# Subbing Ringwood ale yeast with US05?



## Truman42 (24/11/13)

I've just brewed a DFH Indian Brown Ale clone and have no chilled it. The recipe says to use Ringwood Ale Yeast which I smacked a pack of yesterday, but 24 hours later it had only slightly swelled because the date on it was 25 June 2013. I now have a starter on my stir plate and will see how it goes over the next 24 hours. But I think it may have been too old to have any viable cells.

On the other hand I have a pale ale currently CCing in my fermenter which was brewed with US05. I'm considering using this instead although will have to rinse it first as I dry hopped this brew.

Anyone used both these Yeasts in repeat brews and did you notice any difference in the beer when comparing brews?

Thanks gents.


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## Thefatdoghead (24/11/13)

Your Ringwood will be fine.
When it's done you'll notice it floc's so much that it looks like chunk's of cheese spinning in your starter. It's such an awesome yeast and you will very much notice the difference from 1187 to us05.


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## manticle (24/11/13)

Ringwood and 05 are totally different. Keep the 05 as a back up but if your starter gets up, go the ringwood.

Actually being NC, I'd just delay pitching until either the starter or a new ringwood pack was ready.


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## Truman42 (24/11/13)

Thanks gents. Now that I know I will have a very different beer if I use the 05 I will persevere with the starter and if it hasn't fired up in the next 24 hours will buy another packet of 1187.

Cheers


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## Thefatdoghead (25/11/13)

Did your Rigwood get going? 
I got a 2 year old split pack of 1187 going a few weeks ago and it cranked up hard as. Finished the 45 liter batch off in 1 week at 20 degrees. Still need to see how the beer goes but I thought 2 years would be pushing it a tad haha.


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## Truman42 (25/11/13)

It's been on the stir plate for 28 hours now and so far not a hint of activity.

If it hasn't fired by tomorrow night I'm going to dump it and get a new packet.


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## Judanero (25/11/13)

Can you put up the recipe Truman?


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## Phoney (25/11/13)

Truman said:


> It's been on the stir plate for 28 hours now and so far not a hint of activity.
> If it hasn't fired by tomorrow night I'm going to dump it and get a new packet.


Don't do that! Give it 3 days at least. Ive had smack packs 2 years old that have taken near 2 weeks to swell up, they were fine.


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## Yob (25/11/13)

Did you step it up Truman? I'd have been tempted to go 100ml to 500ml to 2lt.. What volume starter? Has it changed colour?


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## Truman42 (25/11/13)

Judanero said:


> Can you put up the recipe Truman?


I'm not home ATM so can't post my actual recipe but I converted it from here.

http://www.brew365.com/beer_dogfish_head_indian_brown_ale.php

I can post my actual recipe tomorrow night if you want.

With the brown sugar I caramelised it first in a frying pan on the stove before adding it.


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## Truman42 (25/11/13)

Yob said:


> Did you step it up Truman? I'd have been tempted to go 100ml to 500ml to 2lt.. What volume starter? Has it changed colour?


I started with 1 litre and was going to step it up to 2 litres once it's fermented out. It's still a brown colour like the starter has no yeast in it at all. If I turn off the stir plate I get a layer of what might be yeast and hot break from the DME.

@phoneyhuh.....Ok thanks for the tip, I will leave it for a few more days then and see how it goes.


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## Judanero (25/11/13)

Ah cool mate, I was wondering if it was the one off 365, I'm pretty keen to give it a go especially if it comes out anything like the original!


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## Truman42 (25/11/13)

Judanero said:


> Ah cool mate, I was wondering if it was the one off 365, I'm pretty keen to give it a go especially if it comes out anything like the original!


So you've tasted the original? What's it like?


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## nu_brew (25/11/13)

Pretty keen to see how this all turns out. Both the yeast and the beer!


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## Judanero (25/11/13)

Truman said:


> So you've tasted the original? What's it like?


Yeah good, slight roasty/malty taste with a good wack of hops from memory. It actually inspired me to do an indian brown lager (that was nothing special, actually a bit of a disappointment). 

I'm fortunate to have a local bottle-o that easily stocks the largest selection of craft beer in Newy, but I found it available online here :

http://www.beercellar.com.au/detail/US3OB2Z22BD/Dogfish-Head-Indian-Brown-Ale

for ~$9 a stubby.


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## rheffera (26/11/13)

Patience with the starter. The 2-step starter i did with my first out of date yeast looked dead the entire time it was on my stirplate, but i assure you, a gravity reading of the runoff & the fact it nearly climbed out of the fermenter say otherwise.


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## Truman42 (26/11/13)

Gav80 said:


> Your Ringwood will be fine.
> When it's done you'll notice it floc's so much that it looks like chunk's of cheese spinning in your starter. It's such an awesome yeast and you will very much notice the difference from 1187 to us05.


is this what you mean by chunks of cheese??

Its ben pitched since Sunday PM and I didnt really notice any activity at all but when I went home for lunch today this is what it lookd like. Is it time to increase it to 2 litres now or do I need to wait until I can see more of that cheese stuff?


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## rheffera (26/11/13)

I'd be upping it to 2. By the looks of that they have had a right orgy in there...


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## Thefatdoghead (27/11/13)

Whats the gravity of the starter? It does floc hard but I haven't seen bigger chunks like that before. 
Check the gravity and see if its done (ferment finished). I wouldn't bother stepping if your just doing a single batch. If your single batch with a high gravity and you want to step it then I would step it up t 2 or 4 litre's. 
Have a taste of the wort before you pitch it just incase.


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## Truman42 (27/11/13)

I didn't check the gravity. But I've got it in the fridge now so the yeast will drop. Tomorrow I will pour off the beer (and taste like you suggest). Then pour 2 litres of wort that I saved from the brew (after It's been boiled and cooled) onto the yeast cake. Once this is at high krausen I will pitch.


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## Thefatdoghead (28/11/13)

That will do it. You'll get a really good ferment.


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## hoppy2B (28/11/13)

Is the Ringwood Ale yeast Coopers bottle yeast?

I got a 1.5 litre starter of that going about 24 hours ago. I had a sample in a PET bottle for about 9 months out of the fridge. Didn't have any fermentables or anything done to it in that 9 months and it fired straight away. 

Basically, I boiled up 125 grams of LDME in 1.5 litres of water and allowed to cool. Swirled my PET bottle around a bit and poured a bit in. Now 24 hours later it has a 1 inch krausen on it. A tiny trace of krausen had started to form after only a couple of hours.

Should mention also that I had glad wrap and a rubber band on top of the bottle. When I took that off and gave it a swirl and a sniff it had a nice aroma.

Happy happy joy joy.


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## Truman42 (29/11/13)

I poured off the beer and poured 2 litres of wort onto the yeast and five hours later it looked like this. 





So I've pitched it and the krausen is starting to crawl out of the fermenter.


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## Yob (29/11/13)

he he.. ye of little faith.. and to think you were going to toss them out


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## Ross (29/11/13)

Truman, heed a bit of advice - Never pitch a Wyeast pack until it's expanded, there is no point pitching it earlier. All it does is cause you confusion & distress as it has here.
If the pack doesn't swell the yeast is cactus, if it does, you know you are good to go & can judge your stepping up by how long it took to activate.


Cheers Ross


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## Ross (29/11/13)

hoppy2B said:


> Is the Ringwood Ale yeast Coopers bottle yeast?


No, nothing like it.

Cheers Ross


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## Weizguy (29/11/13)

> I poured off the beer and poured 2 litres of wort onto the yeast and five hours later it looked like this.
> So I've pitched it and the krausen is starting to crawl out of the fermenter.


Yep, that's the Ringwood yeast I know. Makes great beer flavours (esters and malt character)


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## Truman42 (29/11/13)

What's the best temp to ferment at to bring out the malt flavours? I've currently got it set at 19c but I see Wyeast say it can be fermented between 18-24c


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## Judanero (29/11/13)

Truman said:


> What's the best temp to ferment at to bring out the malt flavours? I've currently got it set at 19c but I see Wyeast say it can be fermented between 18-24c


I always ferment Ringwood at 19, for me at this temp I find the malt character shows through. Though it should be noted that I use Ringwood almost exclusively for ESB's.


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## going down a hill (30/11/13)

I love this yeast, the stone fruit flavour it gives off is beautiful. My last beer that I used 1187 with I pitched when it was 18 and let it naturally rise to 21 it turned out to be a cracker.


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