Liquid Yeast First Timer

[Archie]

Gday All,
Its Fr Fr Friday nearly time to brew more beer.

I am asking all the pro's out there of using liquid yeasts i have decided to give it a bash this weekend and are looking for all pointers to make this go as smoothly as possible as i have never used liquid yeast before.

This is my recipe also so any thoughts on that would be great too its from ProMash just changed some of the values

Czech-German Pilsner

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (L): 23.00 Wort Size (L): 23.00
Total Grain (kg): 4.29
Anticipated OG: 1.038 Plato: 9.58
Anticipated SRM: 6.4
Anticipated IBU: 42.2
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65 %
Wort Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Formulas Used
-------------

Brewhouse Efficiency and Predicted Gravity based on Method #1, Potential Used.
Final Gravity Calculation Based on Points.
Hard Value of Sucrose applied. Value for recipe: 46.2100 ppppg
% Yield Type used in Gravity Prediction: Fine Grind Dry Basis.

Color Formula Used: Morey
Hop IBU Formula Used: Rager

Additional Utilization Used For Plug Hops: 2 %
Additional Utilization Used For Pellet Hops: 10 %


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
90.0 3.86 kg. Pilsener Germany 1.038 2
6.4 0.28 kg. Wheat Malt America 1.038 2
3.2 0.14 kg. Crystal 60L America 1.034 60
0.4 0.02 kg. Chocolate Malt Great Britain 1.034 475

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
34.45 g. Czech Saaz Whole 3.50 14.1 45 min.
25.84 g. Hallertauer Mittelfruh Pellet 4.50 14.9 45 min.
25.84 g. Hallertauer Mittelfruh Pellet 4.50 4.4 15 min.
17.23 g. Hallertauer Mittelfruh Pellet 4.50 3.0 15 min.
25.84 g. Czech Saaz Whole 3.50 3.1 15 min.
25.84 g. Hallertauer Mittelfruh Pellet 4.50 2.8 3 min.


Yeast
-----

WYeast 2007 Pilsen Lager




So any help with the use of liquid yeast would be great

Archie
:super:

 

[Airgead]

So any help with the use of liquid yeast would be great

Archie
:super:

Archie

Best advice I can give is to make a starter. Pitch the vial/smack pack into a litre or 2 of wort the day before to get the yeast active (and maybe get the cell count up a bit) before you pitch. Particularly with a lager yeast. Ale you can get away with just pitching straight in (though a starter is better) but a lager you really need a good amount of active yeast to get things going.

If you really want to get the cell count up make up the starter a week beforehand and feed it some wort every couple of days.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Archie]

So any help with the use of liquid yeast would be great

Archie
:super:

Archie

Best advice I can give is to make a starter. Pitch the vial/smack pack into a litre or 2 of wort the day before to get the yeast active (and maybe get the cell count up a bit) before you pitch. Particularly with a lager yeast. Ale you can get away with just pitching straight in (though a starter is better) but a lager you really need a good amount of active yeast to get things going.

If you really want to get the cell count up make up the starter a week beforehand and feed it some wort every couple of days.

Okay no worries do you just keey the starter out on the bench or do you keep it at say 19'c to get things going
my fermentation is around 16'c normally so i would just leave it on the bench overnight

Cheers

Archie

Cheers
Dave

 

[Airgead]

Okay no worries do you just keey the starter out on the bench or do you keep it at say 19'c to get things going
my fermentation is around 16'c normally so i would just leave it on the bench overnight

Cheers

Archie

On the bench should be fine though the current wisdom from the gurus is to keep the starter at the same temp you will ferment at. For a lager the fermentation temp is usually 10-12 or so. If you are fermenting at 16 then the bench will do just fine.

Cheers
Dave

 

[Archie]

Cheers Dave,
Will keep it at the same temp as i ferment at.
You wouldnt happen to be the dave from daves home brew shop in north sydney would you?

Cheers
Archie

 

[Airgead]

Cheers Dave,
Will keep it at the same temp as i ferment at.
You wouldnt happen to be the dave from daves home brew shop in north sydney would you?

Cheers
Archie

Fraid not. I'm Dave the IT Project Manager who wishes he owned a brewshop...

 

[Batz]

On the bench should be fine though the current wisdom from the gurus is to keep the starter at the same temp you will ferment at. For a lager the fermentation temp is usually 10-12 or so. If you are fermenting at 16 then the bench will do just fine.

Cheers
Dave

You don't keep a lager or ale starter at the same temperture as you ferment at,you are making a healthy yeast culture not beer.

http://www.wyeastlab.com/beprlist.htm#pac

Batz

 

[Batz]

And this rather old post

Before we had stir plates

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...4&hl=wyeast

Batz

 

[Trough Lolly]

I typically prepare a yeast starter around 2-3 days before pitching.
As Batz points out, we're making yeast not beer...So one way to do this is to take the smack pack out of the fridge and get to room temp; smack the pack to infuse the internal nutrients sachet into the yeast solution and thus cause the swelling as the yeast get to work on the nutrients; decant cleanly into a sanitised vessel with around 500ml of fresh wort; then innoculate every 12 or so hours with another volume of wort to build up an active starter of around 2 litres in size, by brewday.

An active 2L starter, stepped up over a couple of days ** will ensure that you have a good population of active viable yeast. I recommend bringing the starter down to fermentation temps or at least within 10C of the pitching temp before swirling and pitching into the fermenter. You can also pitch into the wort when the wort is at the same temp as the starter and then let the fridge bring the lot down to around 10C at the start of primary fermentation. You want to minimise shocking the yeast, especially lager strains and IMHO that equally applies whether you're pitching a relatively warm starter into chilled wort or vice versa...

** Some argue that pitching the smack pack into a large volume of wort will stress the yeast and you're better off regularly innoculating the starter with top-ups of fresh wort to keep building the yeast population. Of course, a stirplate will do wonders as well!!

Cheers,
TL

 

[Archie]

Stir Plates ????
Sounds all to technical for me im afraid

maybe later

 

[Rex]

WYeast 2007 Pilsen Lager

So any help with the use of liquid yeast would be great

I have used liquid yeast without a starter many times and not run into trouble. If you don't have time to plan your brewing day so far ahead, it will work.

Couple of tips for a first timer are to make sure you actually pop the nutrient pack inside! As the first time I used liquid yeat I was stressing that I'd explode the whole thing and actually failed to pop anything!

It will really puff up like a football after 3-5hrs, so you can definatly tell if you've stuffed up.

I've also taken to sticking the pack in a bucket of water at the appropriate temperature before poping and while waiting for it to puff up. Seems to minimise the risk of over/under heating the pack.

Good luck!

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

"infuse the internal nutrients "

I do this on a regular basis.... :lol:

or should that be " confuse the internal nutrients "

 

[berazafi]

WYeast 2007 Pilsen Lager

So any help with the use of liquid yeast would be great

I have used liquid yeast without a starter many times and not run into trouble. If you don't have time to plan your brewing day so far ahead, it will work.

Couple of tips for a first timer are to make sure you actually pop the nutrient pack inside! As the first time I used liquid yeat I was stressing that I'd explode the whole thing and actually failed to pop anything!

It will really puff up like a football after 3-5hrs, so you can definatly tell if you've stuffed up.

I've also taken to sticking the pack in a bucket of water at the appropriate temperature before poping and while waiting for it to puff up. Seems to minimise the risk of over/under heating the pack.

Good luck!

The older the pack is the longer it will take to swell, i had one at 6months (lager strain) and it took over 24 hours to swell

 

[Airgead]

[

You don't keep a lager or ale starter at the same temperture as you ferment at,you are making a healthy yeast culture not beer.

http://www.wyeastlab.com/beprlist.htm#pac

Batz

Batz

Have you been following the warm pitch/cold pitch controversy over at the brewing network (and other forums)?

At the moment cold pitch seems to be winning as yeast forms a stronger sell membrane at colder temps so a colder starter will take longer to grow but will grow healthier yeast...

I brew mostly ales anyway so bench temp is fine for my starters.

Cheers
Dave