pfranco81

Recipes 

Ok so I have two questions that I would like answered before I start my first batch. The first is, I've heard a suggestion of using ice in the primary fermenter instead of just the excess ~3 gallons or so, as to cool down the wort a lot faster before adding the yeast is this a good idea or have i overlooked a certain aspect? Also, the brew kit I ordered came with a blow-off hose along with a fermentation lock, is there a benefit of one over another?

thanks for the help

Bugeaterbrewing

Recipes 

Ice is generally very unsanitary. You will be running a great risk of getting an unwanted infection in your beer. To quickly cool your beer with ice, Fill a couple half gallon milk jugs about 3/4 full of water and freeze them. When ready to cool your wort, sanitize the outside of the milk jug and then use it to gently stir your wort. This will bring down the temperature much quicker than the usual ice bath and much more sanitary than adding ice directly to the wort.

The blow off tube is handy for the first couple of days of fermentation when activity is the highest. It keeps you from making a mess on the floor (and sometimes the ceiling). This also assumes you are pitching a proper amount of yeast. If you are using dry yeast, there is plenty of yeast in the package. If you are using a liquid yeast you will need to make a starter. Generally, a 2 quart starter is about right to get the peoper amount of yeast growth. The one pint starter suggestrd by many sources is too small to get any growth and is not really any better than using no starter. Check out www.howtobrew.com and www.mrmalty.com for more info on startetrs and brewing in general.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

pfranco81

Recipes 

I am using Wyeast, the kind that you smack and it swells up. Is that considered a dry or liquid yeast? Rather, does that require a starter?

Beerrific

Recipes 

That is a liquid yeast. A starter is not required, but is suggested. I have done three brews (my first three) with Wyeast and didn't make starters, all fermented great. For high gravity beers a starter is more important.

Bugeaterbrewing

Recipes 

That is a liquid yeast. You can get away with not using a starter, however there are consequences to that. The smack pack only contains about half the recommended number of yeast cells for properly pitching to a 5 gallon batch of wort.

When you pitch your yeast it won't immediately start turning sugars into alcohol. First it will start using the dissolved O2 and sugar to bud and reproduce. This reproduction process will generate a lot of esters and other byproducts. These will affect the taste. Some amount of these esters are desirable. If you had none, your beer would be a little bland. Too many and you will get a variety of "off" flavors.

By pitching a proper amount of yeast you will hit a good balance of these esters. You can make beer with no starter. You can make better beer with one. For most beers, the slurry from a two quart starter works out about right. For high gravity beers (OG of 1.070+) you need the slurry from 3 or 4 quarts. For lagers, 4-6 quarts. For high gravity ales, I normally brew a lower gravity beer first and then use the yeast cake for my next beer.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company