Yeast packet opening failure!

I think you've learnt one of the most important rules of homebrew, which is to always have a pack of a fairly neutral dry yeast kicking round the fridge just in case. Dry yeast has a long shelflife - in the real world, the half life of yeast from the big manufacturers is something like 10 years, I wouldn't trust the repackers like Mangrove Jacks *quite* as much. So it depends on what you brew most of - British styles, hoppy stuff or lagers, but it's always good to have a pack of something like Nottingham, US-05 or 34/70 kicking around just in case you have a disaster. It's not so much the financial cost of the ingredients you waste, your time is worth more than the cost of a packet of yeast.

Ross1974 said:

Used Citra. I do have Saaz here too, and cascade, but Citra won the day. Purely based on coin tosses.

Click to expand...

Rather than coin tosses, a good rule of thumb when you're starting out is - if in doubt, use ingredients from the same region as they generally go better together (or at least, they go together in a way that will seem familiar). It's a rule that is made to be broken as you get more experience, but in the early days you won't go too far wrong mixing eg Belgian yeast with hops from continental Europe (ie Saaz in this case) and pilsner malt. Because that's what the Belgians themselves do - beer styles have evolved through people buying "local" in the days before hops and yeast were flown around the world.

Sadfield said:

If you've gone with the Belgian, I'd be tempted to throw some table sugar in with it, like what them Belgians do. It'll bump up the abv, dry it out and bring it closer to style for a Belgian Strong Ale. A bit like Duvel Triple Hop Citra.

Click to expand...

Why would adding sugar dry it out? It will ferment the additional sugar out, but isn't going to ferment out the base malt etc further. Is it?

Bitter_Dave said:

Why would adding sugar dry it out? It will ferment the additional sugar out, but isn't going to ferment out the base malt etc further. Is it?

Click to expand...

No, but it will likely be perceived as dry with its new, higher abv and greater attenuation. It's about the relationship between OG and FG and the perception of sweetness.

OG1.030 and FG1.010 = 66% attenuation.
OG1.040 and FG1.010 = 74% attenuation.
OG1.050 and FG1.010 = 79% attenuation.

When you say "Fairly neutral dry yeast", I have some youngs active yeast in the fridge (and it's well in date).
I've never found it'll make anything decent though. It says for winemaking, but it's not great at that either.

I bought half a kilo of EC1118 because it was cheaper than buying half a dozen sachets. But I'm not sure that will make great beer.

Sadfield said:

No, but it will likely be perceived as dry with its new, higher abv and greater attenuation. It's about the relationship between OG and FG and the perception of sweetness.

OG1.030 and FG1.010 = 66% attenuation.
OG1.040 and FG1.010 = 74% attenuation.
OG1.050 and FG1.010 = 79% attenuation.

Click to expand...

Ok, but this perception of dryness is only going to happen if you tell tell the person drinking it it is now higher alcohol. Relative to what the beer tasted like before it will be more or less the same in taste.

Bitter_Dave said:

Ok, but this perception of dryness is only going to happen if you tell tell the person drinking it it is now higher alcohol. Relative to what the beer tasted like before it will be more or less the same in taste.

Click to expand...

Correct. The amount of residual (unfermentable) sugar will be the same in the finished beer whether you add more (fermentable) sugar or not. So the only difference in "adding sugar to dry it out" would be an increase in ABV in the finished beer. Would this "make it seem dryer"? I doubt it - it's easily tested by putting a slug of vodka or some neutral spirit into the finished beer. My university days can attest that no-one could tell the difference.

If you replaced malt with simple sugars, I can see how that would "dry the beer out" - but I can't see that just adding more simple sugar would do the same.

Bitter_Dave said:

Ok, but this perception of dryness is only going to happen if you tell tell the person drinking it it is now higher alcohol. Relative to what the beer tasted like before it will be more or less the same in taste.

Click to expand...

But the OP will know the abv, they're ******* brewing it. They'll have a well attenuated beer that is dry for it's ABV. Which, considering the beer is now fermented with a Belgian yeast, is more appropriate to style. Alcohol will also lower the FG, that's why it's possible to ferment below 1.000 whilst still retaining some residual sugar.

Stu said:

When you say "Fairly neutral dry yeast", I have some youngs active yeast in the fridge (and it's well in date).
I've never found it'll make anything decent though. It says for winemaking, but it's not great at that either.

I bought half a kilo of EC1118 because it was cheaper than buying half a dozen sachets. But I'm not sure that will make great beer.

Click to expand...

Wine yeasts are not "neutral" in beer, as they are generally phenolic ("Belgian") - so the opposite of neutral!

Ok, so not much happening in the fermenter, for some reason. When I get home I'll check SG andgo from there. Got some generic ale yeast now so might crash that in if it looks viable. Any advice further than that?

Ross1974 said:

Ok, so not much happening in the fermenter, for some reason. When I get home I'll check SG andgo from there. Got some generic ale yeast now so might crash that in if it looks viable. Any advice further than that?

Click to expand...

Scratch that. Seems ok.
The SG has gone from 1.050 to 1.007. Defintely has been fermenting as seen on my ispindle profile. Weird that I didn't hear the usual gloop gloop of the airlock, but it was a different type than the one I am used to. Very quiet in use. Well it's kegged up and unser CO2 now, so time and good fortune will tell.