Heated Digital Stirplates

[drewchad]

Ok, so two things... Firstly...

Yeast Forge - 1.jpg
I'm very happy to announce that a few Yeast Forges are finally ready to ship! Thanks so much to everyone for the feedback and suggestions provided in this thread that helped make this product what it is. Also, special thanks to Yob for your testing, feedback and unrelenting support! :beerbang:

Secondly - If anyone wants want to pick one up, head on over to our store here and use the coupon code FIRSTYEASTFORGES during checkout for a USD$20 discount.

PS. Let me know if you have any troubles with the coupon not working!

Is this code still valid?

 

[PaleRider]

I bought one a couple of weeks ago & asked about the code then. It's no longer available.
Don't let that stop you though, I've used mine twice & it's a great unit.

Cheers,

Matt.

 

[technobabble66]

I got one several weeks ago and shortly thereafter did a starter on it.
Absolutely fantastic bit of kit.
Admittedly I haven't really needed the temp control ability yet, but it's clearly a quality piece of gear. A vast improvement in my starter process.
Will report back in the colder months once the temp control gets a better test.
Highly recommended thus far.

 

[megabyte]

Thanks for the lovely feedback guys! We've recently sold a couple to Norway so it will be great to hear their feedback on the heating performance.

Also, sorry drewchad, the coupons ran out at the end of last year.

 

[Steved53]

Just took delivery of mine, ready for my new brewery build to get into action!

 

[Rocker1986]

I have one as well and while I've yet to need the heating function for obvious reasons, I can see that it is a quality piece of gear. Have done about 4 or 5 starters on it so far and it's going really well. The heating will definitely come in handy in a few months time though!

 

[droid]

yeeeeesssss just ordered the yeast forge - hoorah!

 

[megabyte]

Hoorah! we're packing it right now.

I just checked out your video, I'm sure you'll find a good space for it in your brew shed!

 

[droid]

^ha - thanks mate, really looking forward to it

 

[technobabble66]

Finally got to use the heating function.

I picked up a free WLP-550 from FullPint (Cheers, Cocko!!) a while ago, and finally needed it for my attempted Dubbel.
It was ~1 year old by now, so a bit doubtful as to whether it'd revive.
I chucked it into a 1.040 DME starter and set the Yeast Forge to work, temp set to 20°C.
Ambient here peaked ~20-23°C most of last week, so the nights dropped a fair bit below that.
The yeast took ~3 days to start up, so without the heater function it would been almost impossible to reasonably maintain a good temp. I had an additional thermometer in it to monitor the temp - it sat on 20°C the whole time.
Sure enough, it gradually fired up over days 4-6, then petered off for a few days, again needing some warmth at night. When almost finished fermenting, i cold crashed it for 36hrs in the fridge, then drained the surplus liquid off, followed by pouring in some of the Dubbel wort as it was drained out of the no-chill cube.
I vigorously spun it for 2 hrs on the stir plate (seemed a slight krausen was forming!) and pitched.
12 hrs later a massive krausen had formed and the yeast was going crazy.


Totally loving the Yeast Forge - it's an awesome bit of kit!!

Cheers, Michael!

 

[Randai]

Bought a yeast forge the other day. Super fast shipping.

I'll give it a crack this weekend. But quite excited and my little test run of it last night (with just water) seemed to go great.

Glad to buy from a local mob, thanks for making it!

 

[Fraser's BRB]

Bought a yeast forge the other day. Super fast shipping.

I'll give it a crack this weekend. But quite excited and my little test run of it last night (with just water) seemed to go great.

Glad to buy from a local mob, thanks for making it!

Second this sentiment, received mine very quickly last week and it's doing a great job on my first starter. Had a tech question for Michael and his respnse was rapid and accurate.

 

[Rocker1986]

Glad this thread popped up, I used the heating function on mine for the first time this year a couple of weeks ago on a 1469 starter, it went really well, kept the starter nice and warm to do its thing. I had it set to 22 or 24 can't remember which, but it always felt warm compared to the ambient air when I put my hand on the flask. Excellent piece of equipment!

 

[megabyte]

Thanks for all the positive feedback! This is our first winter since the Yeast Forges hit the market and they're really starting to make sense in this cold weather.

 

[Yob]

It's the ducks nibbly bits...

 

[Hoploader]

What's the optimal temp for a starter or is it yeast dependant?

 

[mofox1]

Is yeast dependant - mostly the lager/ale split.

Some say grow them up at ferment temp, as that's what they're destined for. However, a few degrees above ferment temp will get your little ones a'buzzin. Probably if you repeatedly grew dozens of successive generations at a higher temp, they wouldn't be as good for beer at ferment temp. One or two generations? Not likely to make much difference.

Mine - lagers @ 18, ale @ 25.

Probably should get the ol' yeast book out again so I'm not just spouting my own experience filtered through kilolitres of my own brew.

 

[Hoploader]

Cheers

 

[kaiserben]

I've read a few times that for multi-step starters it's okay to ferment early step/s warmer, but that it's better that the last step of your starter is as close to your actual ferment temp as possible.

In practice I rarely do multi-step starters and don't worry about temps in my single-step starters. I do all my starters at room temp (usually 20.5C +/- a degree or two). If I need a massive pitch for something like a high gravity lager I'll plan ahead and pitch a single-step starter into a regular gravity lager first, ferment that out, and then use the yeast cake for the big gravity lager.

 

[megabyte]

What's the optimal temp for a starter or is it yeast dependant?

My 2c. It is yeast dependant, but as a rule of thumb I generally aim a few degrees above my main fermentation temperature.

When I make a starter my first priority is to make a suitably sized culture of healthy, active, viable yeast. Whether or not the starter wort tastes great is a secondary concern because even if you pitch it into your beer, it only makes up a small part of your batch and a healthy main fermentation is more important as I've been told. I also don't mind if my starter is a little warm and produces some diacetyl since I usually chill and decant my starters before pitching. There are pros and cons to this method and even if you read the yeast books you still may remain undecided and use whatever is most suitable on a batch by batch basis. Horses for courses.

Example: For my latest Coopers bottle yeast starter I chose 22C and I am currently fermenting the beer at 18C. I doubt it would have mattered if I chose 20C or 24C for the starter, but I do know that my house (an uninsulated cottage made of rock) got down to 14C at night and without the heating of the Yeast Forge that would have worried me.