Milestone Olde Home Wrecker

[quietman]

Well I bought this today, before I start does anyone have any experience with this one? The instructions say: "It will be beneficial for a healthy fermentation to re-hydrate the yeast according to the instructions on the sachet" but there are no instructions on the sachet or anywhere else, what should I do?

Thanks and regards, Ian

[Madbrewer]

You'll need a sterilised jug plus some boiled water left to cool. When the water temperature's below 30c sprinkle the yeast into it. If you do that an hour before emarking on the rest of the kit, by the time you are ready to pitch the yeast, it will be active already and get to work straight away with your beer. For what it's worth - we've probably all had satisfactory results just sprinkling the yeast on top on occasion but re-hydrating or even making a yeast starter will improve the chances of fermentation even further by making sure you are pitching active yeast into your wort (beer).

Generally a little 8g packet of yeast isn't enough for ideal fermentation but you can get away with it - if you had some malt extract that has been dissolved in water, boiled and cooled for the yeast to feed on, you would have a higher number of active yeast by the time you came to pitching the yeast. However most fans of packet yeasts either get more sachets or only go for the 11g/12g sizes to ensure rapid fermentation takes off.]

Two more considerations, yeast requires oxygen to multiply - therefore 'do' stir some air into you kit with a sterile plastic spoon before you pitch the yeast & yeast does NOT like changes in temperature so don't pour cold hydrated yeast (say 16c) into 30c wort.

If it's worth an extra quid to you to get your kit off to a good start buy more yeast/buy an appropriate 11g sachet instead.

[kenny850]

Hi Ian, can only echo what Madbrewer has said with the exception of stirring the wort prior to pitching the yeast-absolutely beat the crap out of it and when you think you cant stir anymore beat it some more! This is the only time when oxygen in the wort is good,more the better.

[pongobilly]

i have done the kit in question, i had to ad dry beer enzyme as it didnt ferment out great, so it ended up a bit flat and very alcoholic tasting so eventually im gonna give it another go and try a different approach, as with giving it a good stir, what i do is attach my long brewing paddle to my power drill and hey presto plenty of oxygen in the wort after five minutes of that, just dont let go of the drill for two reasons.

1. death by airation

2. power drills cant be sanitised

[PMH0810]

I made it. Best kit I've ever, ever drunk. Rehydrated the yeast for 30 mins in a tumbler full of cooled, bolied water. After fermentation I left it 4 weeks in the bottle. It tasted lifeless.

Tried it again after 8 weeks; not offensive, drinkable.

12 weeks? Amazing. Really.

[PMH0810]

Chill the beer for a couple of hours before opening. Don't rebottle if you can help it, too much risk.

[quietman]

Well mines made and bottled and I must say I'm extremely pleased with it. In fact I'd go as far as to say it's bloody gorgeous, not very fizzy but excellent nonetheless. I am most pleased.

regards, Ian

[KevP]

Glad to hear it Ian!

Its really satisfying to know you brewed it yourself aint it?

[quietman]

It certainly is Kev, I don't think there'll be much left for chrimbo

[KevP]

Thats the problem, the stocks dont last!! I am trying to build up a little stockpile, that way I'm not tempted to sup immature brews that aren't ready, I will keep throwing them on for a couple of months now.

[PeteH]

When I did this kit the yeast didn't have a label on it. Does that mean it wasn't Gervin? I would've use Safale S04 if I'd known that. That said, it came out good, and the yeast sediment is very solid at the bottom of the bottle, I can almost pour out all of it.