What's everyone's next brew ?
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BlightyBrewer
BB, http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/S ... t1434.html a good link from an ozzie brewing forum.
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jean-yves
- Hollow Legs
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- Location: Brittany France
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QUOTE (andy @ Jan 20 2006, 09:34 AM) Oh, picked up some pH strips and tested one on my unadulterated domestic water supply last night. Comes out somewhere between 5.2 and 5.6, anyone know which way the pH tends to go once the mash is made up ?
:huh: :huh: tap water at 5.2/5.6 <_<
never saw that andy, if your beer is no good you'ld always plant some flowers which like that ph: azalea, hydrangenea, magnolia, heather( good for beer!) or camellia (not parker bowles: not sure she likes beer! :blink: )
I use a ph meter from Hanna, it's a very good one B)
hope your beer comes out good :beer
:huh: :huh: tap water at 5.2/5.6 <_<
never saw that andy, if your beer is no good you'ld always plant some flowers which like that ph: azalea, hydrangenea, magnolia, heather( good for beer!) or camellia (not parker bowles: not sure she likes beer! :blink: )
I use a ph meter from Hanna, it's a very good one B)
hope your beer comes out good :beer
)
Since using the true top fermenting Wyeast, I skim every day until the head doesn't reform (I rouse as well, but that's because London III is a slow worker).
I take off the whole head with a slotted stainless steel spoon (the sort of thing you use for getting carrots out of a pan of water
). I keep the lid on the fermenter during fermentation, though, which commercial breweries don't, so I can afford to remove the whole head. The head is fully reformed by the next day, during the first few days, anyway.
I take off the whole head with a slotted stainless steel spoon (the sort of thing you use for getting carrots out of a pan of water
). I keep the lid on the fermenter during fermentation, though, which commercial breweries don't, so I can afford to remove the whole head. The head is fully reformed by the next day, during the first few days, anyway.-
James
To throw a spanner in the works, I don’t skim.
With regards to taste, I doubt very much if skimming it makes a beer worse nor do I think it makes it any better, so that why I don’t skim. And I cant be arsed to skim! I always use liquid/live yeast and that black stuff thrown up always stays at the top or gets pushed over to the side and clings there. Also clings to the side as you drain the FV. As Andy has found out, dry yeast gives much ‘softer’ performance.
Commercial breweries skim for a few reasons, a lot of which are not that applicable to homebrewers. Its tradition. (Burton Union fermenting system I think) They have very little headspace, so to arrive in the morning with Krausen over the floor would be pretty messy! One of the reasons for pitching yeast ‘head’ is that it is a clean, relatively ‘pure’ form of yeast, of which there is plenty (due to the volume of beer being fermented) Taking slurry from the bottom of the FV is generally not an option for a brewery, due to the quantities of slurry/liquid involved.
The reverse is true of a home brewer, we get a small head (!?) due to the much smaller volumes. But we can re-pitch slurry as the volumes are far more manageable. If I re-pitch, I do so form slurry which I stick in a jar and cool for a few days. This normally settles out to about 1/3 beer and 2/3rds solid(ish) yeast, then decant off the beer.
It is always best to pitch as much yeast as possible, and the ratios are about 1 unit of head = 2 units of ‘thick’ slurry = 3 units of ‘thin’ slurry. I am lucky enough to get lots of brewers yeast, so very rarely need to re-pitch, but personally I would prefer to do so from slurry (using the method above) as I always find it is easier to get a large quantity.
Just my two-pence worth. So skim away Andy!
With regards to taste, I doubt very much if skimming it makes a beer worse nor do I think it makes it any better, so that why I don’t skim. And I cant be arsed to skim! I always use liquid/live yeast and that black stuff thrown up always stays at the top or gets pushed over to the side and clings there. Also clings to the side as you drain the FV. As Andy has found out, dry yeast gives much ‘softer’ performance.
Commercial breweries skim for a few reasons, a lot of which are not that applicable to homebrewers. Its tradition. (Burton Union fermenting system I think) They have very little headspace, so to arrive in the morning with Krausen over the floor would be pretty messy! One of the reasons for pitching yeast ‘head’ is that it is a clean, relatively ‘pure’ form of yeast, of which there is plenty (due to the volume of beer being fermented) Taking slurry from the bottom of the FV is generally not an option for a brewery, due to the quantities of slurry/liquid involved.
The reverse is true of a home brewer, we get a small head (!?) due to the much smaller volumes. But we can re-pitch slurry as the volumes are far more manageable. If I re-pitch, I do so form slurry which I stick in a jar and cool for a few days. This normally settles out to about 1/3 beer and 2/3rds solid(ish) yeast, then decant off the beer.
It is always best to pitch as much yeast as possible, and the ratios are about 1 unit of head = 2 units of ‘thick’ slurry = 3 units of ‘thin’ slurry. I am lucky enough to get lots of brewers yeast, so very rarely need to re-pitch, but personally I would prefer to do so from slurry (using the method above) as I always find it is easier to get a large quantity.
Just my two-pence worth. So skim away Andy!
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sagwalla
I never skim, ever. I used a closed fermenter (airlock) so presume the yeast won't be oxidised as the O2 in the headspace will be displaced by CO2 during the ferment. I've read that you can leave the beer on spent yeast for about three weeks before the dead cells impart an off flavour to the beer. So long as you rack relatively soon after the ferment ends, it shouldn't be a problem.
To me, skimming is one more step; one more chance for contamination. But I would say I'd be curious to try it on a side-by-side basis to observe the result.
To me, skimming is one more step; one more chance for contamination. But I would say I'd be curious to try it on a side-by-side basis to observe the result.