New Brewer Questions

[ldw553]

Hey guys, new nervous brewer here. I started my brew on thursday night using your standard "beginners kit" and a Beer Essentials pale ale. Sorry if this is a repeat of another post but two things I'm worried about;

1) I thought my thermostat sticker wasn't working cos it wouldn't go any lower than 28 - so put the yeast in. I now see it is working and that much liquid takes longer than anticipated to cool down. Put it in an ice bucket, where its been sitting at around 22 degrees celcius since with a towel covering it. My question: Would putting yeast in that temp kill the yeast, or would it cause oxidation or anything else?
2) I used tap water. I live in Perth and I think the chlorine count is the same Australia wide, between 0.5 mL - 1.5 mL per litre which obviously isn't much but I'm worried it will affect the taste of my beer. Thoughts?

Thanks everyone

 

[slcmorro]

1 - No. Kit yeast is typically very hardy. It'll be fine. Next time if you can, freeze a 4L ice cream container full of water and use that to get the temp down. Try to sanitise it, and if you can, freeze cooled boiled water that you prepared before hand.

2 - It might, but I doubt you'll be able to taste the difference considering you're very new.

Enjoy your beer. Be patient, take notes, learn, read and keep asking questions. Welcome!

 

[damoninja]

What was in the beer essentials kit? They usually come with some other yeast.
Either way that pitching temp is fine, most the yeasts I use just say pitch above 20C.

And since this is your first brew, be patient

The store I bought my first beer essentials kit said "Make sure you don't leave it too long you'll get an infection".
It will finish fermenting much sooner, but it's good to leave it 10-14 days before bottling.

 

[ldw553]

It came with lager yeast which I thought was strange? US-05 branded. Plus liquid malt, dry wheat malt, grain, an Amarillo finishing infusion bag

 

[ldw553]

Slcmorro, do you mean put the icecream container into the actual fermenter?

 

[maxim0200]

lower temp for yeast is fine it just goes to sleep Hotter temps gives of different flavours.
If you have a batch of wort that is to hot for 'pitching' and you have good sanitization you can put the lid on top and let her cool for half a day or so and it will be fine.
I use an old wet towel and a fan to get my brews down, itl suck 2-5 deg out of her with one wet towel , i dont know how cold it will get the brew down but id dare say if keep the towel wet itd get right down there.

Hypothetically you could put that brew into a fridge and chill to 5 deg, that would stall he fermentation and then you could warm it back up to 2ish degC and it would continue to ferment fine (excluding infection issues of course).


US-05 is an ale yeast and from what youve said perfect for your brew.
This is definatly to advanced for your first brew but If you're feeling real gutsy have a look at 'washing yeast' http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/3697-yeast-farming/, There is also afew good Youtube videos on it
basically you rack the beer off the cake to bottle etc. then you put the leftover yeast in jars and save it for your next brew.

Within reason you can leave the beer on the yeast as long as you want, Personally I have had a batch sit in a cake for 4-5 weeks because i dddnt have the keg/bottles free and ive read people doing it for much longer.

 

[slcmorro]

Haha, no mate. Tip the block of ice that's in the container out into the fermenter. It'll melt, adding 4L of water to your overall volume and cool is down to sub 28c while it's at it. It should melt pretty quickly.

 

[Nibbo]

Don't stress over the tap water...unless you have really potent smelling tap water, it'll be fine. Most home brewers around the country will be using tap water. I use to run a water treatment plant in Perth and i'd say it will be 0.5mg - L at the tap.
I do some brews in my shop using tap water and i brew at home using rain water. I'm happy with either sources although I do rather not having fluoride in my beer.
It's good to see you have already identified that the wort was too warm when you put in the yeast. You'll know for next time to try and pitch the yeast at 18 - 20 degree's. As said above the US-05 is an ale yeast and will do the job fine.

Learn from each brew you do and enjoy the hobby...

 

[BeardedWonder]

Within reason you can leave the beer on the yeast as long as you want, Personally I have had a batch sit in a cake for 4-5 weeks because i dddnt have the keg/bottles free and ive read people doing it for much longer.

I have had two brews left on the yeast cake for "too long". One was 45 days in primary FV, the second 70 days in primary FV. Both brews taste fine to my palate. I'm sure that there are reasons for NOT leaving it on the yeast cake so long (infection risks aside); From my experience it may have had an effect on the hop profile, but I plan to explore that further.

ldw553: I have a limited amount of space in my brew room and kitchen and (food) fridge, so I often find it difficult to have the space to freeze some water prior to brewing (the missus keeps insisting on filling the damn freezer with food....got her priorities arse about).

I have used two methods successfully so far:
As maxim0200 suggested, I've filled the FV with wort and water to 23L then left it overnight.

I've also cooled the wort in the boiling pot after the hop boil was complete. Just gave it an ice bath (zooper-dooper icypoles work well for this), changing the water and "ice" as it warms and swirling the water (carefully) around the pot occasionally to hasten the process.

Both methods worked but I now find myself incorporating a mix of the three methods (ice block into the wort; ice bath for the boil pot; fill, close and leave FV for a few hours).

Half the fun of this hobby is finding out what methods work for you within the confines of your circumstances.

BW

 

[damoninja]

Based on the fact sheet for that yeast 22C is fine for pitching directly in to wort. http://www.fermentis.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/SFA_US05.pdf
Some people have said "Pitching too high causes off flavours" others say "Pitching higher then cooling is good because yeast get going quicker in warmth".

I've done both and noticed little difference, your beer should be good.

How are you keeping it cool in Perth at the moment h34r:

 

[ldw553]

Thanks guys, all very helpful comments. I started brewing on thurs night and it's bubbling away every 2-3 seconds or so. Does that sound normal? I have the wet towel and ice bucket going, keeping it at a consistent 20-22. Hopefully that's not too low

 

[ldw553]

And damoninja, weather here is terrible! Fires burnt down 27 houses today, one person dead. My fermenter survived so not to worry.

 

[damoninja]

Thanks guys, all very helpful comments. I started brewing on thurs night and it's bubbling away every 2-3 seconds or so. Does that sound normal? I have the wet towel and ice bucket going, keeping it at a consistent 20-22. Hopefully that's not too low

22 is good, it's actually on the high-mid temp range for US05, if you check the fact sheet it says 15-25C.
I generally keep mine as low as possible eg 17, 18, 20 depending on the recipe.
Don't adjust it now though, that temp is fine.

The bubbling sounds about right, should have had a big thing of foam come and start to fade by now, maybe still there. If you put it in on Thursday, at that temperature it's probably starting to slow down is should be nearly finished fermenting.

 

[ldw553]

Is it OK to leave it for like another week? Some people are saying leave for minimum 2 weeks, which I'm not sure if it's excessive.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

I'll often leave for 4 weeks, brew, yeast and temperature dependent.

2 weeks is a minimum. You'll ferment out and then the yeast will have time to drop out of suspension (called flocculating).

 

[damoninja]

^ this.

I generally check it for a day or 2 after I pitch to make sure everything is OK then forget about it until day 14. I usually don't leave it any longer unless I'm out of bottles but it's no issue if you do!

On the temperature topic, you may want to consider getting a hold of a dedicated fermentation fridge, it's pretty simple and more efficient / consistent than ice bathing... strongly recommended and there's plenty of help here!