Some questions for you all

O.k. I have a porter finishing up that used the Wyeast Ringwood which from everything I've found is the strain that is most close to the one called for in this recipe so I'm thinking of brewing this one and using the yeast cake to ferment it.

But I have a few questions... I ferment primary in a 7.5gallon bucket.

1.) Would an airlock be o.k. if I put this wort on a yeast cake? I've read lots of things about blowoff tubes and I'm not sure how to accomplish that in my primary.

2.) Will it be o.k. to rack off the porter, put it in the secondary and just put this cooled wort right on top of the trub in there? Will that cause problems? From what I've read I just slightly agitate (swirl) the fermentor when I'm done and it should take off right?

3.) I realize that this recipe has short ferment times for 10% brew and I intend to make sure it finishes before I move it.

Any help you can offer is really appreciated as I embark on my first BIG brew!

Recipe to follow....

Cheers!
Scott

NOSFARATU'S RETURN

5 gallons, extract/specialty grains

Mark diSimone
Brew Masters Ltd.
Rockville, Md.

"This beer is silky smooth and has a great chocolate character. Its 10 percent alcohol is totally hidden. It is ranked number one in our 18-year history."

Ingredients:

6.6 lbs. gold unhopped malt extract
2 lbs. orange blossom honey
1 lb. chocolate malt
1 lb. pale chocolate malt
1 lb. Vienna malt
0.5 lb. cara-pils malt
0.5 lb. crystal malt, 56° Lovibond
1 lb. Munich malt
2 oz. Perle hops (8% alpha acid), for 20 min.
1 oz. crystal hops (3.2% alpha acid), for finishing
Wyeast 1742 (Swedish ale)

Step by Step:

Steep grains in 2 gals. of 170° F water for 30 minutes. Remove grains. Add malt and honey to the grain water. Bring to a boil. Add Perle hops and boil for 20 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in 1 oz. crystal hops. Add to fermenter. Add water to 5 gals. When temperature is below 80° F, pitch yeast. Ferment for seven to 10 days. Place in secondary for seven to 10 days. Prime with corn sugar. Bottle at 1.014. Let age three to four weeks.

You might have enough room to use just an airlock. If not, a blow off tube is easy. Just jam some sanitized tubing in through the hole in the lid and put the end under some sanitizer in a pitcher.

I would just pour the cooled wort onto it and then let it go. It should be fine.

Personally, I'd wash half of it and save it for later.

You can use the other half for your primary.

ohiodad said:

O.k. I have a porter finishing up that used the Wyeast Ringwood which from everything I've found is the strain that is most close to the one called for in this recipe so I'm thinking of brewing this one and using the yeast cake to ferment it.

Click to expand...

Finding yeast #1742, a.k.a. 1187
Q. My supplier tells me that you are dropping the 1742 yeast! Arrrrrgggggghhhhhh. That is the backbone of our immensely popular Big Swede (Swedish Imperial Stout). What do we do?

A. Sorry for any confusion. The new ID number for the same yeast (1742) is Wyeast Number 1187. The same yeast guaranteed. It is available in all sizes.

from a cached google search

O.k. a little more help needed.. Since my local homebrew shop doesn't seem to carry this stuff.. I'm trying to order from Northern Brewer.

I can't find :
1 lb. pale chocolate malt
or
1 oz. crystal hops (3.2% alpha acid), for finishing

on their website.. Does anyone have any alternatives I could use? Also the recipe calls for 6.6lbs of golden extract.. NB sells their golden extract in a 6lb quantity. Would I lose a lot by only putting in 6lbs instead of 6.6lbs?

Sorry for all the newbie questions but you are all a real big help!! Thanks!

Pale Chocolate malt...isn't that an oxymoron?

Here is a hop reference guide:
http://byo.com/referenceguide/hops/


Brown malt might be an appropriate substitute for pale chocolate...perhaps someone else can guide ya there.

brewt00l said:

Here is a hop reference guide:
http://byo.com/referenceguide/hops/


Brown malt might be an appropriate substitute for pale chocolate...perhaps someone else can guide ya there.

Click to expand...

Cool thanks for the hop guide link that is most most helpful!! The pale chocolate is really confusing me too... Anyone able to help here?

I have heard Jamil talk about pale chocolate on his brew cast. It looks like morebeer.com has it here: http://morebeer.com/search/102158
good luck.

O.k. here I am back again! :cross: So anyway.. I have all the ingredients coming from Northernbrewer on Friday. I subbed 1/2 pound of chocolate malt for the pound of pale chocolate (I read that you could do this on the net) and mount hood hops for the crystals! (thanks to the advice above!) Plan to brew this one over the weekend. Couple of more small questions if you all would be so kind to help!

1.) I'm kind of confused by the boiling time on this.. It says to steep for 30 mins then boil for 20 mins with the perle hops... Every recipe I've followed before has had me steeping first then boiling for around an hour.. Is 20 mins really long enough to boil wort?

2.) Blowoff tube still has me a touch confused. I guess I just stuff a tube through the grommet of my bucket right? Anyone know what size fits best? And then run the other end to a bucket of santizer mix right?

You are all great for the help!! I really do appreciate your patience and willingness to help out people like myself getting acquainted with this great hobby! Thanks!

I made this one over the weekend and wow what an awesome ferment this one is having!! Started in about 2 hours and by this morning it was blowing black stuff down that blowoff tube and it sounds like a coffee perculator in the bucket! Thanks for the advice especially about the blowoff tube! I think I would have made a mess without it! Now i just hope I have enough yeast power to make all 10% of the alcohol!

Congratulations on a good brew day! Let us know how it turns out.

brewt00l said:

Finding yeast #1742, a.k.a. 1187
Q. My supplier tells me that you are dropping the 1742 yeast! Arrrrrgggggghhhhhh. That is the backbone of our immensely popular Big Swede (Swedish Imperial Stout). What do we do?

A. Sorry for any confusion. The new ID number for the same yeast (1742) is Wyeast Number 1187. The same yeast guaranteed. It is available in all sizes.

from a cached google search

Click to expand...

Do you have a pointer to the original web page/cached search where this is from?

Thanks.

I overfilled 1 batch in my primary and had 2 use a blow off tube. I put my racking cane in the rubber gromet into the lid and then put my siphon hose on the end of the racking cane to run into a pitcher of water and it worked great. Next time I made sure not to fill the bucket up soo full that I needed A blow off tube