Lurkaholic from Perth

[BelgoBlacks]

g'day,
Just announcing myself (or coming out of the fermenter cabinet, if you will). Long time lurker and absorber of ahb info.

Have learned a tremendous amount from the contributors to this board (and Homebrewtalk.com). Pure gold, fellas.
Keep it up.

So far have done:

• Kits & DME + hops : Coopers Lager + Saaz (lots of it, not so much grassy notes as a grassy knoll! still ruminating that one...)
• Extract + hops: Neil's Centenarillo (yum), Hoegaarden(ish) wit(ish) x2 with wy 3944 starters (yum)
• Cooper's recipes: Chubby Cherub & Marilyn's secret ROTM's (both BRY-97, both infected, very nearly the end of my experiment)
• Have got a Cooper's IPA Motueka slam in the fermy right now, no infection, doing well, just dry hopped
• and have an old(ish) can of Coopers Pale Ale I'm going to slam with Galaxy

learnings there were many, pretty sure there will be more....

So far, want to do:

• amber ales, belgian strongs, IPAs, a few lagers to keep the missus happy
• maybe get an urn (birko or Crown) for BIAB (do they even exist over here ? :unsure: )

Looking to do beery stuff because it involves tinkering with stuff :wacko: and drinking beer... :chug:
cheers
belgoblacks

 

[StalkingWilbur]

Welcome, Belgo!

Get amongst it, there's a great bunch of Westerners (the better people, I like to call us) on here.

Birko urns are easy to get, but I think I've only seen one place that stocks crown. Keep an eye on the buy and sell and also on gumtree. I picked up a 20L Birko on gumtree for $50 that I use for sparge water.

Some of those brews sound tasty as!

What are you using to clean and sanitise?

 

[BelgoBlacks]

Cheers stalkingwilbur,
Looking forward to get little more involved.
Thanks for the tip on the urn. Ill be looking out for something in the 40L bracket so will keep a lookout.

Ive been using starsan from the get go. Thought I had sanitised the bejeezus out of everything including myself after the first infection. Obviously not. Started reading about some issues with the yeast and remembered that those brews did take long time to start fermenting. But most likely I missed something. What sh*ts me is that I can't figure out what.

 

[StalkingWilbur]

If they took a long time to kick off that could be the source of the infection.

You could help this by using a yeast nutrient. By making sure you oxygenate the wort sufficiently before pitching yeast. And by making sure you're using the correct amount of healthy yeast. Make sure it's fresh enough, use a yeast calculator to make sure you're pitching the right amount (I use Mr. Malty) and while the topic can be debated, rehydrating your yeast is generally thought to help your yeast. Either that, or make a yeast starter to really make sure they're healthy and ready to go, but I haven't actually done that yet, so I can't help there!

 

[BelgoBlacks]

If they took a long time to kick off that could be the source of the infection.

You could help this by using a yeast nutrient. By making sure you oxygenate the wort sufficiently before pitching yeast. And by making sure you're using the correct amount of healthy yeast. Make sure it's fresh enough, use a yeast calculator to make sure you're pitching the right amount (I use Mr. Malty) and while the topic can be debated, rehydrating your yeast is generally thought to help your yeast. Either that, or make a yeast starter to really make sure they're healthy and ready to go, but I haven't actually done that yet, so I can't help there!

yeah that's how i ended up taking the plunge on an erlenmeyer flask.... worked for my wit biers...
still dont trust the BRY-97 though... :unsure:

cheers.

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Welcome to the fray
Just remember one thing , this is the start of an obsession .
If in Bassendean drop in.
Nev

 

[StalkingWilbur]

Get yourself to Bassendean and drop in. Nev will be able to help you out more than I ever could!

 

[Blind Dog]

Welcome

Per stalkingwilbur, rehydrating dry yeast is really simple, but really helps. I use 2 ziplock bags, I sanitized. Add about 100 ml boiled water to each, sit a thermometer in the unsanitised one and when it hits about 25C add the yeast to the sanitized bag, squeeze out the air and seal. Makes it warier to squish the yeast around and avoids temp shock. I do the same if I'm making bread, just seems to make the yeast happy

 

[StalkingWilbur]

I've only rehydrated once. Sterilized everything, put boiling water into a temp proof glass jug and then into an ice bath until it hit target temp then added yeast and stirred. Work well.

I think if you're still having that trouble a yeast starter will be the way to go. That way you know the correct amount of healthy yeast are ready to kick off straight away.