Good Yeast And Temp Control

[MVZOOM]

JUst having my fourth glass of HB for the evening. This is the first brew that I used Safale yeast in, and fermented at a steady 16 degrees. Aside from that, nothing special - 1.7kg of the cheapest Coopers Lager and 1kg of light malt extract. Some of Ross's Cascade hops in the secondry.

It's the first beer that I've made that doesn't taste like homebrew. It's a really decent effort - and I place all the kudos to temp control and a $4 yeast packet.

What a massive difference! In the fermenter(s) now are 2 x ESB kits, one straight pale ale and one Irish Red (with steeped grain etc..). Both of these are being fermented nice and cool - at 17 deg and I'm really excited about tasting them.

Just a quick post to re-assure the newbies (like myself) that small changes can make huge differences.

Cheers - Mike

 

[yardy]

MVZ,

i didn't think S-04 would work at that low temp, did it take very long to finish ?

cheers

yard

 

[Fingerlickin_B]

Yardy,

Given my limited knowledge of Fermentis yeasts, I still believe there are at least four different Safale strains <_<

Any corrections wilfully accepted

PZ.

 

[peas_and_corn]

Congrats on the successful brew! :beer:

The yeast was the biggest improver theree- I didn't know how much the yeast can improve the flavour of a beer until I started using good yeast. My honey beer on tap now is made using a wheat beer yeast instead of the Morgan's can yeast- incredible difference! I know what you're talking about, and I'm sure that just like me you will soon start eyeing off some liquid strains...

 

[yardy]

Yardy,

Given my limited knowledge of Fermentis yeasts, I still believe there are at least four different Safale strains <_<

Any corrections wilfully accepted

PZ.

[post="120754"][/post]​

DCL has 2 Ale yeasts here, neither recommend a lager temp though.

http://www.dclyeast.co.uk/DCL_Main/main_br...ew_prorange.htm

the S-33 Safbrew is a GP yeast that will go that low, perhaps this is what was used.


cheers

yard

 

[MVZOOM]

MVZ,

i didn't think S-04 would work at that low temp, did it take very long to finish ?

cheers

yard

[post="120746"][/post]​

Gidday Yardy - I used the blue Safale packet - I can't recall whether that's S-04 or the other one. On packet it states ok down to 15deg, I wanted it to stay at 18deg, but it was my first attempt at controlling a fridge via a timer switch and it ended up staying a bit lower.

Steady ferment over six days, I thought it would have taken longer than that too!

Cheers - Mike

 

[MVZOOM]

Congrats on the successful brew! :beer:

The yeast was the biggest improver theree- I didn't know how much the yeast can improve the flavour of a beer until I started using good yeast. My honey beer on tap now is made using a wheat beer yeast instead of the Morgan's can yeast- incredible difference! I know what you're talking about, and I'm sure that just like me you will soon start eyeing off some liquid strains...

[post="120762"][/post]​

Thanks P&C :beerbang:

I also managed to re-use the yeast off the cake, its been pitched into one of the ESB kits - so I've 1/2ved my investment to $2.

That worked (it was really easy!), so yes, a white labs is on the agenda for the next brew (maybe today!).

CHeers- Mike

 

[Mr Bond]

Ale yeasts are much better @ below 20c for cleaner flavas.
I regularly ferment with all my ale yeasts @ 15/20c and never above(except for weizen strains 22c)

 

[Ross]

MVZ,

i didn't think S-04 would work at that low temp, did it take very long to finish ?

cheers

yard

[post="120746"][/post]​

S-O4 works happily at 15c - see here

cheers Ross...

 

[scotsdalebrewery]

I to have found the joy of better yeast - which begs the obvious question - wtf do i do with four packets of coopers yeast?

 

[Mr Bond]

I to have found the joy of better yeast - which begs the obvious question - wtf do i do with four packets of coopers yeast?

[post="120836"][/post]​

Chuck it in the boil as yeast nutrient,
Make bread with it,
Bin it.

 

[Jazzafish]

I to have found the joy of better yeast - which begs the obvious question - wtf do i do with four packets of coopers yeast?

If you do a full boil, add a packet in the rolling boil. The dried yeast contains nutrients on top of the yeast itself. The yeast will die and drop out with the rest of the crap in the boil, while the nutrients will disolve into the wort.

Or so I'm told h34r:

 

[BeerMat]

My experience is Safale S-04 (blue packet) stops working once you get down below about 15 degrees. I had a beer made from S-04 that I bottled and left in the back shed during winter where the temp was around 15 degrees and it didn't carbonate. After 8 weeks it was still flat. I moved it to a warmer spot (around 20 degrees) for 2 weeks and it carbonated normally.

Keep in mind that the thermometer on the side of the fermenter is affected by the ambient air temperature as well as the brew temp. Also the liquid at the sides of the fermenter can be cooler than the liquid in the center so the fermentation may be a bit warmer than the thermometer leads you to believe.

I certainly noticed the difference when I switched to Safale and liquid yeasts. I made pizza bases with the Coopers yeast I had left over.

BTW, was the Coopers lager kit with 1kg of malt a bit sweet? I tried this years ago and it was sickly sweet for my taste. I found that a can of Coopers lager with 500g of malt made to 17 or 18 liters produced a full malt beer with the right balance of bitterness/sweetness.

 

[MVZOOM]

BTW, was the Coopers lager kit with 1kg of malt a bit sweet? I tried this years ago and it was sickly sweet for my taste. I found that a can of Coopers lager with 500g of malt made to 17 or 18 liters produced a full malt beer with the right balance of bitterness/sweetness.

[post="120862"][/post]​

Gidday BeerMat, it was slightly sweeter than I had liked at first taste, it seems now after 3 weeks at 3.4degC to have come around. It's certainly not sickly sweet on the pallet, quite bitter infact, with not much malt taste (could do with a bit more depth?). It's got quite a dry finish as well, which has come through over the last week.

Nowhere near as sweet as the Coopers Cervesa when made with recommended ingrediants :blink: .

Cheers - Mike

 

[oneills]

I can't agree more. I have only just started using decent yeasts- Saflager S-23 and safale S- 04 and the improvement is definately noticable. As i haven't got a temperature controlled fridge yet i have been using the Safale during the warmer weather and waiting for it to cool down before doing all the Lager kits that i have been stocking up on. Although i did a Beermakers Draught with Saflager recently and was able to keep it at 18 degC or under using wet towells and ice blocks and it turned out to be a good drop.

 

[Weizguy]

For my 2 cents, I'd use the Cooper's yeast for a Cooper's clone ale.

It may not be much chop for a lager yeast, but I'd heartily recommend it wherever you'd use a Cooper's re-culture.

I was making a Cooper's Real Ale kit + grain + malt/sugar mix + hops on a number of occasions, and found the Coopers packet yeast to do as good a job as the bottle yeast, but a helluva lot easier than culturing the yeast.

Your results may not be the same, but mine were consistent.
Seth (speaking with the voice of my experience)

 

[BeerMat]

BTW, was the Coopers lager kit with 1kg of malt a bit sweet? I tried this years ago and it was sickly sweet for my taste. I found that a can of Coopers lager with 500g of malt made to 17 or 18 liters produced a full malt beer with the right balance of bitterness/sweetness.

[post="120862"][/post]​

Gidday BeerMat, it was slightly sweeter than I had liked at first taste, it seems now after 3 weeks at 3.4degC to have come around. It's certainly not sickly sweet on the pallet, quite bitter infact, with not much malt taste (could do with a bit more depth?). It's got quite a dry finish as well, which has come through over the last week.

Nowhere near as sweet as the Coopers Cervesa when made with recommended ingrediants :blink: .

Cheers - Mike

[post="120907"][/post]​

I think the Safale yeast is the key here. I'm pretty sure I used the yeast supplied with the kit when I made that beer. I spoke to Coopers afterwards and they said that their kits aren't designed for 1kg of malt and that I should try 1kg of Brew Enhancer 2 instead. They said that the supplied yeast can't cope with that much malt. I had the same problem with a Muntons kit made with 1kg of malt so I wrote to Muntons to ask for some advice. Here was their response -

Hello,
Our standard yeast will struggle to ferment beers made to an all malt recipe. I suggest that you use Spraymalt in place of sugar, in the same quantity - 1kg, and change to an alternative yeast.

I would suggest Muntons Premium Gold yeast. This is a different strain, which will more readily ferment the complex sugars and attenuate further. Alternatively you could try using a proprietary liquid yeast.

I hope that this is useful

Best Regards
James Laurie
Marketing Assistant
Muntons plc


The Safale yeast has no problems coping with all malt recipes which is why you had more success than I did.

 

[Ross]

Hello,
Our standard yeast will struggle to ferment beers made to an all malt recipe. I suggest that you use Spraymalt in place of sugar, in the same quantity - 1kg, and change to an alternative yeast.

I would suggest Muntons Premium Gold yeast. This is a different strain, which will more readily ferment the complex sugars and attenuate further. Alternatively you could try using a proprietary liquid yeast.

I hope that this is useful

Best Regards
James Laurie
Marketing Assistant
Muntons plc

[post="120984"][/post]​

Well there you go - straight from the horses mouth - chuck those kit yeasts.
Some homebrew stores will swap the yeast for you free of charge if you ask...
Try doing that in a supermarket

cheers Ross

 

[MVZOOM]

The Safale yeast has no problems coping with all malt recipes which is why you had more success than I did.

[post="120984"][/post]​

BeerMat - could quite possibly be that. I'm a bit interested now to see how much of a difference brewing at a lower temp is, while using the same yeast - ie.. how much of a difference the temp makes.

That beer just keeps getting better and better. By last night the massive Cascade hop aroma (fresh as fresh hops from Ross) has abated a fair amount - it's getting smoother and more mature (duh - older!). I don't want to finish the keg, but it's going down my gullet bloody quickly!

Ross - I will never use an 'included' yeast again!

Cheers - Mike

 

[hando]

Gday guys/girls,

I am very keen to get a temp controlled enviro. to ferment in and start with the liquid yeasts. I am led to believe that that is the best bang for your buck improvements you can do for home brew.

Ross - it would be interesting to know which stores will swap the yeasts over???

Hando