ferment that produces less co2. Keep us in the loop!

 

[Duckula]

I haven't brewed a lager yet but from what I understand when the temps are lower fermentation activity is much slower and restrained so you'll often not get a krausen. Interested to hear how it goes.

And as always, airlock is not a great way to check fermentation activity, particularly with a cool ferment that produces less co2. Keep us in the loop!

All very true Dan, I guess it's more of an issue with me having a combination of paranoia and impatience and a hint of stinge.

IF and when I do go down the lager or pilsner path again I might look into a cheaper liquid yeast and double pitch and be more patient with the fermentation.

 

[FKASC]

All very true Dan, I guess it's more of an issue with me having a combination of paranoia and impatience and a hint of stinge.

IF and when I do go down the lager or pilsner path again I might look into a cheaper liquid yeast and double pitch and be more patient with the fermentation.

Also you probably wouldn’t really get a krausen on top of the fermenter with a lager yeast because that yeast species is meant to be active underneath the wort. So that probably explains the lack of anything happening on top?

 

[Duckula]

Also you probably wouldn’t really get a krausen on top of the fermenter with a lager yeast because that yeast species is meant to be active underneath the wort. So that probably explains the lack of anything happening on top?

TBH mate I'm only going from what I've read and it says that lagers still krausen - might be more of a CO2 bubble build up than actual yeast though.

 

[FKASC]

TBH mate I'm only going from what I've read and it says that lagers still krausen - might be more of a CO2 bubble build up than actual yeast though.

Yeah you’re probably right! I have no idea about lager yeast tbh

On a funkier note, my split saison has been fermenting since before Xmas and is smelling amazing. Has clarified right up too despite being left at ambient summer temps

 

[Duckula]

Yeah you’re probably right! I have no idea about lager yeast tbh

On a funkier note, my split saison has been fermenting since before Xmas and is smelling amazing. Has clarified right up too despite being left at ambient summer temps

Is that normal to leave it for that long?

 

[DanWCE]

Yeah you’re probably right! I have no idea about lager yeast tbh

On a funkier note, my split saison has been fermenting since before Xmas and is smelling amazing. Has clarified right up too despite being left at ambient summer temps

I would definitely do this more often if I brewed more frequently. Fermenting for 3-4 weeks and not rushing a brew through to start drinking it would achieve a better quality beer I reckon. I'm always coordinating around doing a dry hop on x day to package on y day etc. Bit different than being at a brewery where you'll be working on the beer each day.

I think the key to pulling this off is to get all kegs full and then keep brewing. If you don't have a free spot in the keg fridge when the beer is ready then chuck some dex in a keg and let the beer keg carbonate at room temperature for a few more weeks.

So much planning.

 

[FKASC]

I would definitely do this more often if I brewed more frequently. Fermenting for 3-4 weeks and not rushing a brew through to start drinking it would achieve a better quality beer I reckon. I'm always coordinating around doing a dry hop on x day to package on y day etc. Bit different than being at a brewery where you'll be working on the beer each day.

I think the key to pulling this off is to get all kegs full and then keep brewing. If you don't have a free spot in the keg fridge when the beer is ready then chuck some dex in a keg and let the beer keg carbonate at room temperature for a few more weeks.

So much planning.

Yeah I suck at planning too. It just happened to be convenient whilst I was over West.

Handy in this case because one of the saison yeasts I used (Dupont strain) is meant to be super sluggish and takes ages to attenuate fully after the initial activity

 

[DanWCE]

Yeah I suck at planning too. It just happened to be convenient whilst I was over West.

Handy in this case because one of the saison yeasts I used (Dupont strain) is meant to be super sluggish and takes ages to attenuate fully after the initial activity

Did you harvest dregs or actually buy the strain they use?

 

[Duckula]

Did you harvest dregs or actually buy the strain they use?

Speaking of, I got the Fermentasaurus with the idea of harvesting the yeast from the dump bottle. After the first batch I did the bottle was full (500ml) of a thick slurry which I'm guessing was a mixture of trub and yeast - the smell almost made me retch. Should I keep all this from the bottle and just dump it all in the wort for the next batch (if it's the right strain)? Or would it be somewhat detrimental to pitch the slurry as it's got a bit of trub in it?

 

[FKASC]

Is that normal to leave it for that long?

Some strains need a long time to finish, particularly the Dupont saison yeast strain/s, in which cases it’s totally normal to leave for 3 weeks. I normally leave my beers in the fermenter for 2-3 weeks anyway.

Did you harvest dregs or actually buy the strain they use?

I actually used some slurry from a saison that a guy in my club made. He propagated the dregs of a few Dupont bottles. Apparently Dupont is more than one strain of yeast so you can only really replicate their beer by harvesting bottle dregs

 

[DanWCE]

Speaking of, I got the Fermentasaurus with the idea of harvesting the yeast from the dump bottle. After the first batch I did the bottle was full (500ml) of a thick slurry which I'm guessing was a mixture of trub and yeast - the smell almost made me retch. Should I keep all this from the bottle and just dump it all in the wort for the next batch (if it's the right strain)? Or would it be somewhat detrimental to pitch the slurry as it's got a bit of trub in it?

I'm not sure as I've got very little experience in this. The only time I have reused a yeast was brewing a beer specifically to produce a big yeast cake to ferment my barley wine.

In that instance a decent cold crash adequately separated the beer from yeast and I was able to easily siphon the beer into a keg. From here I simply pitched my wort onto the yeast cake.

It would be a different story with dry hopping as you wouldn't want any of that. I believe you'd be best off harvesting yeast from the collector before adding a dry hop if that was your plan. What impact trub has or how to separate the two I am not sure. There is a thing called yeast washing and this might answer your question.

 

[FKASC]

I believe you'd be best off harvesting yeast from the collector before adding a dry hop if that was your plan. What impact trub has or how to separate the two I am not sure.

This.

I wouldn’t worry about the rest of the trub - it’s mostly all proteins and fatty acids that are supposed to be beneficial for yeast health and shouldn’t have any detrimental effects (I think)

In the past I’ve made a batch and then scooped up two cups of the yeast cake from the bottom of the fermenter and then just literally dumped that into the new batch. It fermented beautifully and tasted way better than the first batch.

That’s about the extent of my yeast reuse experience goes though. I’ve looked at yeast washing videos and it just seems like a bit of mucking around that you could infect by accident. That’s mostly for cases where you want to save little portions of yeast for future use

 

[Duckula]

Okay thanks guys.

I dry hop in a hop sock but I'm sure there'd be a bit of run off still.

How long can I keep it in the fridge for? Most of what I've read says 2 weeks but I would've thought it'd keep a bit longer than that. I'll try and do a couple of ales back to back using Wyeast American Ale and see how it goes.

 

[W.C. Fry]

About to keg my biggest beer yet, 1.077 OG. Red IIPA. Tried a re-iterated mash. Worked well, just a long brewday. Will do again but no rush. Don't really need more than one 8+% on tap at a time

Loving the tilt also.

 

[FKASC]

Okay thanks guys.

I dry hop in a hop sock but I'm sure there'd be a bit of run off still.

How long can I keep it in the fridge for? Most of what I've read says 2 weeks but I would've thought it'd keep a bit longer than that. I'll try and do a couple of ales back to back using Wyeast American Ale and see how it goes.

If you’re unsure, just do a starter with it and see how much activity/propagation you get

 

[FKASC]

About to keg my biggest beer yet, 1.077 OG. Red IIPA. Tried a re-iterated mash. Worked well, just a long brewday. Will do again but no rush. Don't really need more than one 8+% on tap at a time

Loving the tilt also.

That’s sick. I think my next two splurges will be a tilt and a fermentasaurus. I want to try and limit oxygen in the beer as much as possible and I hate taking gravity readings.

Figured I can pressure ferment with the saurus, and leave the tilt in there for the whole time. No need to open it up to the air until I crack a bottle.

How have you found it?

 

[Duckula]

That Tilt is pretty sweet. One for the wish list indeed.

 

[W.C. Fry]

That’s sick. I think my next two splurges will be a tilt and a fermentasaurus. I want to try and limit oxygen in the beer as much as possible and I hate taking gravity readings.

Figured I can pressure ferment with the saurus, and leave the tilt in there for the whole time. No need to open it up to the air until I crack a bottle.

How have you found it?

Yeah really good. Only used on 2 brews so far. Just nice to check at anytime how everything is going. Not having to take samples is good too. I looked into one of those build your own ispindles but looked a bit above my skills. Tilt probably overpriced compared to that but foolproof. If they were half of what you pay I would say it's almost a no brainer. But at $200 each it's a luxury really. Can certainly make beer without it!

 

[FKASC]

Yeah really good. Only used on 2 brews so far. Just nice to check at anytime how everything is going. Not having to take samples is good too. I looked into one of those build your own ispindles but looked a bit above my skills. Tilt probably overpriced compared to that but foolproof. If they were half of what you pay I would say it's almost a no brainer. But at $200 each it's a luxury really. Can certainly make beer without it!

Yeah $200 sucks. I couldn’t solder s**t if my life depended on it though, so I agree about the ispindle

It is definitely a luxury. Maybe they’ll get cheaper one day

 

[DanWCE]

That’s sick. I think my next two splurges will be a tilt and a fermentasaurus. I want to try and limit oxygen in the beer as much as possible and I hate taking gravity readings.

Figured I can pressure ferment with the saurus, and leave the tilt in there for the whole time. No need to open it up to the air until I crack a bottle.

How have you found it?

How are you currently taking gravity readings?

 

[FKASC]

How are you currently taking gravity readings?

I just do a dodgy and wait >2 weeks before i bottle. I usually check once after 2-3 weeks and if it’s in the ball park I just bottle it. Never had overcarbing issues.

It’s not great but it’s better than oxidising the hell out of it IMO

 

[DanWCE]

I just do a dodgy and wait >2 weeks before i bottle. I usually check once after 2-3 weeks and if it’s in the ball park I just bottle it. Never had overcarbing issues.

It’s not great but it’s better than oxidising the hell out of it IMO

Are you pulling a sample via the fermenter tap and using a hydrometer? Or just spinning a hydrometer in the fermenter?

I'm just trying to ascertain why the concern about o2 exposure. For me in that regard, it's the dry hop method I'm worried about. My stainless fermenter has a hole in the lid for air lock that I think would be useful to add hops via funnel..