Homebrewers, UNITE!

**jbell71464** · 05-09-2012, 10:04 PM

Originally Posted by CykoAGR

I'm sort of in the same boat. Yeast tends to be between $3-$5 bucks for a fresh dry pack or even north of $6 for liquid so I have tossed around the idea of trying to wash yeast and save for future use. Probably economical when you consider time and supplies on types of yeast that you would use regularly.

My biggest hold up is that I dont really have room in a fridge for a bunch of jars of yeast and I am not confident enough in my ability to wash and package properly to eliminate contamination or off flavors at this point.

Keep in mind that commercial breweries can wash and reuse yeast because they are constantly brewing and need to crank out beer as fast as possible. Even then, they will typically get 6-8 ferments out of some yeast before it is replaced. As a homebrewer, for $6, you are better off getting new yeast each batch. You know there will be no infections, you know it will be healthy (yeast starters are a great help) and you can select a strain that best suits the style of beer you are using. To me, the effort of washing and keeping the yeast is not worth it.

Remember, Brewers make wort, Yeast makes beer..

**cycloneworld** · 05-10-2012, 07:37 AM

Originally Posted by AmesHawk

What type will you be making? Recently just got done with a Wheat with orange zest and coriander. Worked out pretty well I think.

Also love homebrew talk, great resource. Noticed quite a few fellow Iowans there as well.

I'm going with a basic nut brown ale...strange for the summer, I know. But I love browns.

What are some other extract brews that people have found tasty?

**AmesHawk** · 05-10-2012, 08:39 AM

Originally Posted by cycloneworld

I'm going with a basic nut brown ale...strange for the summer, I know. But I love browns.

What are some other extract brews that people have found tasty?

Northern Brewer has a great selection of extracts. As for what type, it depends on what you like, but I will most likely do some wheat beers or IPAs during the summer, and then switch to stouts/porters/dark ales during the winter.

Really want to try some of their Wheat beers this summer, maybe even add some blueberry or raspberry.

Northern Brewer - Extract Beer Recipe Kits : Northern Brewer

**chicagoCy** · 05-10-2012, 08:58 AM

jbell, i notice you're from chicago as well. do you belong to any of the homebrew clubs around here or just do your own thing at home?

**jbell71464** · 05-12-2012, 10:34 PM

Just at home. Full time job in retail and two boys, not much time for a club.. We live in Lombard, what area of Chicago are you?

**cycloneworld** · 05-12-2012, 10:43 PM

Got through my first brew day today. I had a detailed plan and it went pretty well. Hardest part & biggest surprise: chilling the wort and additional boil water took WAY longer than expected. Even with ice baths it took over an hour to get the wort down to 70 degrees to pitch the yeast. I can definitely see the benefit of a wort chiller.

**cyson** · 05-13-2012, 08:36 AM

Originally Posted by tomocyclone

I've got about 15 clean and sanatized corny kegs that i'd be willing to sell, as well as a great carboy hookup, both glass and PET plastic (the soda bottle material, not BPA leeching #7). Also, i'm an IPA fiend, so let me know if you've got a monster recipe that you've done. And has anyone tried to clone Sam Adams Noble Pils? Any luck?

Still have those kegs? I would be interested.

**cyson** · 05-13-2012, 08:57 AM

Originally Posted by CykoAGR

I'm sort of in the same boat. Yeast tends to be between $3-$5 bucks for a fresh dry pack or even north of $6 for liquid so I have tossed around the idea of trying to wash yeast and save for future use. Probably economical when you consider time and supplies on types of yeast that you would use regularly.

My biggest hold up is that I dont really have room in a fridge for a bunch of jars of yeast and I am not confident enough in my ability to wash and package properly to eliminate contamination or off flavors at this point.

I sometimes open ferment five gallon batches, raking the very top of the head off the primary for a day or two. Subsequently using the cleaner head to ferment other batches somewhat like a Burton system. The yeast will only keep for few days. When reused the wort in the primary takes off like a rocket.Not sure if this is the same things as washing yeast.

**cycloneworld** · 05-31-2012, 07:44 AM

Originally Posted by cycloneworld

Got through my first brew day today. I had a detailed plan and it went pretty well. Hardest part & biggest surprise: chilling the wort and additional boil water took WAY longer than expected. Even with ice baths it took over an hour to get the wort down to 70 degrees to pitch the yeast. I can definitely see the benefit of a wort chiller.

Bottled for the first time last night. As expected, cleaning and sanitizing took more than half of the time. The bottling and capping was the easy part. I was a little worried about aerating it too much but that was pretty easy with an auto-siphon.

It tasted like beer and not funk which was good. I'm going to wait 3 weeks to pop one open.

Brew Day #2 will be on Sunday. Can't wait!

**colbycheese** · 05-31-2012, 07:58 AM

Originally Posted by cycloneworld

Got through my first brew day today. I had a detailed plan and it went pretty well. Hardest part & biggest surprise: chilling the wort and additional boil water took WAY longer than expected. Even with ice baths it took over an hour to get the wort down to 70 degrees to pitch the yeast. I can definitely see the benefit of a wort chiller.

You can pitch at a higher temperature (~100 F). I just cool it down to 100 F, move to the fermentor then pitch and aerate/shake. The temperature at which you ferment is more of a worry. Read the recommended temps for each yeast strain. A few degrees warmer than the listed range hasn't hurt the flavor of my beers as of yet.

I'll be trying some methods to keep the beer cooler than the temp of my apartment this summer. We'll see how that goes. One that I've seen is to keep the fermentor in a tub of water with a towel wrapped around it. The water will wick up the towel and evaporate, thus cooling the wort. A fan blowing on it may help too. I don't have the room or $ for a lagering fridge so this method and ale yeast will have to do for now.

**isukendall** · 05-31-2012, 08:58 AM

Originally Posted by colbycheese

You can pitch at a higher temperature (~100 F). I just cool it down to 100 F, move to the fermentor then pitch and aerate/shake. The temperature at which you ferment is more of a worry. Read the recommended temps for each yeast strain. A few degrees warmer than the listed range hasn't hurt the flavor of my beers as of yet.

I'll be trying some methods to keep the beer cooler than the temp of my apartment this summer. We'll see how that goes. One that I've seen is to keep the fermentor in a tub of water with a towel wrapped around it. The water will wick up the towel and evaporate, thus cooling the wort. A fan blowing on it may help too. I don't have the room or $ for a lagering fridge so this method and ale yeast will have to do for now.

I personally would not follow this advice. You should pitch your yeast at the right temperature. If you're off a bit, I wouldn't worry much, but I would never pitch if I thought it were higher than, say, 80F. I'm sure you have gotten things to work at that high temp, but personally if you're too lazy to cool it down to pitching temp right away, I'd let it cool first, then pitch.

**isukendall** · 05-31-2012, 09:02 AM

Originally Posted by cyson

I sometimes open ferment five gallon batches, raking the very top of the head off the primary for a day or two. Subsequently using the cleaner head to ferment other batches somewhat like a Burton system. The yeast will only keep for few days. When reused the wort in the primary takes off like a rocket.Not sure if this is the same things as washing yeast.

Sort of. I follow this technique to wash yeast Yeast Washing, works pretty good and seems more sanitary than what you're describing. Anymore I typically will get a yeast starter going regardless of what I brew.

**colbycheese** · 05-31-2012, 09:11 AM

Originally Posted by isukendall

I personally would not follow this advice. You should pitch your yeast at the right temperature. If you're off a bit, I wouldn't worry much, but I would never pitch if I thought it were higher than, say, 80F. I'm sure you have gotten things to work at that high temp, but personally if you're too lazy to cool it down to pitching temp right away, I'd let it cool first, then pitch.

I guess I should be more specific. I do 5 gal batches. I usually have 4 gal of wort which I cool to 100 degrees. I then pour that into the fermentor and add cold water to bring it to 5 gallons. By the time the 5 gal of wort is ready to be pitched, it's around the correct temperature due to cooling from pouring, and the addition of cold water... or as Northern Brewer's directions say: "not warm to the touch".

It's not that I'm lazy. It's that I don't feel like wasting the time babysitting an ice bath for hours since I'm still a student and don't have the $ to drop on a wort chiller.