Liquid yeast

[Texy]

Hi,
I am now up to AG#5 which is GW's Ringwood XXXX Porter, and is currently in the FV doing nicely. I did have a slight problem with slow fermentation due to it being in a cold room. Even though the FV is in a large flexible bucket with aquiarium heater, it was still only just above 15 degree's. Clearly the 50watt heater isn't up to it, I will have to get a higher wattage heater. I moved it into a warmer room next to a radiator and its kicked off nicely now.

Anyway, back on subject, I, d like to move onto liquid yeast for my next brew and too save money, I,d like to make the most of it by splitting as shown in this helpful guide :
http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/liquid_yeast.htm
However, I,m a bit clueless on what to do next come brew day (or just before). Should I get about 100ml of wort on the day, cool to 25 degrees or so and add the starter to it, then leave it for an hour or so to get going?
Also the guide says to add the liquid yeast from the packet and "add to 1/2 gall of boiled, cooled wort". One assumes I can just boild some grain on the stove to achieve this. If I want to say only make 3 starters, will say 500gms of pale malt to 1/4 gallon do?
The guide also says "After it's almost fermented out, the starter is split". I,m assuming that this will be no more than about 3 days?

Is there a 'general purpose' liquid yeast to recommend? I brew IPA's generally, if that helps.



Many thanks,
Texy

[Befuddler]

degree's

I,d

I,m

Anyway... You can't make a starter by "boiling grains on the stove", that won't get you anything useful at all since the grains haven't been mashed. The simplest way to make a starter is with malt extract, either dry or liquid. I use 110g of dry malt extract to a litre of water to get a starter at roughly 1.040. If you don't fancy buying extract, you can save a litre of wort from each batch of beer you make and freeze it for using in starters later - just boil it up on the stove before use.

I usually make starters a week in advance, give them 4-5 days to ferment out (less if using a stir plate), then chill them in the fridge to drop the yeast, decant the wort off and pitch the yeast slurry (once it's warmed up to pitching temp). Some people don't bother chilling or decanting and pitch the whole starter, but I'm not a fan of that as starters usually taste BAD.

There's a huge list of yeast strains here detailing which breweries they are thought to originate from: http://www.mrmalty.com/yeast.htm

A general purpose strain for American style IPAs and hoppy beers would be WLP001 / WY1056, it's very clean and lets the hops shine, but doesn't flocculate well. Personally, I also like WLP007 / WY1098 for a bit more character. Experiment with some different yeasts and decide which you like best. There are full descriptions of every strain on the White Labs / Wyeast websites.

[Beer O'Clock]

degree's

I,d

I,m

[Texy]

Sorry I,m missing the joke, or my browser isn't displaying everything

Texy

[boingy]

I think it may be a reference to your comma,s and apostrophe's.

Ignore that bit and read the bit where he answers your question.

[Texy]

Lol. I'm a victim of my own annoyances.
I take a look at those yeast links and take a look for some dried yeast extract.
Cheers
Texy

[Capn Ahab]

If you're brewing English IPA's and pale ales go for an English yeast - I've never brewed with WLP007/Wye1098 but a member of our homebrew club brought his IPA he'd made with it recently and it were proper good lad. I reckon the American Ale yeasts lack a bit of character for English Ales, and are best for really clean hop showcases. I have tried WLP002, WLP013, WLP023 and Wye1318 and they all kick the ass off dry yeasts. They're all slightly different too, which makes them fun!

[Texy]

Thanks guys. I,ve placed an order for some DME and chosen Wyeast 1098 to get me 'started'

Texy