foxbat's brewdays

[Galena]

No need to thank me, it's not like I spent more than about 15 minutes researching for you

 

[soupdragon]

OK so I pressed some buttons, pulled some levers and my recipes website creaked into life. Here it is. Forever a work in progress, much like all the internet to be fair, but it'll do for now.

Rather late to the list of thank you's but.......

THANK YOU

Cheers Tom

 

[foxbat]

Rather late to the list of thank you's but.......

THANK YOU

Cheers Tom

You're most welcome!

 

[foxbat]

I decided to keg my Landlord-esque bitter on Sunday after 14 days in the fermenter. There was still the odd bubble from the blow-off tube every minute or so but I've learned that this Brewlab yeast will do that, way past the point when it's finished.

FG was 1.007 for an ABV of 4.9% which makes it stronger than Landlord and it's definitely paler too. Nonetheless I'm sure it'll be beer and it'll be ready for the Christmas holiday.

I got a full keg and 3 bottles before the fermenter ran dry. The keg was fined with only gelatin this time because I'd run out of Clear-IT and instead bought a pack of the leaf stuff from TMM to give that a try. I boiled about 150ml of water, cooled it to 65C, added the gelatin which dissolved instantly and added it to the keg during the transfer.

I purged the headspace of the keg with 5x15psi and left it to carbonate at around 12psi or so. It should be ready for sampling in a couple of weeks.

 

[Galena]

The keg was fined with only gelatin this time because I'd run out of Clear-IT

Are you kegging to Cornies? I am interested in your process because I have only used Gelatin in the FV during cold crash, do you get much sediment? Also what is Clear-IT and when do you choose to use it and why?

 

[foxbat]

Are you kegging to Cornies? I am interested in your process because I have only used Gelatin in the FV during cold crash, do you get much sediment? Also what is Clear-IT and when do you choose to use it and why?

Yes I'm kegging to a corny. I don't use finings in the FV - not because that's any better or worse but because I don't cold crash and don't open my FV at all until kegging day.

I don't notice much sediment in the keg except a little puddle in the recess at the bottom when it's empty. About half to 2/3 of a pint is sediment when I first tap the keg and that is thrown away.

Clear-IT is a two-part fining consisting of gelatin and kieselsol. The main drawback I find is that the gelatin is pre-mixed and if you don't use it all up in a few months it stinks and while I haven't noticed a flavour impact on the beer I thought this time I'd just use pure gelatin and see how it goes.

 

[Galena]

Yes I'm kegging to a corny. I don't use finings in the FV - not because that's any better or worse but because I don't cold crash and don't open my FV at all until kegging day.

I don't notice much sediment in the keg except a little puddle in the recess at the bottom when it's empty. About half to 2/3 of a pint is sediment when I first tap the keg and that is thrown away.

Clear-IT is a two-part fining consisting of gelatin and kieselsol. The main drawback I find is that the gelatin is pre-mixed and if you don't use it all up in a few months it stinks and while I haven't noticed a flavour impact on the beer I thought this time I'd just use pure gelatin and see how it goes.

Thanks, I have stopped cold crashing and not used Gelatin since, I may give this a try on my next brew, how much to a corny are you using?

 

[foxbat]

Thanks, I have stopped cold crashing and not used Gelatin since, I may give this a try on my next brew, how much to a corny are you using?

One leaf per corny. For me it's cheap insurance as the beers seem pretty clear going into the keg anyway.

 

[matt76]

FWIW @foxbat , I've tried Clear It but then switched to powdered gelatin off of eBay and/or kieselsol (aka silicon dioxide or silica) such as Harris Starbrite, or NBS BrauSol from TMM.

Both seem reasonably effective, either alone or together. The powdered gelatin is cheap, easy to store and simple enough to whip up in the microwave when it's needed.

As you know, I've (a) struggled for ages with clarity but (b) recently switched to kegs...

An IPA I made recently was unfined but cleared up readily in the keg with just the slightest touch of (hop?) haze.

Meanwhile I fined my recent English Amber Ale with gelatin (keep meaning to post some pics) - the first pint was cloudy as fuggle! I swear it had half a pint of gelatin gloop in it, exactly like you mentioned! But the second pint was absolutely crystal clear

I do usually cold crash (particularly after dry hopping) but I have some doubts about how much benefit I'm getting from it, so might try omitting it at some point.

 

[Galena]

As well as gelatin I also use Chitosan, this has always been very effective when bottling but I must try it in the keg as well as that is what it is for I believe.

 

[foxbat]

As well as gelatin I also use Chitosan, this has always been very effective when bottling but I must try it in the keg as well as that is what it is for I believe.

Both Chitosan and Gelatin are positively charged so maybe adding both is like adding double of any one of them?

Kieselsol is negatively charged so it's supposed to complement the other and they do say on the instructions to leave some time between adding each one which is obviously impossible when you're filling a keg. . I have had excellent results with Clear IT though.

I guess we only find out what works for our equipment by experimenting.

 

[foxbat]

FWIW @foxbat , I've tried Clear It but then switched to powdered gelatin off of eBay and/or kieselsol (aka silicon dioxide or silica) such as Harris Starbrite, or NBS BrauSol from TMM.

Both seem reasonably effective, either alone or together. The powdered gelatin is cheap, easy to store and simple enough to whip up in the microwave when it's needed.

As you know, I've (a) struggled for ages with clarity but (b) recently switched to kegs...

An IPA I made recently was unfined but cleared up readily in the keg with just the slightest touch of (hop?) haze.

Meanwhile I fined my recent English Amber Ale with gelatin (keep meaning to post some pics) - the first pint was cloudy as fuggle! I swear it had half a pint of gelatin gloop in it, exactly like you mentioned! But the second pint was absolutely crystal clear

I do usually cold crash (particularly after dry hopping) but I have some doubts about how much benefit I'm getting from it, so might try omitting it at some point.

Are you still getting haze? I think by now your process and storage is almost the same as mine except I never dry hop or cold crash and I always pitch a prepared wet yeast culture.

 

[matt76]

Are you still getting haze? I think by now your process and storage is almost the same as mine except I never dry hop or cold crash and I always pitch a prepared wet yeast culture.

Weirdly no I'm not, it seems to have magically gone away since moving to kegs.

A little bit of haze in unfined but dry-hopped beers (I'd guess hop haze), but only very slight.

But the couple of pale beers I've done that were fined (one of which was also dry hopped) were both perfect

 

[Galena]

Both Chitosan and Gelatin are positively charged so maybe adding both is like adding double of any one of them?

Sorry, I didn't mean I used both at the same time though I can see how you concluded that, I meant I have used both on separate occasions.

 

[foxbat]

This weekend I've decided to brew a Dark Ruby Mild by roughly following the Sarah Hughes Recipe in the Graham Wheeler book. Christmas is 3 weeks away now so this won't be ready in time for that event but it will make a nice winter warmer for January.

When Brewlab sent me the Yorkshire yeast that I ordered they included two slants in the package and I've been using the yeast made up from one of those slants in my last two brews. This time I've decided to make up a starter from the second slant that's been sitting in the fridge for the last few months. My plan is, as always, to overbuild my starter so I will now have two jars of the Yorkshire strain in the fridge which I will alternate between. This should stretch out the number of brews that I'll be able to make before it's exhausted, or I feel the need to try something different.

So, towards the end of last week I started the second slant off with 200ml of 1.040 wort and let it ferment out on the stir plate. Then I stepped it up with 400ml of fresh 1.040 wort without decanting and let that ferment out. I then chilled that starter for 48 hours and here's how it looks today:

That's the stir bar held up against the side of the flask with a pair of neodymium magnets.

I made up the final starter of 1500ml, remembering this time to use my 5 litre flask after the last two starters made with this yeast in my 3 litre flask overflowed.

I was hoping to be able to decant most of the spent wort off the top of the finished starter before pitching it into the large one but the yeast proved to be rather powdery and I only got about half of it before I had to stop otherwise I'd be pouring away good yeast.

The big starter is now in the brew-fridge at 20C. It should be done in 2-3 days after which I'll decant 500ml into a Kilner jar for the next-but-one brew and the chilled, decanted 1 litre starter will go into the Dark Ruby Mild wort on Sunday. I'll be aiming for an OG of around 1.052 so 1 litre of freshly made yeast will be enough.

 

[Galena]

This is the same technique I use, perhaps a tutorial on this forum would be good? I also use a 3 litre flask, only ever had it overflow once but I think the bigger the better and it's a common mistake that people make to buy too small a flask.

 

[foxbat]

It's making a valiant effort to climb out of this 5 litre flask but I don't think it'll make it.

 

[foxbat]

I thought this was a good representation of how this starter has progressed.

The 24 hours stage was, thankfully, high krausen. No more mess this time. What an extraordinary performer this yeast is.

 

[matt76]

1) For some reason I'm rooting for the yeast to make it out of there. Not out of malice to you @foxbat , I think I just see it as some sort of underdog - and who doesn't love an underdog story

2) Since you're already an internet tycoon (i.e. you made a webpage of your homebrew recipes) I feel like there should also be a live online foxbat-stirplate-cam so we can watch it escape live. Who's up for a crowdfunder?

 

[foxbat]

1) For some reason I'm rooting for the yeast to make it out of there. Not out of malice to you @foxbat , I think I just see it as some sort of underdog - and who doesn't love an underdog story

2) Since you're already an internet tycoon (i.e. you made a webpage of your homebrew recipes) I feel like there should also be a live online foxbat-stirplate-cam so we can watch it escape live. Who's up for a crowdfunder?

After beating me twice in previous rounds I've won this one. The 24hrs photo was the high krausen mark. I never thought when I bought a 5 litre flask that something would ever get close to escaping from it, let alone a "small" 1500ml starter! With hindsight I think maybe the lab beakers are better suited to starters because of their straight sides.