Designing a recipe

[Ducatiboy stu]

About time to add a bit more

Yeast


Yeast is a key in producing great beer

Your yeast selection will play a major factor in your beer

Different yeasts like different temps and different styles

Yeast is very robust. Dont ever forget that

Yeast can work up to temps of 50*c and down as low as just above 0*c

Brewing actually slows down how quickly yeast works and we control, using temperature, what the flavours that the yeast can produce

Different yeast also tolerate different levels of %Alc. More yeast wont make a high gravity beer attenuate any better, in fact it can hurt your beer

Many brewers think that if they are making a high gravity beer they need more yeast

When you are looking at doing a particular style, look at the yeast you want to use.

Make sure you have your fermentation conditions reflect what your yeast strain needs, not the other way around

You will find that different yeast are also suited to certain styles. There is a reason. Its because yeast will mutate to suite its conditions.

Some yeasts will bring out different flavours of grains and hops

Yeast will also strip hop flavours, so you need to think of that and work with it

Yeast is easy to work with if you understand it.

It is very easy to store yeast, as long long as you give it the right conditions

Yeast, like any life from needs food, so storing your yeast in the fridge in a malt solution is one of the better metods

Even if you keep yeast in the fridge, it still works, its just very slow, so it needs nutrients. It will still keep fermenting

And you can freeze yeast.

I suggest you read Yobs threads on yeast freezing,

He has done a lot of work in this area. Well worth reading

 

[manticle]

If you making a high gravity beer, you do need more yeast. Yes it needs to be able to handle the alcohol as well but pitching enough of the right, healthy fresh yeast and looking after it is integral to producing a high abv beer that doesn't taste like metho.

High cell count will only hurt beer if it is way, way too much, an unusual occurrence in most homebrew situations.

Look after your yeast, make sure it's healthy, fresh, sufficient for the job and appropriate for the job.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

If you making a high gravity beer, you do need more yeast. Yes it needs to be able to handle the alcohol as well but pitching enough of the right, healthy fresh yeast and looking after it is integral to producing a high abv beer that doesn't taste like metho.

Good to see you digress B)

 

[manticle]

Disagree or digress? Not sure what you mean. I agree with most points you make but disagree with one. The disagreement is based partly on reading but mostly my own experience with yeast strain, handling, etc in high gravity beer. You can't add one fifth of what you need to a 1090 beer and expect it to be ok, high abv tolerance notwithstanding.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

So you Digress, but there is nothing wrong with disagreement B)

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

But I mentioned yeast....and that in itself will bring the internet to its knees

 

[manticle]

Internet is broken.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

But your a moderator, so you can fix it

 

[manticle]

Only Christopher Pyne can fix it now.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Is he a moderator now...?


God help the world....

He will cut AHB funding to those that want to help those "Designing a Recipe" threads.....

 

[Fat Bastard]

Just to get this ***** back on topic, i'd like to discuss recipe development and the philosphy and attitudes behind it.
As a big, fat bastard, I've alway liked to cook. In fact some of my earliest memories are of me (under mum's supervison) cutting sick with the root vegetables and spice cabinet to make soups and vege stews t the ripe old age of 3.I quite often develop my own food recipes now based on what's in the garden, what's in season in the supermarket, or what I can dumpster-dive, trade for or is on spesh in the supermarket.

I've only been AG brewing for 4 years now. I've probably got under 100 brews under my belt, and I reckon most of them have been the same 6-12 base recipes with minor changes. I think the only recipe I've not come up with myself is Ross' Nelson Sauvin Summer Ale. Which is a cracker of a beer.Most would be based on something Ive found on the 'net though

Seems to me there is two sorts of brewers, those who rarely brew the same beer twice, or those like me, who brew the same thing over and over again until they're happy with it, then abandon it for the next one.

Please discuss, I'd quite like to hear your thoughts on the subject...

 

[danestead]

Just to get this ***** back on topic, i'd like to discuss recipe development and the philosphy and attitudes behind it.
As a big, fat bastard, I've alway liked to cook. In fact some of my earliest memories are of me (under mum's supervison) cutting sick with the root vegetables and spice cabinet to make soups and vege stews t the ripe old age of 3.I quite often develop my own food recipes now based on what's in the garden, what's in season in the supermarket, or what I can dumpster-dive, trade for or is on spesh in the supermarket.

I've only been AG brewing for 4 years now. I've probably got under 100 brews under my belt, and I reckon most of them have been the same 6-12 base recipes with minor changes. I think the only recipe I've not come up with myself is Ross' Nelson Sauvin Summer Ale. Which is a cracker of a beer.Most would be based on something Ive found on the 'net though

Seems to me there is two sorts of brewers, those who rarely brew the same beer twice, or those like me, who brew the same thing over and over again until they're happy with it, then abandon it for the next one.

Please discuss, I'd quite like to hear your thoughts on the subject...

I first brewed kits when I was 18 and had zero knowledge and they all tasted absolutely crap. My old records show me going from fermenter to bottle in 4 days without temp control. Thats probably a pretty common occurance however now, 13 years on the internet is a much better resource.

I took a break and then when a mate Mike got into all grain brewing when we were about 24 I was immediately hooked, built myself a keg fridge and used to hang with him on brew days, helping stir the mash, with minimal knowledge of what he was doing.

I then moved away to Sydney for 2.5 yrs but when I moved back to Perth I set myself up with an all grain setup and have been at it hard core for 3 years now.

My brewing knowledge is 1000 times what it was 3 years ago and probably 100 times what it was 2 years ago. My knowledge of beer styles in general is 100 times what it was a few years as well.

For the first year of my all grain brewing I brewed award winning and well known recipes for the AHB database like Dr Smurtos Golden Ale and the LCBA clone, thanks guys, top recipes. I still brew them today for bucks parties etc as they are always a hit.

For the last 2 years Ive been designing my own recipes and tweaking them every time until they are at where I want them. When they are at that stage I will usualyy brew them as is but often brew depending on what grains/hops I have in stock. So I guess you could say they are rarely identical, however the balance and general flavours are similar.

Ive just got back from my first European trip and because of that Ive opened my mind to different styles I never liked before. I was the one eyed American Pale Ale kind of guy but now that Ive opened my mind to different flavours, Im actually really enjoying more styles.

Im soon to brew a RIS and a Belgian Tripel and because I see these as quite tricky styles, Ive done some research and borrowed an award winning recipe (cheers Jeff) to brew the first ones. From there I will likely take the recipe in the direction I want.

So thats where Im at at the moment. I dont really get a kick from brewing other peoples recipes anymore, Id much rather work on something myself and call it my own.

Well that was a much longer post than I expected!

Cheers, prost, salute!