black_labb
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just a couple thoughts on brewing AG. i have done 6 biab, no chill brews (2 not bottled/drunk yet) and have a few ideas i'd like some more experienced brewers to think about a give their thoughts.
1. using multiple smaller cubes (say 1x10L, 1x 5L cubes and a few 1-2L bottles that are sturdy and can stand up to the heat) instead of 1 big one. this allows you to essentially step up your yeast starter with the beer you are making. its usually reccomended to step up liquid yeasts and even dry yeasts to 1-3L of a starter. by using smaller cubes you can easily step up the yeast while doing the fermentation in the carboy. less cleaning as you are stepping up the yeast in the primary fermentation vessel. this is probably more useful for high gravity worts.
2. when growing yeast you want to aerate the wort so the yeast has sufficient oxygen. this can be difficult as a layer of co2 pushes the oxygen out of the top of the fermentation vessel. i've seen someone mention that they use a straw to suck (not blow) the air out of a starter so that fresh air with oxygen replaces the air (co2) in the starter bottle. why not use a plastic bottle where you can squeeze out the co2 and replace it with oxygen by allowing the bottle to expand again suking air in. you can then seal the lid and give it a good shake to aerate the wort nicely. i understand that this could be introducing bacteria/wild yeasts from the air but thats a fact with any method of aeration. the only way to get out of that is to have a pure oxygen bottle bubbling through the starter.
3. i have been collecting as much of the wort from the boiler as i physically can into the cube (trub included) and have been allowing the trub to settle to the bottom over a couple days and then syphoning out the clear wort without moving the cube and disturbing the trub. it gives me very clear wort and by allowing it to settle nicely i should be able to get a bit more wort into the fermentor. by syphoning from a reasonable height the wort should be nicely aerated. i have only done one lighter flavoured beer which would show faults of the method better and it tastes great (and that beer had the bag fall in dropping roughly 1kg of grain out of the bag into the wort. i collected what i could with a sifter but would have left some extra trub elements in the wort through the boil)
4. pale ale malt for darker lagers. nothing too interesting but i'm not a big fan of lighter lagers like pilseners and the such but am doing a couple darker lagers. is there any reason to use pilsener malt over pale ale when you are going to be adding munich or similar in reasonable quantities. they are really pretty similar just the pale ale is kilned a bit longer or hotter and the munich is kilned for longer/hotter again. i'm also considering using the ale malt for a dubbel/trippel just because i prefer to buy 25kg of malt bags and dont know how much pils i would use. i have been roasiting most of my own malts (and successfully made some crystal as well) so i dont buy much malts aside from wheat outside of the bulk packs.
just curious what people think of these ideas. i've only been doing method 2 and 3 but am thinking i'll grab some smaller cubes before doing a couple belgians for no. 1
1. using multiple smaller cubes (say 1x10L, 1x 5L cubes and a few 1-2L bottles that are sturdy and can stand up to the heat) instead of 1 big one. this allows you to essentially step up your yeast starter with the beer you are making. its usually reccomended to step up liquid yeasts and even dry yeasts to 1-3L of a starter. by using smaller cubes you can easily step up the yeast while doing the fermentation in the carboy. less cleaning as you are stepping up the yeast in the primary fermentation vessel. this is probably more useful for high gravity worts.
2. when growing yeast you want to aerate the wort so the yeast has sufficient oxygen. this can be difficult as a layer of co2 pushes the oxygen out of the top of the fermentation vessel. i've seen someone mention that they use a straw to suck (not blow) the air out of a starter so that fresh air with oxygen replaces the air (co2) in the starter bottle. why not use a plastic bottle where you can squeeze out the co2 and replace it with oxygen by allowing the bottle to expand again suking air in. you can then seal the lid and give it a good shake to aerate the wort nicely. i understand that this could be introducing bacteria/wild yeasts from the air but thats a fact with any method of aeration. the only way to get out of that is to have a pure oxygen bottle bubbling through the starter.
3. i have been collecting as much of the wort from the boiler as i physically can into the cube (trub included) and have been allowing the trub to settle to the bottom over a couple days and then syphoning out the clear wort without moving the cube and disturbing the trub. it gives me very clear wort and by allowing it to settle nicely i should be able to get a bit more wort into the fermentor. by syphoning from a reasonable height the wort should be nicely aerated. i have only done one lighter flavoured beer which would show faults of the method better and it tastes great (and that beer had the bag fall in dropping roughly 1kg of grain out of the bag into the wort. i collected what i could with a sifter but would have left some extra trub elements in the wort through the boil)
4. pale ale malt for darker lagers. nothing too interesting but i'm not a big fan of lighter lagers like pilseners and the such but am doing a couple darker lagers. is there any reason to use pilsener malt over pale ale when you are going to be adding munich or similar in reasonable quantities. they are really pretty similar just the pale ale is kilned a bit longer or hotter and the munich is kilned for longer/hotter again. i'm also considering using the ale malt for a dubbel/trippel just because i prefer to buy 25kg of malt bags and dont know how much pils i would use. i have been roasiting most of my own malts (and successfully made some crystal as well) so i dont buy much malts aside from wheat outside of the bulk packs.
just curious what people think of these ideas. i've only been doing method 2 and 3 but am thinking i'll grab some smaller cubes before doing a couple belgians for no. 1