MyQul's Brewday

[Clint]

Do you always rehydrate or make starters with dry yeast M?

 

[MyQul]

Is that with your dried yeast? I'm giving drying a go for the first time today. Got my fingers crossed it works!

No. I used some from a pack

 

[MyQul]

Do you always rehydrate or make starters with dry yeast M?

I now always make a starter from dried. So a pack last a long time. I normally use 1g for a 600ml starter for a 10L brew

 

[Clint]

Very thrifty!

 

[MyQul]

Very thrifty!

Yes. so 20p-40p per brew

I'll buy a pack of something or other every so often. I've got quite a collection of dried yeast in the freezernow. A pack should generally last until I finish it - however long that takes

 

[MyQul]

My Liberty bell starter had kicked off nicely when I looked at it this morning. Despite the pack having been in the freezer since last october. Looks like it's on course for a nice amount to pitch into my wort on Friday.
This is what I love about making starters from dried yeast. You can keep the yeast in the freezer for months and months and it just wakes up and goes into action after 3 days in some wort ready to make you some beer

 

[Clint]

...mad scientist.

 

[MyQul]

...mad scientist.

I've was always been crap a science. However the lunacy ...

 

[Clint]

I'm with you on that...

 

[nixhaz]

Chocolate Guinness 12L

I made this a couple of weeks ago as my first BIAB experiment. I ended up with SG of 1.038. It's now down to 1.007 and I've kegged it this morning. It smells and tastes quite a lot like guinness.
Wow there's a lot of trub with BIAB!
Think next time I might use some gelatine and cold crash for a bit longer (just left it outside overnight last night) to try to compact the trub a bit more.
Thanks for posting all your recipes M, it's really helpful.

 

[MyQul]

I made this a couple of weeks ago as my first BIAB experiment. I ended up with SG of 1.038. It's now down to 1.007 and I've kegged it this morning. It smells and tastes quite a lot like guinness.
Wow there's a lot of trub with BIAB!
Think next time I might use some gelatine and cold crash for a bit longer (just left it outside overnight last night) to try to compact the trub a bit more.
Thanks for posting all your recipes M, it's really helpful.

Just stuff I like drinking really. Nothing complicated or exotic, Iike some recipes you might see on the forum - nothing wrong with this of course. I prefer to keep things simple (and cheap)

 

[MyQul]

Mash on for today's brew

The Last Round Head Mild 12L

Original Gravity (OG): 1.033 (°P): 8.3
Final Gravity (FG): 1.007 (°P): 1.8
Alcohol (ABV): 3.42 %
Colour (SRM): 22.7 (EBC): 44.7
Bitterness (IBU): 16.6 (Average)

1.4kg Pale Malt
200gCrystal 60
200g home made Golden Syrup
100gBlack Malt
100g Flaked Barley

7g First Gold (6.7% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil)
5g Bramling Cross (7% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil)
5g Fuggles (5.7% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil)


Single step Infusion at 69.5°C for 60 Minutes. Boil for 60 Minutes

Fermented at 20°C with MJ Liberty Bell yeast

 

[Ben034]

Yes. so 20p-40p per brew

I'll buy a pack of something or other every so often. I've got quite a collection of dried yeast in the freezernow. A pack should generally last until I finish it - however long that takes

Do you think there's a substantial benefit to storing in the freezer instead of the fridge? Is it just the yeast viability you're aiming to maintain? I've been doing some extra small batches recently and have been sotring half open dry packets in the fridge after resealing. Haven't experienced any problems yet but just got me thinking.

 

[MyQul]

Do you think there's a substantial benefit to storing in the freezer instead of the fridge? Is it just the yeast viability you're aiming to maintain? I've been doing some extra small batches recently and have been sotring half open dry packets in the fridge after resealing. Haven't experienced any problems yet but just got me thinking.

Probably not. One of the main reasons I store it in the freezer rather than the fridge is that I have more room in my freezer. I think as long as it's cold it should last a long time (and this has been borne out by my experience). I guess it freeze dries in the freezer?

 

[Ben034]

Probably not. One of the main reasons I store it in the freezer rather than the fridge is that I have more room in my freezer. I think as long as it's cold it should last a long time (and this has been borne out by my experience). I guess it freeze dries in the freezer?

That makes sense. It sounds like a good method. I've always overbuilt starters with liquid yeast but have been using dry yeast more and more for less "yeast specific" beers. May give your method a go once I get some malt extract again. I recently bought some liberty bell and was impressed with it in a bitter.

 

[MyQul]

That makes sense. It sounds like a good method. I've always overbuilt starters with liquid yeast but have been using dry yeast more and more for less "yeast specific" beers. May give your method a go once I get some malt extract again. I recently bought some liberty bell and was impressed with it in a bitter.

Last october I made a bitter with no late hopping with LB. I was really impressed with the dark fruit flavours from the yeast

 

[MyQul]

As part of my Mild brew day I've done a little temperature experiment. I don't have a brewfridge or room for one and normally 'brew with the seasons'. I normally just choose a temp appropriate yeast for the ambient temp in my brew corner of the kitchen .However I do have a Coolbrewing Brewbag*. I mostly dont bother using it as I quite like the simplicity of brewing with the seasons. The times I have used it I've only ever used it for cooling like it's designed to do.

I wanted to use Liberty Bell yeast on this brew but my kitchen floor is 17C so a little cool for the yeast. So having recently read an article on winter brewing which suggested wrapping up the FV, making sure the FV isnt sitting on tiles/concrete/etc which will act as a heat sink. As well as pitching at the top end of the yeast's fermentation temp so as to use the heat generated from fermentation to keep itself warm. I thought my brew bag would be perfect for this. So after pitching the yeast at 23C and wrapping the FV in towels, I put the whole thing in the brewbag.

This morning I unwrapped everything and took a temp reading and the temp is still 23C. Im really pleased this has worked so well. Tbh it's worked a bit too well as I was expecting the temp to drop to about 20C but it seems to have kept it's temp and is fermenting like a freight train. When i first opened everything up there a lovely waft of dark fruits that came out.

This has now given me more fermentation option. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner.


*Cool Brewing Fermentation Bag

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Here's my FV jacket

 

[MyQul]

Here's my FV jacket View attachment 26035

Quite literally a jacket

Do you find it works well at all?

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Yes it's working ok. The FV is sat on a heat mat controlled by an Inkbird.