First Ag Brew And Feedback On Yeast Starter Process

[Mark Van Moolenbroek]

After 1 1/2 years of kits and extracts finally did my first AG brew on Sunday, great fun and I think it went okay all up although not without a few stressful moments. Did a German Wheat beer straight out of the Brewing Classic Styles book, 50/50 wheat and pilsner, hallertauer, Wyeast 3068. Was a bit concerned if I'd got my strike water on the money, took at stab at 78c which resulted in 68c for the first 10 min but lost 3 degrees at the end of 60 mins (recipe called for 67c), think there is a bit too much head space in the top of my mash tun? Total water was 38l via brewsmith and final wort to fermeter was 20.5l, with a 1.5l starter takes it up to 22l, at the end of the 90min boil thought I would end up with too much wort but after losses to trub worked out okay. Pretty happy with the gear for starters, the kettle could have been a bit bigger to give a bit more free space at the top to help avoid boil overs, but was fairly efficient with only 2 to 3 of the 4 burner rings needed. My OG reading was 1.047 which according to beersmith gave me an efficiency of 69.1%, umm is this okay for a first run, what should I expect and aim for?



Spent the last 6 months getting bits of gear and reading up heaps in the forum, no doubt the collective posts from the forums experienced brewers his given me a running start into AG brewing, can't wait to taste the results. For my gear I went with a basic 3 vessel setup with gravity feed. Made the stand up out of scrap steel and timber scrounged from work and will make another up before the next run, see pics below.



Was hoping for some suggestions on my yeast propagation and starter process, as am still only partially clear on the amount I am pitching and if it is over or under pitched?. A few days prior to brewing I prepared a 1.5l wort, (150g to 1.5l), and added the swollen smack pack, after twenty four hours at room temp, I poured off the liquid and stepped up to another prepared wort of 3.5l this time. After 36 hours I poured off the liquid and split into 4 stubbies. The morning of brew day I prepared one of the stubbies as a starter in 1.5l of wort, it kick off pretty quickly and by the afternoon it was fairly active with a good healthy looking krauser. The starter was shaken and then added to the wort cooled to about 20c, seems no problem with fermentation (@ 17c) had plenty of CO2 bubbling out after 12 hours and after 24hrs there was krauser blowing out through the airlock. I am sure everything is going well fermenting this brew but was looking for some feedback on the process I used in making my starters.



Looking forward to another run soon as I can, have all the goods for a Timothy Taylors Landlord, umm, going to need another fridge for the starters I am accumulating!

Cheers

Mark

 

[bignath]

Awesome man, well done!

sounds like it all went pretty well (compared to my first attempt anyway! what a disaster i thought that one was....)

Re: bigger kettle....

What's that 50l keg doing on the ground as part of your brew stand?
Mate, cut the top out of it (depressurize first), and put a tap in it. Kettles or in this case - keggles, don't get much better than that.

Once this all grain thing starts, it's very hard to stop...

Cheers,

Nath

 

[brad05]

Good work!

The many hours spent reading this forum at work as well as scrounging "scrap" materials has started to pay off.

I want an invite to taste as well!

Cheers,
Brad

 

[flano]

Do really know if this is what you mean about yeast.
I just did what I was told from everyone on here.

Safale US-05 was original yeast I started with.

of course everything is super sterile during this part.
The inch or two of sludge in the bottom of the fermenter after a brew is what you are using.
stirred it .
poured it into a measuring jug. (1 litre)
split it into 2 ( 1 ltr ) milk bottles - 500 mls each
Covered with cling wrap and an elazo band.
Put in the fridge.
next time it is time to add yeast to a brew I get it to room temp then very gently pour off the water sitting on top of yeast .
then give it a bit of a swirl and pour it onto the wort in fermenter.
Within 6 hours it is on its way.

hope this helps.

 

[Mark Van Moolenbroek]

Awesome man, well done!

sounds like it all went pretty well (compared to my first attempt anyway! what a disaster i thought that one was....)

Re: bigger kettle....

What's that 50l keg doing on the ground as part of your brew stand?
Mate, cut the top out of it (depressurize first), and put a tap in it. Kettles or in this case - keggles, don't get much better than that.

Once this all grain thing starts, it's very hard to stop...

Cheers,

Nath

Thanks for the reply Nath,

Yep, I'm hooked and can't wait for the next one, mayby a late night Friday!!!

I agree, the keg mod is definitley in the making, have seen a few ideas, will be able to do up to a 40l batched in the future I hope. Not looking forward to drilling another couple of holes through the Stainless, still have not returned the hole cutter I borrowed from work as yet, would'nt cut through butter now!

Cheers Mark

 

[Mark Van Moolenbroek]

Good work!

The many hours spent reading this forum at work as well as scrounging "scrap" materials has started to pay off.

I want an invite to taste as well!

Cheers,
Brad

Umm, your invited, best not tell anyone where we work!!!

 

[Mark Van Moolenbroek]

Do really know if this is what you mean about yeast.
I just did what I was told from everyone on here.

Safale US-05 was original yeast I started with.

of course everything is super sterile during this part.
The inch or two of sludge in the bottom of the fermenter after a brew is what you are using.
stirred it .
poured it into a measuring jug. (1 litre)
split it into 2 ( 1 ltr ) milk bottles - 500 mls each
Covered with cling wrap and an elazo band.
Put in the fridge.
next time it is time to add yeast to a brew I get it to room temp then very gently pour off the water sitting on top of yeast .
then give it a bit of a swirl and pour it onto the wort in fermenter.
Within 6 hours it is on its way.

hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply Beernorks,

I have not tried this method but it sounds simpler than the culturing of new yeast I am doing, how do the results taste? and how often can you do it? might be worth a bit of an experiment, and comparison between the two. Have been reading a bit about guys throwing a new wort on top of the trub of a just bottle brew, have not tried this one either but might look into it.

Cheers,
Mark

 

[bignath]

I agree, the keg mod is definitley in the making, have seen a few ideas, will be able to do up to a 40l batched in the future I hope. Not looking forward to drilling another couple of holes through the Stainless, still have not returned the hole cutter I borrowed from work as yet, would'nt cut through butter now!

Just a quick tip with modding that keg, as i've literally just done two in the last fortnight, and am about to do another two this weekend.

I went and got a step drill bit, which i thought would have worked a treat. However, it just blunted itself. I tried working slowly, cooling, applying the cutting medium but i didn't have much luck. The first keg took over an hour to drill out for a ball valve, i must have had a dodgy bit or something...

Here's what i did for the second, and will be doing for the next two.

Get the largest normal drill bit you can find, and if you've got a selection of circular files like i have, drill the hole out and then file out to fit your tap assembly (however you end up installing it). This took me probably 3 minutes to drill the hole, and another 10 minutes to file it out to fit neatly. Small bits of work, then recheck, more small work, more re checking you get the idea...

This was with crappy "green shed" specials drill bits too....

After i finished the first keg, i thought "you've got to be kidding me", and then tried this method as i thought i had nothing to lose by trying and was pleasantly surprised.

Angle grinder gets rid of the lid pretty easily. Allow two discs to grind it out though...I put my 19Lt KMart stockpot on the top of the keg, and marked the circular edge with a texta so i can use the stockpot's lid on my keggle.

Cheers,

Nath

 

[Jerry]

Hi Mark

Glad it all went well. Lotsa fun, hey.

Re the yeast.

Ive just recently started using liquid yeasts again after several years of using dried only. Just been lazy and liked the convenience of dried.

Anyway, I used a similar method to you.

I added my smack pack, Wyeast 3068 as it turns out, to a 1 ltr starter and left it for 24 hrs. I then shook the bottle and poured 3/4's of it into another bottle to ferment out. A fresh 1.5ltr starter was then added to the remaining 250ml. 24 hrs later the whole active starter was pitched to the wort made earlier that day.

The other 750ml, after it had fermented out, was then equally split 3 ways into separate bottles to be used at a later date.

First time I've used this yeast and I'm hanging out to get stuck into it. Due to be kegged in the next couple of days.

Cheers

Scott

 

[flano]

Thanks for the reply Beernorks,

I have not tried this method but it sounds simpler than the culturing of new yeast I am doing, how do the results taste? and how often can you do it? might be worth a bit of an experiment, and comparison between the two. Have been reading a bit about guys throwing a new wort on top of the trub of a just bottle brew, have not tried this one either but might look into it.

Cheers,
Mark

different taste?
bit hard to tell ....usually I forget to do at least one thing that I did the time before.

Haven't had a bad one though....it all tastes good to me.

Only been doing it this way a short while.

I was told something like 500 ml for ales and lagers and more for other styles.
someone will know.

 

[Mark Van Moolenbroek]

Just a quick tip with modding that keg, as i've literally just done two in the last fortnight, and am about to do another two this weekend.

I went and got a step drill bit, which i thought would have worked a treat. However, it just blunted itself. I tried working slowly, cooling, applying the cutting medium but i didn't have much luck. The first keg took over an hour to drill out for a ball valve, i must have had a dodgy bit or something...

Here's what i did for the second, and will be doing for the next two.

Get the largest normal drill bit you can find, and if you've got a selection of circular files like i have, drill the hole out and then file out to fit your tap assembly (however you end up installing it). This took me probably 3 minutes to drill the hole, and another 10 minutes to file it out to fit neatly. Small bits of work, then recheck, more small work, more re checking you get the idea...

This was with crappy "green shed" specials drill bits too....

After i finished the first keg, i thought "you've got to be kidding me", and then tried this method as i thought i had nothing to lose by trying and was pleasantly surprised.

Angle grinder gets rid of the lid pretty easily. Allow two discs to grind it out though...I put my 19Lt KMart stockpot on the top of the keg, and marked the circular edge with a texta so i can use the stockpot's lid on my keggle.

Cheers,

Nath

Thanks for the tips Nath, hoping I can borrow another whole cutter from work as long as its not the one I will be returning! must be an easier way to do it, but filing from a smaller drill hole sounds the go if I cant get the whole cutter.

Cheers,

Mark