Ringwood yeast?

[OldThumper]

Hi all,

I just spoke to a very helpful lady in the labs at Ringwood brewery and she said I could get some Ringwood yeast free of charge if I visit the brewery with my own sterilised container. I think they simply scim some off the top of a fermenting vessel, I take it home in my vessel and pitch it directly in to my wort. the brewery just needs a day notice and the place is only 20 mins down the road for me...

So, on to my question: I am new to brewing and so far have only used Safale SO4 dried yeast in my brews and I was wondering what difference I can expect from using the ringwood fresh stuff? I know ringwood is regarded as a northern yeast as descibed by Graham Wheeler in his new book and apparently needs stirring a lot during fermentation. I guess the only way I will really know is to do to 2 brews side by side with one using S04 and one pitched with Ringwood yeast.

I was just curious to see if it is worth going to the hassle of going to the Brewery and then giving my fermenting beer a stir a few times a day 9i just leav S04 to do its stuff). Right now I am assuming I will get a slightly different taste rather than a better taste, whatever better means!!

Anybody else go to a local brewery to do this?

Thanks!

[Graham]

Hi all,

I just spoke to a very helpful lady in the labs at Ringwood brewery and she said I could get some Ringwood yeast free of charge if I visit the brewery with my own sterilised container. I think they simply scim some off the top of a fermenting vessel, I take it home in my vessel and pitch it directly in to my wort. the brewery just needs a day notice and the place is only 20 mins down the road for me...

So, on to my question: I am new to brewing and so far have only used Safale SO4 dried yeast in my brews and I was wondering what difference I can expect from using the ringwood fresh stuff? I know ringwood is regarded as a northern yeast as descibed by Graham Wheeler in his new book and apparently needs stirring a lot during fermentation. I guess the only way I will really know is to do to 2 brews side by side with one using S04 and one pitched with Ringwood yeast.

I was just curious to see if it is worth going to the hassle of going to the Brewery and then giving my fermenting beer a stir a few times a day 9i just leav S04 to do its stuff). Right now I am assuming I will get a slightly different taste rather than a better taste, whatever better means!!

Anybody else go to a local brewery to do this?

Thanks!

I would go for it, if only to compare a real-live ex-brewery yeast with packaged stuff. You probably will not want to go back to packaged stuff after trying ex-brewery yeast. I used to use the stuff almost exclusively when I lived in Ringwood in the early 1990s, simply because it was so readily available to me. I used to rouse it, once in the morning before work and once at night. However, I only roused it because it is a 'northern' yeast, and the brewery rouse it (with a pump). It probably is not necessary in our small vessels, but it does like rousing and re-aeration in a commercial brewery. Regular (daily) hydrometer readings will indicate if and when rousing is required if you are nervous about rousing frequently.

A domestic thermos flask is a good container to put it in. Sterilise it and put some crushed ice into it. Whole ice-cubes could break a glass flask, but would be okay in a stainless one. Tip the ice out just before getting it filled with yeast. The flask was a good idea for me, because I invariably used to end up in the Inn On The Furlong, or the Railway, or the White Hart, or all three before going home, and it used to keep it cool until I got home. I had a stainless flask, which also meant that I got it home in one piece.

[jdt199]

Funny you should ask this as I was thinking of doing exactly the same thing myself but I have just tried cultivating an okleaf brewery yeast from a bottle of "whole hearted" today. I'll let you know how it goes. Hows your first brew coming alonh by the way? I have already drank my first 2 and they were amazing! I was going to get some pics but drank them (with help) before I got chance.

[OldThumper]

Thanks for the vote of confidence Graham! It was the section on yeast in your new book that made me want to give this a go. I will do another brew in a few weeks and will pop to ringwood brewery then. Considering that Ringwood ws taken over by Marstons and is now a "big boy" i was surprised by how friendly the lady was on the phone. However, I have not found a local microbrewery in Hampshire that will sell me malt/hops yet...

jdt199, thanks for asking. My first brew (foldings guggle) is in PET bottles in the cool garage and is not clear yet, but not far off. However, it tastes so good to me that I am finding it hard to believe that my first AG really can this good! Only thing missing is a nice head when I pour it from the bottle. May be I did not put enough priming sugar in to the 1L bottles. Anyway, it tasts so fresh and is full of flavour!! I drank 2L the other night when watch the James May beer programme (got carried away) and the next morning I had a thumping headache!

My second AG was Gail Porter (from the recipes on these forums) and already it tastes great! After 1 week in the house in the keg I moved it to the cool conservatory today top mature. I am finding that there is so much pressue in the king keg that sampling a little means mostly froth! It rifles out! No need to wait for this to clear but hopefully it will improve over the coming weeks. Tastes as good as any stout/porter type of beer I would pay for.

My third and final (yes, I am obsessed with this beer stuff!) AG is the summer lightning clone from Graham's book. I love pretty much all the Hopback beers so just had to try one of my favourite beers. It has been 6 days in the primary and I see very little sign of fermentation so I will move to king keg #2 tomorrow and prime. I had a problem after the boil with this one - my hop strainer (same as yours) came apart (one piece was not soldered so just losely fitted in to another 15mm piece of copper pipe) and my tap blocked up with hops. I had to put my arm in to the boiler (after the immersion cool! to 20C) and put the hop strainer back together and constantly clear any hops clinging to the the hops strainer otherwise I was finding the wort was trickling out, if barely at all. All this meant I got some cr*p in my fermenting bucket and I don't know if this will affect the brew. I smell no sign of infection so I am hopeful with this one. I will let you know how it turns out in a few weeks.

Not sure what AG #4 will be but I will be using Ringwood fresh yeast. How is your 49er? I would like to see a recipe for Boondoggle (summer special)....

BTW: How do I keep back some of the yeast from my flask to use it in another brew, say 2-3 weeks later? If I put a little in a sterlised PET bottle and put the bottle in the freezer will this work? I just don't want to have to drive to the brewey everytime I do a brew!

thanks again.

[OldThumper]

Hey Chris,

Sorry but I never got around to replying by saying thanks. Yes, the links did provide an interesting read
You are an experienced beer maker it seems so have you tried using Ringwood with a noticeable difference with the finished beer?

Cheers!

[jdt199]

Glad to hear your brews are going well. Onto 4 already! My 49ner WAS great but its all gone. I just couldn't leave it for the full 4 weeks maturing. Ringwood yeast would have been useful for that.

With regards to your yeast I'm not sure how you should store it but you could culture a small sample in some wort as per instructions on this site then split into small PET bottles with the beer on top. Aparrantly this is the best way to store yeast rather than on water but I'm sure someone else will give you advice based on more experience.
Like the look of that Hobgoblin clone in one of Chris threads he posted for you! may try that for a later brew. Let me know how the lightning goes as I want to do that soon If I can culture some Hop Back yeast, but its gonna be a stout next. Not sure what yet though.

[OldThumper]

jdt199, how did your 49er compare to the proper stuff then? Did you taste side by side?

I am just trying to get together 40 empty ale bottles before I brew again (might ask local pubs for empties) as I don't have another keg....will let you know though.

[ColinKeb]

Ive used ringwood yeast from whitelabs and it was very very good, however the real stuff from teh brewery is reported to be miles better still. i would take her arm off you may need to rouse it to achieve full fermentation but it will be worth it

[jdt199]

jdt199, how did your 49er compare to the proper stuff then? Did you taste side by side?

I am just trying to get together 40 empty ale bottles before I brew again (might ask local pubs for empties) as I don't have another keg....will let you know though.

It was not half bad as a clone goes actually. Hard to tell as I drank it so young. It actually seemed a bit smoother than the real thing. The real thing is a bit more malty I think but the bitterness was prefectly balanced in the clone. I reccomend trying it when you get your yeast. With regards to the kegs have you thought about going down the corny route? I don't fancy filling 40 bottles!

[OldThumper]

I don't know anything about cornys except that they are expensive may be? I will see what info on them i can find out on here.

You use them rather than king kegs I assume then?

[jdt199]

I have one pressure barrel but I moved to corinies quite quick and I have to say they are great. No need to move to them really though. They are actually cheaper than king kegs (£30 with disconnects) from Norm on ebay, but the initial setup getting a regulator costs a bit more and then theres sourcing a gas supply.

[jdt199]

Did you ever get any of this OldThumper? If so how did it go?

[OldThumper]

Hey jdt199,

I have not gone and got any Ringwood yeast yet but I did get some fresh brewers yeast from the Flowerpots Brewery in cheriton, just outside Winchester. I spent the day there working to get some knowledge and experience and a very nice place it was. They gave me a small bag of fresh brewers yeast at the end of the day and I used it the following day to make a Tim taylor Landlord clone, which I bottled last week. Must say, there was a big difference in fermentation compared to Safale S04 stuff I have used up until that point. With Safale SO4 I find the fermentation goes mad for the first 48 hours but then dies right back with little surface froth but with the fresh brewers yeast it is much more steady and the froth remains for a good 5 days. May be fermentation is slower. You should be able to get some grains and hops off them if you like. The amount the homebrewer pays for hops is almost criminal compared to buying it in bulk like microbreweries do

But, i will go to ringwood and get some yeast soon. In fact, I plan to do Coniston Bluebird Bitter next week so may go fetch some Ringwood yeast then.

One final thing I found interesting is that Triple FFF brewery (Alton, Hampshire) only use Notinghma dried yeast for all their beers! I spent the day there recently as well and was amazed to see them rehydrating 5Kg of Nottingham yeast! I was led to believe fresh brewers yeast was the way to go but it seems as if they prefer dried yeast for both flavour and the gurantee of good quality yeast that has not become infected over time, or whatever. I was most surprised and may be I will try Nottingham! After all, their Alton Pride won champion beer of britain last year!

[bonzo]

I did get some fresh brewers yeast from the Flowerpots Brewery in cheriton, just outside Winchester. I spent the day there working to get some knowledge and experience and a very nice place it was.

Hi there Old Thumper

I'm fairly new to AG brewing and was interested to hear you'd got some experience at the Flowerpots. I've been to the pub there a few times (I live in Eastleigh) and love their beers - especially Goodens Gold and Elder Ale - and often wondered whether they'd be willing to share the recipes and a bit of yeast. What do you reckon ? Have you got a contact there ?

Sorry to go off topic ! Cheers

[OldThumper]

Hey Bonzo,

I am also new to AG brewing, well brewing beer full stop in fact!

I doubt they will share their recipes (I don't know the recipes but we did make Pots Bitter when I was there) but I think they could will share their yeast. The 2 brewers are called Steve and Iain and I recommend you visit the web site and send an email to ask them, or quicker to phone them. They are both a really nice bunch of lads and were very friendly to me and very very helpful (I asked plenty of questions). I expect you could probably go along and get them to scim some yeast off the top of one of their 5 open fermenters in to your sterilised bottle.

I have never tried the Edler Ale but would love a recipe for an Elderflower beer! (Elderado by Bowmans up the road is a nice golden pint as well).

http://www.flowerpots.f2s.com/beers.html

Good luck and please let us know how you get on