is this yeast heaven?

[Theakston Tickler]

Thanks for the tip Dronfield Brewer. Fortunately in York we have 3 supermarkets almost next to each other and so when Sainsburys and Morrisons didn't have any stock this morning Waitrose did. So now I have a few bottles ready for drinking and capturing - a great 2 for 1 deal!

 

[dennisking]

Do any of the other supermarkets stock Summer Lightning. Not posh enough to have any Waitrose stores near me!

I bought it at Tesco's, but that was a few years back.

 

[back_to_brewing]

I've had a couple of bottles added to next week's Ocado order - Mrs B2B gave me strange looks when I explained that it it's the yeast I'm after, and that it comes with a free bottle and free beer on top, all for less than the price of a sachet of yeast at LHBS.

Good tip Dronfield, thanks, I'm hoping to get some up and running in time for the "fresh beer for Christmas" brewday.

Alastair.

 

[back_to_brewing]

Well the Christmas brew is burping away nicely now...

Last Sunday enjoyed a pint (nearly, well 500ml) of Summer Lightening, saving the bottoms. Not much visible yeast there, small clump smaller than a fingernail. Added this to 300ml of 1040 unhopped LME wort (from freezer) in a sanitised supermarket soup container with lid, at house temps (16-18C). Looked like a mini-brew ('cos it was) could see the foam & krausen form, then drop.

Thursday (day 4) the top was flat, liquid still quite cloudy, added all of this to rest of 2l bottle of wort, in a sanitised 5l water bottle with airlock. Bottom of the soup container had a good teaspoon full of yeast on the bottom as well - swished this with boiled water to liquify it and added to the bottle.

Airlock bubbled Friday and Saturday, so activity going on, encouraging. Took SG, down to 1012 so the yeast working ok.

Saturday was brewday, here's the recipe:

A24 Golden Galaxy Xmas Edition
Special/Best/Premium Bitter

Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 60.0
Total Grain (kg): 11.116
Total Hops (g): 336.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.047 (°P): 11.7
Final Gravity (FG): 1.009 (°P): 2.3
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.93 %
Colour (SRM): 5.9 (EBC): 11.7
Bitterness (IBU): 39.1 (Average)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 80
Boil Time (Minutes): 90

Grain Bill
----------------
7.781 kg Maris Otter Malt (Warminster) (70%)
2.779 kg Munich malt (25%)
0.556 kg Wheat Malt (5%)

Hop Bill
----------------
25.0 g Northdown Leaf (9.3% Alpha) @ 90 Minutes (First Wort) (0.4 g/L)
20.0 g Target Leaf (12% Alpha) @ 90 Minutes (First Wort) (0.3 g/L)
25.0 g Galaxy Leaf (13.9% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/L)
30.0 g Cascade Leaf (7.8% Alpha) @ 7 Minutes (Boil) (0.5 g/L)
56.0 g Galaxy Leaf (13.9% Alpha) @ 7 Minutes (Boil) (0.9 g/L)
50.0 g Galaxy Leaf (13.9% Alpha) @ 20 Minutes (Aroma) (0.8 g/L)
30.0 g Cascade Pellet (7.8% Alpha) @ 7 Days (Dry Hop) (0.5 g/L)
100.0 g Galaxy Pellet (14.9% Alpha) @ 7 Days (Dry Hop) (1.7 g/L)

Misc Bill
----------------

Single step Infusion at 66°C for 90 Minutes.
Fermented at 20°C with Hopback brewery

60l into fermenter by lunchtime, added contents of 5 litre bottle, closed up with blow off tube, waited.
Saturday bedtime - nothing. Foam from the drop into FV still there, no yeasty smell or burping.
Sunday morning, get up early, check - yes, it's burping, look inside, lots of yeasty goodness, it's going strong!
Been burping nicely all day. Good, but not too big foam head (FV is pretty full so don't want to lose stuff thru blowoff tube).

Looking forward to seeing the difference between this and S-04, my "normal" yeast.

Will report back on the outcome, hope these notes help...

Alastair.

 

[Dronfieldbrewer]

Ive got it sat in 72.5 litres of hoppy pale...@ 20 degrees

I stepped from the dregs of 1 bottle in 50ml of 1030 wort..2 days, fermented through
Step 2 was 300ml of 1035 wort...3 days fermented through
step 3 was 3 litres of 1038 wort...4 days..plus chilled rest at 4 degrees as brewday was delayed..

straight into 72.5 litres of 1043 wort 29th November at 11am...by 2pm krauzen was forming.

Checked this afternoon...about 4 inches of krauzen, it looks like is starting to crop, will check in the morning as I check gravity.

The recipe:-

12kg of maris otter
1 kg of wheat malt

mashed at 68 degrees for 75 mins.

hops:-

30gms of cascade 8.2%aa for 75 min boil
30gms of brewers gold 7.5%aa for 75 mins
30gms of cascade 8.2%aa for 30 mins
30gms of brewers gold 7.5%aa for 30 mins
40gms of cascade 8.2% for 5 mins
40gms of brewers gold 7.5% for 5 mins
60gms of cascade 8.2% when leccy switched off

should be 33IBU
4.3%abv

steeped for 10 mins

hit 1043 after 2.5 litres liquer back from 1046...aiming for 1010 finish.. :drink:

 

[back_to_brewing]

I like the tiny starter trick - must try that next time - mine took a while to get going and was in doubt until 18 hours into the main brew. 2,3,4 days got to start it 9 days before, note for planning book.

Off out and about till Thursday, hope to it starting to clear when I get back...

 

[Hawks]

I'm going to have to try this, sounds very good.

I've been using WLP023 most of the time so like the sound of something that drops clear easily :thumb:

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Eh up...
I've been messing about with yeast for ages. The kitchen has been my laboratory for this last year...here we go..the conclusions. ..

Ive found a yeast that....

1) attenuates to 80%
2) top crops for England
3) tells you when close to finishing as the krausen drops to the bottom like S04
4) ferments quickly
5) brings hops forward like WLP001
6) when it finishes welds itself to the bottom of the fermenter like WLP002, without crash cooling
7) when its finished fermenting it leaves the beer totally clear
8) fantastic for bottle conditioning. ..you can pour a full bottle with little or no sediment going into the glass..

Above all is available to anyone from a bottle conditioned beer...

Anyone interested to know what it is???

Surely youve missed the most important thing...???

 

[markmark]

Sheffield strain....sniff!:'(

What happened with the Sheffield strain Dronfield??
Based on a few posts of yours that I've read; I think I'm using this strain at the moment in one of my beers......it's proving problematic to say the least. Though it is possibly (well probably) not actually the yeast that is giving the most headache.

 

[evanvine]

Do Hop Back use the same yeast in all their range?

 

[rpt]

Surely youve missed the most important thing...???

Flavour? From the description it doesn't appear to have the fruity English ale characteristics that I'm looking for.

 

[Theakston Tickler]

I started a brew using this yeast just over week ago having grown on the dregs from 2 bottles of Summer Lightning. Over the course of 7 days my ale went from 1038 to 1006 which is about 85% attenuation, I moved it into secondary FV yesterday and it is now at cool room temp so I don't expect it to move any further. As I was planning on a session ale perhaps I should have used S-04 instead as 4.2% is a bit stronger than I was aiming for! The hydrometer sample tasted fine too. Result. :thumb:

 

[Dronfieldbrewer]

Good to know Theakston..

My Pale has dropped from 1043 on 29th November to 1010 this morning so 5 days...Ill leave it overnight to drop another point or two then switch the heater off it and let it chill down in the garage (currently its phookin cold in there)..

Ive sampled it and can tell you the hops are there with a passion and the aroma is right on the button.

 

[Dave1970]

SWMBO asked me to go out and get milk last night, I 'just happened ' to go to Waitrose - and guess what fell into my basket

2 bottles of Summer Lightning to be drunk/harvested from tonight :thumb:

 

[Aleman]

I always thought that Hopback used a multi-strain yeast for the primary fermentation, and reseeded with a different strain for bottling :hmm:

 

[back_to_brewing]

Off out and about till Thursday, hope to find it starting to clear when I get back...

Well, back home but found it "stuck" at 1020, airlock quiet. Gave it a big stir (sterile spoon) and it's bubbling away nicely again. :hat: Needs a few more days, it seems. Think I'll put it all in a fresh FV tomorrow, with the dry hops, keeping the heat on at 20C until mid-week then crash to garage temp.

Looking forward to this one, tons of Galaxy with a Cascade note on the side.

Anyone any ideas why some brews "stick" at around 1020? :wha: I've had two of three this year that have done that - wort nicely airated into FV, active yeast every time, I'm wondering if I need to add nutrient at same time as pitching?

 

[evanvine]

Anyone any ideas why some brews "stick" at around 1020? :wha: I've had two of three this year that have done that - wort nicely airated into FV, active yeast every time, I'm wondering if I need to add nutrient at same time as pitching?

Are you using the same yeast each time?

 

[Dronfieldbrewer]

I always thought that Hopback used a multi-strain yeast for the primary fermentation, and reseeded with a different strain for bottling :hmm:

Not according to the brewery. They tell me that its the primary strain and that is their own..

 

[back_to_brewing]

Anyone any ideas why some brews "stick" at around 1020? :wha: I've had two of three this year that have done that - wort nicely airated into FV, active yeast every time, I'm wondering if I need to add nutrient at same time as pitching?

Are you using the same yeast each time?

Hmmm, looking back, the stickers were all brewery harvest yeasts - not LHBS packet ones. I have been using yeast from the dregs of a Skinners polypin, third generation from that was sticky on a couple of brews, and the current sticky brew is with the thumbnail of yeast harvested from a Hopback Summer Lightening. So maybe, I'm not treating them right and getting them to prime yeastiness before pitching.

Trouble is, you have to pitch when you have to pitch (when the wort's ready). So it's my starters perhaps, not vibrant enough, I suspect. So, yeast nutrient during the starter phase perhaps that seems to say.

 

[Good Ed]

You make a starter to grow enough yeast cells to brew your beer, I suspect that you are not pitching enough yeast to do the job and that is why your attenuation is lower than you are expecting