Nick's Brewhouse

[Rocker1986]

So if I'm understanding correctly, you get a new pack of yeast, pitch it into a starter, let it grow for what an hour? Then steal a bit of the mixture into another starter that goes into the fridge and pitch the original yeast?

How much would you steal out of the starter?

I run it the same length as I would if I wasn't harvesting. So, for the current one, it was on the stir plate for 24 hours, then sat for another day and a half until I turned the stirrer back on earlier to mix it all up again for harvesting. I usually take 800mL of mixed up starter into a jar that size. I work out how many cells I've got by dividing the 800mL by the size of the starter and multiplying that percentage by the predicted total count in the calculator I use (YeastCalc).

 

[NikZak]

That sounds like too much math for me... lol

I might just stick to the usual little packages of yeast started in water for now and whenever I feel like reusing old yeast, I'll just pour wort onto a cake in the fermenter. It seems a lot of people have no major problems doing that and if I can get two brews out of one yeast package, I reckon I'm winning

Might practice washing yeast though out of my current batches and see how that goes

 

[Diesel80]

That sounds like too much math for me... lol

I might just stick to the usual little packages of yeast started in water for now and whenever I feel like reusing old yeast, I'll just pour wort onto a cake in the fermenter. It seems a lot of people have no major problems doing that and if I can get two brews out of one yeast package, I reckon I'm winning

Might practice washing yeast though out of my current batches and see how that goes

Nik, easy way to start is to bottle the cake. you can get a series of small water bottles, and mix the trub up in the fermenter with the yeast to create a slurry and fill the sanitized bottles straight from the tap. Not awesome practice as the cell counts will vary between bottles but will work fine if no infection is harvested / created.

Just put them in the fridge and when needed lump them into the next batch.

Pitching onto a cake is a massive overpitch, whilst it will work, this process is basically the same but will be less of a massive overpitch.

I will dig up a thread on here by another Nick about bottling and reusing the trub. It is quite a rustic process but very simple. I do it on occasion to reuse expensive yeast.
Edit: here http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/45716-bottling-fermenter-trub/

Cheers,
D80

 

[NikZak]

Nik, easy way to start is to bottle the cake. you can get a series of small water bottles, and mix the trub up in the fermenter with the yeast to create a slurry and fill the sanitized bottles straight from the tap. Not awesome practice as the cell counts will vary between bottles but will work fine if no infection is harvested / created.

Just put them in the fridge and when needed lump them into the next batch.

Pitching onto a cake is a massive overpitch, whilst it will work, this process is basically the same but will be less of a massive overpitch.

I will dig up a thread on here by another Nick about bottling and reusing the trub. It is quite a rustic process but very simple. I do it on occasion to reuse expensive yeast.
Edit: here http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/45716-bottling-fermenter-trub/

Cheers,
D80

Cheers thanks for that Diesel, that's more my speed at this point.

 

[Bridgey23]

Hey NikZak.
I'm no expert just starting myself but I use Homebrew dad's yeast starter calculator.

http://www.brewunited.com/yeast_calculator.php

It works out your overbuild and tells you what to pitch and what to harvest. Very easy for harvesting starters. It does the math for you. [emoji4]

 

[Barge]

Ive been brewing for 15 years and I'm still a liquid yeast virgin. I just haven't had the confidence to invest the money into liquid until i know i can resue them consistently.

Recently I've started collecting about a cup of slurry in bottles to reuse. So far so good. Now I've got my eye on the wyeast 3068.

 

[NikZak]

Hey there folks, just a quick update.

Should be bottling the American Pale Ale tonight, providing I can get bottles, my biggest problem at the moment is finding enough bottles to put my brews into... Perhaps I should slow down a little and stop perpetually having two going at a time

Will probably be bottling the Christmas beer too by the end of the week. Will be putting it into Grolsch style bottles until I run out of those (the glass bottles will be kept probably longer than the PET ones that'll be taken to Christmas Lunch and Dinner this year. But the American Pale Ale will be definitely put into PET bottles as I don't want the expense reight now of getting a bottle capper and crown tops as well as glass bottles. I'm having a bit of trouble tracking down anyone who has glass bottles for free or cheap. Any hints?

 

[ajg]

have a look on your local facebook buy swap sell pages. I put a post on my local one and ended up with 210 longnecks in crates for $30.

 

[NikZak]

Honestly, that hadn't crossed my mind, I've posted to the FaceSpace, we'll see what happens

 

[NikZak]

Found a guy nearby to me, got 65 longnecks for $30 which is ok in my book... only problem is they've been sitting outside a couple of years and are full of rainwater and some grime... He suggested river sand, about an inch in the bottom of each with some water, a good shake and rinse then sanitize to get them clean.

Does this sound reasonable to clean them? anything else you could suggest?

 

[Rocker1986]

Well it might help remove some of it, but after trying that approach I'd be getting some sodium percarbonate, the pure stuff not the nappy soakers, putting a teaspoon or so in each bottle then filling them up with hot tap water and letting them soak. Repeat if necessary. That stuff is bloody good at removing **** and all you have to do is let it sit there.

 

[Diesel80]

Get bigger bottles mate, 18L stainless ones.
:super:
Cheers,
D80

 

[Barge]

I don't want the expense reight now of getting a bottle capper and crown tops as well as glass bottles.

Kegs are definitely the way to go. Even though they are more expense you can do it in stages. I would put that $30 into a regulator (picked one up 2nd hand for $40?, I think), a sodastream adapter ($20-30) and a sodastream gas bottle (managed to buy 2 for $20 each because the chick at coles charged me the refill price instead of $50 each for buying new) and a reconditioned keg ($80ish). The other obvious expense is a 2nd fridge but you can get away with this relatively cheaply, or maybe upgrade the kitchen fridge and use the old one.

If you need more bottles in the short term you may as well go with PET bottles. You don't need to buy a capper as well and they are already clean.

To clarify, I would buy minimum number of PET bottles needed to get by for now. Then when you get a handy $40 go to coles/woolies and see if you can buy a couple of sodastreams cheap. If not, try another store. It's a bit of running around but when money's tight and time's on your side it's worth it. Further clarification, Sodastream cylinders are expensive long-term if you are going to force carbonate your beer. They are a cheap way to begin kegging if you keg condition your beer (i.e. prime the keg with dex or malt and leave it for a week or 2 to carb up as you usually do now. The first couple of pints that get drawn up are essentially sediment but after that you get pretty clear beer).

With the gas sorted I would then buy the adapter when you have a spare $20. Same with the reg and keg, buy one when you can.

If you wait to have a few hundred to get into kegging then you probably never will. When you have one you can keg and bottle, eventually upgrading to a 2nd, 3rd keg. After a while you will then want to move onto a bigger CO2 setup using mykegonlegs or similar. Then you can sell the bottles, sodastream adapter, etc and you won't look back.

 

[Diesel80]

Then you can sell the bottles, sodastream adapter, etc and you won't look back.

Or keep them for a party keg setup!

Cheers,
D80

 

[NikZak]

I don't know about kegging quite yet. I have no problem with bottling and I feel like the beer tastes better especially after letting it condition for longer than kegs would ordinarily allow

Got me a good bunch of bottles now, including a NT/Darwin stubby which is cool, as well as a capper and some crown tops to get me going, will post some photos of the new loot tonight when I get home

 

[Diesel80]

FYI, Beer in a keg conditions much faster than in a bottle. If you can keep you hands off the tap that is.

7 days in keg, cold @ serving pressure will carbonate the beer as well as perform a cold crash to settle out floaties etc. It will therefore clear your beer and carbonate it. That is a win / win no?
Leave it another week on top of that and it is very good. Another two weeks and it is absolutely magnificent. You will pat yourself on the back, hi five imaginary people and proclaim that this keg thing is absolutely f*cking amazing. Then you will go to pour a celebratory beer from the keg to toast your awesomeness, but all you will get will be foam. Happens every, single time. It will leave you hollow, crushed and at a low point. Until that is, you swap the disconnects over to the pre-carbonated spare keg and the journey starts over.

At kegging time in a 23l batch you will need 6 stubbies for the last 2L so you will be able to keep them stored an conditioning as per current process.
Either way, glad to see you are enjoying the hobby mate. There is no right way, or wrong way to enjoy it.

Cheers,
D80

 

[Rocker1986]

What Diesel said ^^ :lol: Just learning this now but I am very new to kegging. My first two kegs have lasted about 2.5 weeks on average, and I can honestly say that both of them tasted shitloads better after about a week, than a bottled version of the same recipe does now after nearly 10 weeks in the bottle. It's quite amazing how quickly it takes them to be really good compared to bottles. Of course, by the time they got to be excellent, they blew dry. I am getting a stockpile happening now though through constant brewing, so at least they'll get more time in the keg now, and probably last less time on the taps.... :lol:

But yes, above all enjoyment of the hobby obsession is the main thing, whichever way you package the beer and also good to see another keen brewer doing just that!

 

[NikZak]

Definitely more of an obsession than a hobby as I've already discovered...

This weekend I'm planning to move operations from the Linen press as SWMBO has expressed her feelings regarding beer-smelling linen quite strongly.

Luckily I have a basement which will make for a very nice temperature over the coming warm months for brewing and conditioning bottles... Just need to build some shelving down there this weekend and get the fermenters, conditioning bottles and empties down there

 

[Alex.Tas]

Now I've got my eye on the wyeast 3068.

Love that yeast. I learnt the hard way that pitching rates matter, especially with wheat beers where much of the flavour is derived from the yeast. use a good calculator to work out your witching rates, and my advice (not that you asked for it) would be for a full flavoured wheat, is to aim for 70% of the recommended ale pitching rate.

I'm having a bit of trouble tracking down anyone who has glass bottles for free or cheap. Any hints?

Bit late, but you will run out of bottles soon enough... Recycling centre is the easiest option. Just make sure you give them a good nuking to kill any baddies lurking. Inspect for chips too. I found it is easier to source champagne style bottles if you want 750ml. The labels are harder to remove though. Turps does wonders on removing the glue. You will need a 29mm bell for the capper and 29mm crown seals too. most LHBS stock these in my experience.

 

[NikZak]

I've been thinking of starting to collect champagne bottles because SWMBO likes a bit of bubbly every now and then but wasn't sure if I could get a bell or caps. Now that I know I'll start collecting