Recent content by ihearthops

+1 ..pulverize them if you like - only your lauter will suffer.

May come out a bit muddled with so many varieties. Id stick to no more than three complimentary varieties. If your feeling adventurous, go for it.

The viability on that vial is going to be very low, so even in a small batch it will be a big underpitch.

Yep, general steps are as follows: - sanitize any equipment used - rack beer from fermentation vessel to keg - use keg lube on lid o-ring to ensure keg lid seals well - attach and close lid - attach c02 to fill keg with gas (I generally initially set the pressure to ~20psi to seat the keg...

Your yeast isn't going to consume any considerable amount of glycogen and trehalose reserves in the short time it takes you to bring a ~2L starter from chilled to wort (pitching) temp. I personally don't chill/decant starters unless they are >2L anyways, so i'm generally in the ballpark at room...

I'd suggest always rehydrating your yeast packet in roughly 10x it's weight in water (~90-100deg F) for 30 minutes. If you're planning on performing your rehydration step in the wort itself, plan on losing ~50% of your yeast cells. At any rate, I would always recommend pitching AFTER you cool...

Regardless of the type of yeast...pitch at or below fermentation temp.

Dont pitch until you are at or below your desired fermentation temp. Your pitched yeast (rehydrated slurry or starter) should be within 5-10 degrees of your cooled wort.

It appears as though it's ready to be pitched into a large volume of wort. :)

If you don't have a stir plate, and only plan on pitching 2 vials, then you'll want to make sure you're frequently shaking/swirling the flask to ensure the yeast have an ample supply of oxygen. If you'd rather air on the side of caution, pitch 3 vials into your 2L starter. I'd also advocate...

You either need around a 5L starter (assuming you only use one vial; also assuming you're using a stir plate for continuous aeration), or pitch 2 vials into a 2 liter starter -- either should net you around 450 billion cells. This is all assuming you're talking about a 5-5.5 gallon batch and...

Yep -- this is exaclty what I have done. Build at least an 8" collar (10" if you want to ensure a little extra room), and you'll be fine. I have 2 ball lock 5 gal cornie's in the lower, and 1 5 gal ball lock cornie on the hump in addition to my 5lb c02 tank -- clearance is perfect. I'd...

I have a 5.0cf GE freezer that I converted. If you put a 8" or larger collar on, you can fit a 3rd 5gal corny on the compressor hump. I used 1x8 for the collar on mine.

There should be no ill effects for mashing for 2 hours. At the VERY most you may change the fermentability of the wort, but honestly I don't think it is enough to even be concerned with.

You can generally find one on ebay for $30-50 shipped.