Homebrewers - Whats in the fermenter?

[EdTexas]

Ya know. It's been a few months since I brewed. I've been looking at the Austin Home Brew Six Malt Amber.

[BlackDog]

I recently brewed Midwest Supply's "Liberty Cream Ale" kit, and it would be another good one for folks who typically drink "Big 3" beers. Very similar to BA's recipe above, with a bit more hops. After a few weeks conditioning in the bottle it really tastes excellent. This is one I can see keeping around pretty regularly.

6 lbs Light LME
.5 lbs Carapils
1 oz Cascade - 60 mins
1 0z Cascade - 2 mins

SG: 1.042-1.046
FG: 1.010-1.012
IBUs ≈ 33.4

[BlackDog]

I'm just finishing up a batch of Best Bitter. I fiddled with a recipe I found on line. I want this to be an "authentic" Bitter. Here's the recipe I made:

3.3 lbs Light LME
3 lbs Munton & Fisson Light DME

Mini mash:
1 lbs Maris Otter
1 lb Crystal 40
.5 lbs Oat Malt

1 oz Challenger - 60 mins
1 oz UK Fuggles - 20 mins
1 oz Kent Goldings - 5 mins

1/2 teaspoon Burton salts
1 Whirlflock tablet
Wyeast British II 1335

The calculator on BYO says this should clock in at 4.7% abv, 35 IBU's, and a color of 14.7 SRM. But I messed up somewhere, because the OG = 1.056. BYO's calculator says it should have had an OG of 1.049. So I'm either going to have a higher abv, or a sweeter beer. Any ideas where I might have gone wrong?

[BeerAdvocate]

Im in the middle of making some Bavarian Hefeweizen from AHS.
I love a good Hefe in the middle of summer!

[kenstogie]

Hefe's are great anytime but especially in ths summer.

Bottled my wheat stout and cracked open one after a day and it's developing nicely. Don't see much wheat body smmoothness more of a stout but good stuff.anyway Might have to do with the extra grains and DME I threw in because they were collecting "dust"

This is the batch that I had to re pitch. It started at 1.060 and ended at 1.018.after gettin stuck at 1.030 So if U do the calculations that makes it about 6 prcnt ABV and yielded 2 cases and a 6'r.
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[kenstogie]

[ashtonlady]

That is really neat. Thank you for posting it.

[kenstogie]

anything for the ladies

[kenstogie]

Always looking for a good way to lug around my homebrews and had an empty banana box lying around. They fit 7 6-packs very neatly just have your friends save their 6pack holders. Not quite an entire batch but almost and thay're cheap and readily available too.
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[kenstogie]

Originally Posted by kenstogie

Always looking for a good way to lug around my homebrews and had an empty banana box lying around. They fit 7 6-packs very neatly just have your friends save their 6pack holders. Not quite an entire batch but almost and thay're cheap and readily available too.
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I would reinforce the bottome with some packing tape (the stuff with fiberglass fiber in it) or just hold the bottom when your carrying it.

[BeerAdvocate]

I brewed a Bells Two Hearted Ale clone, yesterday for Fathers Day.
Also kegged a Bavarian Hefe, should be ready to go for 4th of July!!!

This thread makes me sad. I sold all my home brew equipment last year in favor of family.

[BeerAdvocate]

Last night I racked a basic Blonde on a Hefe yeast cake.
I have never reused a yeast cake before, hopefully it will turn out good.
This morning it was bubbling away.

[kaisersozei]

Originally Posted by BeerAdvocate

Last night I racked a basic Blonde on a Hefe yeast cake.
I have never reused a yeast cake before, hopefully it will turn out good.
This morning it was bubbling away.

Okay, hang on, I'm trying to understand what you did--did you just rack a new batch of wort onto the leftover yeast & trub sitting in the bottom of a fermenter? And it worked? That's genius!

I've been brewing for a lot of years, and I've salvaged/washed a lot of yeast--in fact, I have about 6 bottles of re-used California ale yeast sitting in my fridge, waiting to be pitched into something. But I've never just started a new batch off of a completely spent yeast cake. Sure would save me a lot of effort!

[kenstogie]

Wow, my Local B+M manager gave me his beer brewing kit. SWEET! Now I can brew even more beer!

[kenstogie]

I heard of this, reusing/repitching yeast but...
How is this done?

[BeerAdvocate]

Originally Posted by kenstogie

I heard of this, reusing/repitching yeast but...
How is this done?

Very simple!
You usually only want to do this if the next brew you are brewing is similar(in color) to the one that is done fermenting.
All you do is rack your beer to your keg or bottle like you normally do, then simply pour your wort in from your new beer you just brewed and shake like hell.
You dont have to worry about cleaning your carboy or sanitizing or anything.
And all the sediment and used hops still drop to the bottom.
You have to do this within 24hrs of racking your beer from the carboy. You cant let the yeast cake sit in there too long before you put the new wort in.
I currently have a Bells Two Hearted Ale clone in primary right now, that I used some WL California Ale yeast, the day that I keg it, I am going to brew a PaleAle and pitch it right on the Two Hearted Ale yeast cake.
I have been reading about this for awhile now and have always been scared to do it, but alot of people on Homebrewtalk.com do it.
Some people use the same yeast cake up to 3 times!
I want to start washing too, but if I am going to be brewing something that uses the same yeast that I just used previously, why not just rack it on top of that yeast cake!

[kenstogie]

Originally Posted by BeerAdvocate

Very simple!
You usually only want to do this if the next brew you are brewing is similar(in color) to the one that is done fermenting.
All you do is rack your beer to your keg or bottle like you normally do, then simply pour your wort in from your new beer you just brewed and shake like hell.
You dont have to worry about cleaning your carboy or sanitizing or anything.
And all the sediment and used hops still drop to the bottom.
You have to do this within 24hrs of racking your beer from the carboy. You cant let the yeast cake sit in there too long before you put the new wort in.
I currently have a Bells Two Hearted Ale clone in primary right now, that I used some WL California Ale yeast, the day that I keg it, I am going to brew a PaleAle and pitch it right on the Two Hearted Ale yeast cake.
I have been reading about this for awhile now and have always been scared to do it, but alot of people on Homebrewtalk.com do it.
Some people use the same yeast cake up to 3 times!
I want to start washing too, but if I am going to be brewing something that uses the same yeast that I just used previously, why not just rack it on top of that yeast cake!

That's pretty easy, Thanks!

[kaisersozei]

Originally Posted by BeerAdvocate

I want to start washing too, but if I am going to be brewing something that uses the same yeast that I just used previously, why not just rack it on top of that yeast cake!

Travis:

Here's the basic method that I use to harvest & wash yeast, I think Papazian has a write up in one of his books, too:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yea...strated-41768/

The only difference is that I don't use mason jars to store my yeast, I use beer bottles topped with an airlock. They take up less room in the frig and I can keep them in a 6-pack holder. The advantage of this method is that the yeast goes dormant but stays fresh for up to...6?...months, I think. I've re-used yeast that was 12-18 months old before, it just takes the starter longer to get going.

[BlackDog]

I re-used yeast recently for the first time. I washed it and put it in a bomber-sized beer bottle, capped it with a bottle cap, and stored it in the refrigerator. I used it within a month. A couple days before I brewed I made a starter and put the yeast in to get it "rejuvenated" again.

I want to make a Belgian Trippel, and may make a batch of lower abv saison first, so I can use the entire yeast cake for the higher abv trippel.