New Brew : Midas Touch Atlantic

[fivetide]

Tonight I have the house pretty much to myself, so I will be putting a new brew together while listening to the footy. Rather preciously, I'm calling it- Midas Touch Atlantic, as I have planned some US overtones for it.

I am so impressed with the Cascade dry-hopping of the Great Eastern (try it, it's superb) that I'm going to do the same again, throwing in an ounce of these citrus hops to the Muntons' Midas Touch brew for that week in secondary.

To continue the American slant and attempt to produce a nice dry summer finish to match that floral nose, I will either be using a vial of White Labs' East Coast Ale Yeast or a sachet of SafAle US-56 (let me know which you think I should use, I have both in the fridge).

Other than that it's just a matter of aerating beyond the limits of human endurance, long primary, decent dry-hopping secondary and lengthy clearing. I have it on good authority I will be receiving my C02 tank Friday, so this will also be the first brew into a Corni and swingtops.

[delboy]

I'd be inclined to try the east coast yeast which is supposedly good for blonde ales, the us-56 is i think the same as the white labs california yeast whch will allow the hops to really shine through but maybe leave it a bit dry, i suppose its up to you what you want.

[fivetide]

Great. Just finished knocking up a starter with the liquid yeast. Might use it after just a few hours though to get the brew started before bedtime

[delboy]

Great. Just finished knocking up a starter with the liquid yeast. Might use it after just a few hours though to get the brew started before bedtime

I'd leave it till tomorrow at least, that wee bit of patience will pay off, liquid yeasts are different than dry, a starter for dry yeast is just to basically wake up the yeast.
With the liquid yeast its more a matter of getting the cell count up before pitching otherwise they may struggle and you can end up getting off flavours, slow ferments and increased chance of infection etc. I reckon it will probably need that 24 hrs, better still 48hrs

[fivetide]

Damn. No time tomorrow evening

Oh well have to be Friday then.

[fivetide]

delboy -

took your advice, made the starter last night but nothing else. mixed four tablespoons light spray malt with quarter pint luke warm water, three quarters boiling, zapped in m/wave, let cool, put yeast liquid in a pet (damn fizzy in its tube) added sugar solution, shook a lot and put to one side with loose cap on.

It's about 20 hours later and it looks like flat murky brown liquid with residue at the bottom and a thin thin white foam on top. bit dissapointing really, i'll wait until about 11 but have I wasted a fiver?

Should I give it a shake or something?

[fivetide]

After about 40 hours it's looking like this. I can see similar online but I was looking for a head rather than a bigger sediment at the bottom. Will it do the do if I swirl and pitch do you reckon? Pricey stuff and did it all by the book...

[delboy]

Everything looks good to me (i might have used a larger volume though maybe 1L). Afaik the head formation is a result of fermentation, when making a starter the name of the game isn't to get it to ferment its to get the yeast to 'get jiggy with it' and make lots and lots of new yeast.
The reproductive stage requires oxygen so if you have been aerating (shaking the bottle) well enough they should be still reproducing, hence the lack of a head.

The liquid yeast starters i have made on a stir plate, have never produced a head but they have done a cracking of of getting the cell count up (left without agitation for a few hours there is a healthy looking yeast layer) and they have all fermented ok.

I hear what you are saying about the liquid yeasts being expensive, you might want to hold back a little of the starter and put it in the fridge in case you want to brew again with it (weather permitting), you would just need to add it to some fresh wort and grow it up again for several days. At least this way you will get more than one batch for your fiver.

Keep us updated how the ferment goes

[fivetide]

Ah delboy, you've put my mind to rest, thanks very much.

I don't mind the price if it works - I invested the fiver to gain a bit more knowledge and it sounds a fine yeast by all accounts for what i'm trying to do.

That is a two-litre pet by the way and the starter is half litre only.

I'll give it a shake in preperation for brewing tonight, heavy on the aeration

Thanks again.

[delboy]

its a good idea to vent the bottle now and again to let some more oxygen into the system so they can continue to reproduce.

Good luck with tonights brew.

[delboy]

I prefer to decant off the spent beer and add fresh wort several hours before pitching to get the yeast really active.

Since the starter culture was pretty small this would certainly help

[fivetide]

Good stuff. All seems to make a lot of sense.

I can decant the old brew off the top just leaving the yeast about four hours before I brew if that sounds any good. Another pint of sugar solution using 4 tbsp spray malt sound okay? Then just pour this into the PET and yeast again, give a good shake and then leave alone 'til pitching?

[fivetide]

I poured off the old liquid leaving the sludgey yeast in the bottom (not a terrific amount mind you) added the new cooled sugar and shook like billio... Cap now on loosely. Brewing in four hours or so. Hope it works, still unimpressed with action (that froth is aeration, obviously)

[fivetide]

Evening. Well the yeast starter never did liven up. I'm a bit dissapointed because I chose a premium yeast, made a starter rather than pitching direct, left for 48 hours and gave it fresh nutrient a few hours before pitching but never got any action out of it at all. Just flat brown liquid. If this proves to be the weak link I won't be happy - it was supposed to be the strongest! Anyway, the rest went well.

Made up 3.6K Midas touch with 3.5l boiling water and 16.5l campden treated cold water poured from height into nice big fermenting bin. I then aerated for 20 further mins with a paddle until foam was coming out the top.



Couldn't take an accurate SG. Lost hydrometer initially...



However much I pushed the foam away it came back, but I'm guestimating 1048 from this and many other attempts.



Squirted in the starter that didnt... ...swirled and added in the lifeless thing.


here's the frothy brew - let's hope the yeasties turn up to the party eventually...

[fivetide]

Morning!

Bit of a dour post last night, I was just a bit knackered.

Twelve hours-ish since pitching there's no action in the fermenter, but I've decided it'll get there eventually and that a slow burner might not be such a bad thing! Here's to pictures of a massive crusty ferment by Sunday!

Here's the fermenter this morning, still thinking about it!


As well as the hopeful signs of some yeast cake action. Anticip...