Yeast starter questions: Wyeast 1332 Northwest Ale

[Piscator]

I can't rememeber where I read it now but I do recall Ali Kocho-Williams posting somewhere that Fullers use champagne yeast for bottle conditioning.

Cheers
Steve

[Wonkydonkey]

Ok, thanks for letting me know. I'll put off the HSB clone for the mo.

But I'm not sure why they would go to all the trouble, filtering then pitch a different yeast in.

I guess there's a few ways to find out.

1, ask Nicely.
2, get some wort/sugar boil it down, so the SG is around 1100 and use the bottled yeast to ferment it, then see if it can handle more alcohol than the primary strain should. ( champagne yeast can do 15-17%)

I've gone for the first option. So let's see if I get a reply. If I don't get a reply. I guess the second option is on the cards.

I'm sure there are other ways, but they just may be not available to me. Apart from going on a brewery tour and asking,

Wonky

[hambrook]

I didn't think HSB was Bottle Condition; but I just checked one from my stock and see the same small amount of sediment at the bottom. A word of caution; whilst the yeast may be based on Gales' original yeast strain it was modified to be bottom fermenting by Fullers.

[BrewerBen]

Airlock slowed to a stop and i could see the yeast settling so split it into 500ml bottles and put in the fridge.
Hopefully thats enough yeast in each bottle to get a 1-1.5L starter going.

[YeastWhisperer]

That's more than enough yeast for a 1 to 1.5L starter. I pitch much less yeast into 1L of wort when I propagate a starter from slant.

[hambrook]

Update on the original thread; day 14 and for the past 24 hours I crash cooled the brew to 10 degrees C. Measured FG was 1010 - LOWER than I wanted .

Is it worth saving the yeast for reuse? Here are some pics:

[YeastWhisperer]

Yes

[BrewerBen]

I've just pitched a 1L starter of the Brewlab/Gales yeast into 25L of 1.042 Mild so fingers crossed all goes well: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=71621

[BrewerBen]

I was a little worried this morning as the fermenter had got cooler than i thought it would. I lack temp control so the fermenter goes in the room that is at about the right temp and it had dropped below 18C although i could see it was going from the airlock.
I've now moved it to a warmer area so hopefully all will be fine, a peak at the yeast and although not as thick as in hambrooks pic its definitely fermenting:

[Wonkydonkey]

this my 4lt test batch, it was taken from the 50lt brew before the yeast was added (a youngs bottle conditioned beer)
I added to this 4lt the yeast that I recultured from a bottle gales HSB.



so if any of you still do not beleave its the gales strain, I will still say it is, and tell you, like I did before
1, "ask Nicely "
2, "do a brew"

I've done the 1st and if I'd got the answer sooner, I would not have decanted just 4lts , I'd dumped it straight in a 25lt brew

Ps sorry to high jack this thread. But I thought you all would like to know.

[BrewerBen]

Thats a great result, i think this thread has turned into a general Gales yeast thread now. I'm a little surprised as there seemed to be so little yeast in the picture of the bottle you posted. I'm definitely going to have to give it a go now even if its just for fun.
One random observation is the bottles i had split from the original 3L starter i made have dropped crystal clear, i don't think I've ever brewed anything that clear. Although it was just extra pale malt extract which i guess could be a factor but if the beer is cloudy i don't think i can blame the yeast.

[hambrook]

Let me know where our brews end up with FG - I was disappointed with the Wyeast 1332 which finished way too low at 1009, was aiming for 1013 for something sweeter...

[Wonkydonkey]

Let me know where our brews end up with FG - I was disappointed with the Wyeast 1332 which finished way too low at 1009, was aiming for 1013 for something sweeter...

If you were doing AG, what was your mash temp? I'd Aim around 67-68 so you get a bit more unfermetable stuff.

Personally I like a drier beer, so I always aim for 65

Edit: I just reread the 1st few posts. You did not go the AG route, well It could be a reason to try AG. or did you do AG,

My starting SG was 1.045 as I did not need another 6% brew, I mashed at 65-66, but as its the first time I've used this yeast I'm not sure how low it will go.

I will take a FG and post it here, Btw,It was started on the 13th may

[hambrook]

All my mashes so far have been at 66 degrees for 90 mins with a 10 minute 78 degree mash out and sparge (Braumeister)

EDIT: Only my first 2 brews were extract, I then built my own 3V system and have been all grain for 10 brews; the last 6 being in a 2015 Braumeister.

[BrewerBen]

So a quick question on this yeast is when can i expect it to finish? 6 days in and the gravity has dropped to 1.010/1.012 and i still have activity from the airlock and the yeast on top of the beer pictured below. Normally at this point the krausen has gone and i'm just giving it a few days at its FG before kegging/bottling, especially as it was only had a SG of 1.042 . Does the krausen ever drop back into the beer?
I ask as i'm hoping to get a brew in on Monday and the ideal situation would be to keg this beer and re-use the yeast slurry in the next one.
The next beer i have planned is going to have a decent dry hop so if the krausen lingers would it have an effect on the dry hopping? would stirring the head back in help at all? I did notice when taking a sample with the hydrometer is didn't take long at all for the krausen form in the jar.
Its currently on its target gravity and the airlock activity makes me think it will drop a little more so along with hambrooks result i suspect this may not be as low a attenuator as wyeast suggest. I did mash at a low temp though at 64C to help with attenuation so the next one i'll do at 66 or 67 and will be aiming for the same gravity to see what difference it makes.

None of this is criticisms of the yeast so far its been smelling great and the trail jar sample have been tasting good too so i have quite high hopes about the end result. I just may have to alter my routine a little and allow for a longer fermentation and maybe add a racking step before dry hopping or bottling. I normally keg/bottle/dry hop straight from primary preferring minimal intervention.