hi all. I'm a little confused and I think it's a case of information overload. Not sure if this is in the right place or not... feel free to move if it isn't!
I have recently switched to all-grain, and have been brewing small batches (around 10 litres, scaled using BrewMate) to get into the right practices, and also to give me an excuse to brew more beers more often.
My first AG was a kolsch and it's bottle conditioning - if I can leave it alone! - and my second, an IPA, has now been sitting in primary for 7 days. I'm completely hooked and I don't think I'll go back to kit and extract brewing as it's heaps of fun on brew day creating beer (and I love the smells!!).
The next brew is going to be a weizen, again a 10 litre batch, and I've got a nice activator "smack" pack of Wyeast 3068 to pitch.
I know the pack is optimised for a 5 gallon/23 litre batch. I would like some banana flavours through so will try not to over-pitch, but I was looking for some advice on the best approach.
From an under-pitching perspective I'm thinking about 1/3rd of the pack will be fine in a 10 litre batch. But I'm a bit stuck as to the best approach to split it. All my other beers have been done using dried yeast, and only the last few have used anythign other than what's under the lid on the can of gloop.
Do I smack the pack, wait til it expands then just divide what is in there by 3, pouring 1/3rd into the fermenter and saving the other 2/3rds in stubbies? Or is there anything different I should do?
I've read that some people split the liquid yeast into 6 test tubes using a syringe, others build starters up etc. I've never made a starter before and I've never used liquid yeast before. I've been trying to look at the best options but there's an awful lot of information out there and for a noob like myself it's really difficult sometimes to filter out the stuff that isn't applicable or heed the stuff that is.
The other option I was toying with is making a second 10l batch straight after, and smacking the pack as normal then dividing it across two fermenters at the same time for pitching. Although I think two brews on one day may be pushing it a little for me... maybe... (but I'm open to suggestion to a fairly straightforward AG suggestion for the 3068!)
any thoughts or suggestions on splitting or saving etc the remaining yeasties? If I recall the pack wasn't cheap so I'd rather not waste any of it (I'm a tight-arse! lol!)
any suggestions or help would be most appreciated!
cheers!
Darren
I have recently switched to all-grain, and have been brewing small batches (around 10 litres, scaled using BrewMate) to get into the right practices, and also to give me an excuse to brew more beers more often.
My first AG was a kolsch and it's bottle conditioning - if I can leave it alone! - and my second, an IPA, has now been sitting in primary for 7 days. I'm completely hooked and I don't think I'll go back to kit and extract brewing as it's heaps of fun on brew day creating beer (and I love the smells!!).
The next brew is going to be a weizen, again a 10 litre batch, and I've got a nice activator "smack" pack of Wyeast 3068 to pitch.
I know the pack is optimised for a 5 gallon/23 litre batch. I would like some banana flavours through so will try not to over-pitch, but I was looking for some advice on the best approach.
From an under-pitching perspective I'm thinking about 1/3rd of the pack will be fine in a 10 litre batch. But I'm a bit stuck as to the best approach to split it. All my other beers have been done using dried yeast, and only the last few have used anythign other than what's under the lid on the can of gloop.
Do I smack the pack, wait til it expands then just divide what is in there by 3, pouring 1/3rd into the fermenter and saving the other 2/3rds in stubbies? Or is there anything different I should do?
I've read that some people split the liquid yeast into 6 test tubes using a syringe, others build starters up etc. I've never made a starter before and I've never used liquid yeast before. I've been trying to look at the best options but there's an awful lot of information out there and for a noob like myself it's really difficult sometimes to filter out the stuff that isn't applicable or heed the stuff that is.
The other option I was toying with is making a second 10l batch straight after, and smacking the pack as normal then dividing it across two fermenters at the same time for pitching. Although I think two brews on one day may be pushing it a little for me... maybe... (but I'm open to suggestion to a fairly straightforward AG suggestion for the 3068!)
any thoughts or suggestions on splitting or saving etc the remaining yeasties? If I recall the pack wasn't cheap so I'd rather not waste any of it (I'm a tight-arse! lol!)
any suggestions or help would be most appreciated!
cheers!
Darren