yeast in kits - any good?

[rickthebrew]

hello all - i have just started brewing from kits and after looking for advice some people say it is better to substitue the yeast in kits with a better yeast such as SO 4 ? please help me shed some light on this as i am just about to start to brew a woodfordes wherry - should i use the yeast supplied or get a different one ?

 

[prolix]

Throw it in, mine have always worked fine just oxygenate well. :

Get a supply of dry yeast saf04, us05 and Nottingham are good yeasts so if something goes wrong or you just want to experiment they are to hand and not a trip to lhbs or a mail order away

 

[ano]

The recommendation to replace kit yeast stems from concerns over viability (you don't know how long the kit's been on the shelf and under what conditions) and the meagre amount supplied (typically 5 or 6g which is about half the recommended pitching rate for 5 gallons). The amount isn't too much of a problem as long as you oxygenate well the yeast should take off fine and viability can be assessed by rehydrating the yeast in half a cup of cooled boiled water half an hour or so before pitching (if it doesn't foam at least a little discard it).

 

[rickthebrew]

cheers - by oxygenate what do you mean?

 

[Wez]

aerate - get as much air into the wort as you can before pitching the yeast.

A 5 minute stir/thrash with a sterlised brewers paddle will do the trick, it really makes a difference to the lag time (lag time - time in between pitching yeast and fermentation starting)

 

[prolix]

stir the b*gger vigorously with a paddle until you have a huge foamy head, 5 to 10 mins is good. I like to help by dropping the wort from a hight into the fermenter to get lots of splashing.

beaten to it by wez

 

[Wez]

I came first :party:

(Something that I should not always be proud of :lol: )

 

[rickthebrew]

thanks for the info - this forum is great for a begginer like me - i`m sure i`ll have loads more questions!! :wha:

[attachment image removed if you would like to re add it please upload using a host]

 

[Wez]

Thanks for the nice comment about the forum :thumb: Lots of people on hand to help here

Nice piccy :thumb:

 

[rickthebrew]

cheers wez - i`m going to brew some kits for a while to get use to things but i really want to brew from scratch in the future - just need a house with a bit more room !

I`ll start my woodfordes tommorrow!!

 

[prolix]

Six weeks :shock:

damn I think you may need to start doing quality control tests after two :drink: :drunk:

after all it is in the interests of science when did that brew hit it's peak :twisted: :

 

[Wez]

Wherry is a good kit

Nothing wrong with kits, lots of people stick to them as the quality has improved lots over the years - lots of people also come over to the dark side too though :grin:

Happy Brewing

 

[Wez]

Six weeks :shock:

damn I think you may need to start doing quality control tests after two :drink: :drunk:

after all it is in the interests of science when did that brew hit it's peak :twisted: :

Very true - the beer i'm drinking right now was kegged 8 days ago :thumb:

Lovely :drink:

 

[rickthebrew]

i would be interested to hear people`s opinions of how long to store a brew - i`m eager to try it but don`t want to try to early!!!

 

[Wez]

Well all I can say is that my Kit brew ALWAYS tasted better if left for a few weeks (work on 1 week per 10 gravity points so if your kit has a 1.050 staring gravity leave it for 5 weeks if it was 1.040 leave it for 4 weeks)

Now with AG brewing - for me some beers are better very early - i've gone from grain to glass in under 2 weeks and been happier with the results that other kegs from the same batch that have been left for 6 weeks. The same is also true the other way though - some of my AG brews have needed age.

 

[Bribie]

I'm with Wes on that one, in the case of my All grain UK style bitters and other 'real ales'. I look at it from the point of view that I'm doing more or less what the real ale brewers are doing - I ferment in primary for about a week, rack to secondary where the beer cool-conditions and then gets fined and I usually bottle the beer almost clear. So when the beer is ready to bottle, it is really at the stage of a cask that has been delivered to the cellar, secondary conditioned, spiled etc and is about ready to serve. At that stage it goes into my bottles, primed fairly lightly, and then as far as I'm concerned when it's fizzy enough to drink and is nice and clear then it's drinkies time :drunk:

Another good example is Australian Sparkling Ale as brewed by Coopers of Adelaide (the pub version, not the kit) which can be very successfully made from grain to brain in ten days.

The beers that I do store for more than a couple of weeks are continental style lagers where I am going for more of a bottled beer style, and strong beers such as my 8% stout that I keep for about six weeks.