Demijohn Sideline Experiments - Ideas?

[daf]

I am managing to turn out more wort now than my 25l FVs can hold. I do all grain, full volume, start with about 36 litres in the mash.

Yesterday I was making an attempt at a New England IPA and had the FV up to 25litres with scant headspace so I decided to fill one of my several demijohns with the remainder. I have some jars of yeast saved from previous brews so decided to plonk some saison yeast in the demijohn and see what turns out.

Anyway - does anyone have any ideas for other things to do with a couple of demijohn sideline batches - fruit, honey, that sort of thing? I'll be doing an ESB in the next few days.

[Hogarth]

My boring answer is: can it and use it for starter wort.

I'm sure someone else will come up with something more interesting...

[Hanglow]

Brettanomyces Just hoy a vial/packet in and let it ferment out on its own for however long it'll take

I tend to freeze excess wort from the mash for starters, so it's unhopped.

[daf]

Freezing wort sounds like a cracking idea, ta.

[daf]

Where's the place to buy brett?

[Hanglow]

Any of the homebrew shops that sell liquid yeast should sell some

You could also culture some up from some belgian beers, Orval has some I think bu they tend to also have other yeasts in them.

[daf]

I could get something from, say, here: http://www.brewuk.co.uk/ingredients/ing ... teria.html and then save some and recycle?

[Hanglow]

Sure, just keep some back from each ferment, same as you might do with normal liquid yeast

Brettanomyces Clausennii is the mildest of them I think, but I've not used brett yet, it's on my list

this is a good blog for many wild yeasts etc
http://www.themadfermentationist.com/

[brewboy4]

If it's the right time of year I wild ferment. Had a few beers that have turned out better than my intended beer( one was exceptional which I top cropped the yeast and used a few times) other were terrible ....


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[Peatbogbrewer]

If it's the right time of year I wild ferment. Had a few beers that have turned out better than my intended beer( one was exceptional which I top cropped the yeast and used a few times) other were terrible ....


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As in wort left uncovered, lambic syle? How long did you expose it to air, how did you expose to air (some sort of cover to prevent things falling in). More info would be gratefully appreciated...

[daf]

Yes please!

[WalesAles]

Anyway - does anyone have any ideas for other things to do with a couple of demijohn sideline batches - fruit, honey, that sort of thing? I'll be doing an ESB in the next few days.

daf,
Try 0.6kg fresh pulped / blended Strawberries in the DJ. Bloody Lovely Mun!

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=71317&start=15

Have a good read!

WA

[serum]

The dregs from a single bottle of Orval are enough to add Brettanomyces to a demijohn of beer that's already fermented. I f you take the beer with the saison yeast then chuck those dregs in once it's done it'll come out good after a few months.

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[brewboy4]

If it's the right time of year I wild ferment. Had a few beers that have turned out better than my intended beer( one was exceptional which I top cropped the yeast and used a few times) other were terrible ....


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As in wort left uncovered, lambic syle? How long did you expose it to air, how did you expose to air (some sort of cover to prevent things falling in). More info would be gratefully appreciated...

Just covered the open side with cheese cloth and an elastic band. I left it like that until it was almost done fermenting then put a Bung in. The Time it takes to complete varies quite a lot but I dropped some(like 10) raspberries from my garden once and it was much quicker( 1-2weeks)

When it does finish fermenting wild yeast takes quite a time to clear but I have had some cracking beers from wort which would otherwise went to down the drain. The worst thing is if you get a good beer you only have 5L.

[orlando]

If you want to use excess mash wort to use as a starter just make sure it is <1.040 preferably closer to 1.030 and of course the container you are putting it into is sterile, not just sanitised. Obviously if you are deliberately looking to infect this is not important. A neat solution is to can it in the equivalent of Mason jars and pressure cooking it.