Raleigh, NC area yeast swap

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Kaiser

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Hi guys,

Last night when I racked, I saved most of the yeast in 2 mason jars. This gave me the idea that we should start reusing each others yeast. It doesn't get much more vital than from the primary and it would be a great pitching rate as well.

So right now I have

2nd generation WYeast 1056 taken from primary 03/14/06
1st generation WYeast Bavarian Lager taken from primary 03/04/06

Kai
 
I've got some 1056 (4th gen), but it's pretty old (3+ mos).
3068 Weihenstephan (1st gen, good amount and ~4-6 weeks).
I've got some 1332 Northwest Ale (1st gen) sitting in my primary sealed up, but haven't decided whether or not to harvest any yet (probably will).

Great idea.
 
Baron von BeeGee said:
3068 Weihenstephan (1st gen, good amount and ~4-6 weeks).

I'd be interested in this one. But I don't plan to brew a Weissbier until the end of the Month. I first have to get the Oktoberfest done.

Kai
 
Kaiser said:
I'd be interested in this one. But I don't plan to brew a Weissbier until the end of the Month. I first have to get the Oktoberfest done.

Kai
I've got three 8oz jars with about an 3cm or yeast each, so I can save you one. I'm going to use one for my Aventinus, as well, unless I'm convinced otherwise between now and then.
 
That's a great idea: I save yeast, but at the relatively modest rate at which I brew, I'm never sure if I'll be able to use it.

If anyone is anywhere near my off-the-beaten path neck of the woods (Manhattan, KS), I have some Wyeast 1214 (Abbey Ale) and am about to collect some 3333 (German Wheat) that I'd be willing to swap.
 
cweston said:
That's a great idea: I save yeast, but at the relatively modest rate at which I brew, I'm never sure if I'll be able to use it.

If anyone is anywhere near my off-the-beaten path neck of the woods (Manhattan, KS), I have some Wyeast 1214 (Abbey Ale) and am about to collect some 3333 (German Wheat) that I'd be willing to swap.

cweston,

You may have better luck if you start your own thread about this. People from KS may not read something titled Raleigh, NC

Kai
 
i read it....i'm not sure why, but i did... i think i just don't like the look of that one bold-titled post on the new posts page.
 
I'm not trying to kick people out of the tread. But I usually filter the threads by name and if it doesn't strike my interest, I ignore it.

Kai
 
Oops: I've been mostly using the "new posts" feature to read posts here: I don't always notice what forum the thread is in.
 
Baron von BeeGee said:
Incidentally, the 3333 would have been my first choice for for my Aventinus...wish you were closer! 3068 is what I've got...

Aventinus is one of the great beers of the world, IMHO. I think I'm going to take a shot at that later this year. Have you done your Aventinus clone before?
 
Jeff and I had discussed doing this a few weeks ago. I guess we forgot to mention it to you guys.

I'm keen to swap yeast, but I don't collect from trub, I just save part of my starters in the fridge under distilled water, and use them to make later starters. If that's acceptable, I'd like to be part of the GRABASS yeast swapping committee.

I've currently got:

1084 (Irish Ale, several months old and I don't know if I'll re-use it or not since I don't have a stout planned in the near future and it's old right now.)
1056 (American Ale, several months old.. wanted to use if for the last batch of IPA, but on brew day I realized I forgot to make a starter and I used dry 1056 instead)
1028 (London Ale used for my porter 3 weeks ago, planning to make a nut brown ale soon)


I had 1728 (scottish ale) in there for a while, but it got infected and turned into a rancid smelling gusher.

In general, since I am trying to perfect a few recipes, I can pretty much tell you that the below are pretty much the only strains of yeast I will be using:

1084 (only used for my stout)
1056 (for my IPA and any American-type experiments)
1028 (for my porter, brown ale and any UK-type experiments)
1728 (only used for for my 80/-)

I might use some 1272 (american II) or a randomly selected British/London ale yeast if I feel whimsical, but the four listed above are my staple yeasts strains, and I get a lot more use of 1056 and 1028 than the others.

-walker
 
cweston said:
Aventinus is one of the great beers of the world, IMHO. I think I'm going to take a shot at that later this year. Have you done your Aventinus clone before?
No, I've never done it. Never done a dunkel, even. For some reason I've been on a wheat beer kick this winter...I enjoyed them before, but wasn't as in to them as I am at the moment. I hope the clone comes out well, but from what I understand it needs to age a bit longer than most wheats (8% abv, I suppose), so I need to get it percolating soon. I've got all of the ingredients in hand.

On DRB's advice I just ordered the 'German Wheat Beers' book, but I don't know if it will arrive before I brew this thing.
 
Baron von BeeGee said:
On DRB's advice I just ordered the 'German Wheat Beers' book, but I don't know if it will arrive before I brew this thing.

I'm reading this right now. And it really is a well written book.

I'm going to make a Wheatbock as my Holiday seasonal this year and might be calling it Adventius. This means brewing it in late August or early September. I'm not sure how long it should age, since you want to have the esters and aromas that may go away after prolonged ging.

I guess you will be able to tell me when it actually peaks ;)

Kai
 
I guess the best approach is to post in this thread about a week before brewing to check if anyone has a suitable yeast.

Kai
 
Kaiser said:
I'm reading this right now. And it really is a well written book.
[snip]
I guess you will be able to tell me when it actually peaks ;)

Kai
It does include a section on Weizenbocks, doesn't it? Anything I should know? Guess I'll find out. I'm thinking about trying to squeeze it in this weekend if everything permits...need to take advantage of the "cold snap" for fermentation. And I'm using the term 'aging' relatively...longer than a hefe, but not for months. Actually, I aged my hefe a couple months and I think the phenols have definitely suffered.
 
Baron von BeeGee said:
It does include a section on Weizenbocks, doesn't it? Anything I should know? Guess I'll find out. I'm thinking about trying to squeeze it in this weekend if everything permits...need to take advantage of the "cold snap" for fermentation. And I'm using the term 'aging' relatively...longer than a hefe, but not for months. Actually, I aged my hefe a couple months and I think the phenols have definitely suffered.

I don't think it features Weizenbocks. But it has some information on them between the lines.

I'd definately recommend 2 decoctions. One from the protein rest to the saccrification temp and one from the sacc temp to mash-out. The first decoction should be pulled after 5 min, thick and fully converted at 72-74C (?F). This will take 15-20 min. Then you should boil it for at least 30min. Make sure you account for the evaporation loss. This means pull more than ProMash tells you. The second decoction can be pulled 20min before the end of the sacc rest. It should be thin. I'd say a conversion temp of 67 or 68C will give you the body and sweetness you want in this beer.

I took this info from the Weissbier book and the Doppelbock that I brewed some time ago. And this is how I would brew a Weizenbock if I were to brew one now.

I assume you have a clone recipe that tells you mash temp and time for the sacc rest.

Kai
 
Kaiser said:
I don't think it features Weizenbocks. But it has some information on them between the lines.
...
I'd definately recommend 2 decoctions.
...
I assume you have a clone recipe that tells you mash temp and time for the sacc rest.

Kai
You're bumming me out! I was planning on doing a protein rest followed by a boiling water infusion up to sacch. and then running off. I don't usually go up to mash out since I batch sparge and don't need to worry about denaturing the enzymes (happens pretty quickly with the boil).

I'll look into doing a protein rest followed by a decoction to get up to sacch.

I have a recipe I found on the web, but don't have any experience with or comments on, but it hits all the Aventinus specs on the money and looks reasonable, so I'm going to try it. It has the sacch temp. I also found a BYO article on the web that gave protein rest and sacch temps as if they had spoken with the brewery.

Anyways, I'm going to run through it once and see what I get...if it's good I'll try and perfect it. Otherwise, Whole Foods sells Aventinus.
 
Baron von BeeGee said:
You're bumming me out! I was planning on doing a protein rest followed by a boiling water infusion up to sacch. and then running off. I don't usually go up to mash out since I batch sparge and don't need to worry about denaturing the enzymes (happens pretty quickly with the boil).

I'll look into doing a protein rest followed by a decoction to get up to sacch.

I have a recipe I found on the web, but don't have any experience with or comments on, but it hits all the Aventinus specs on the money and looks reasonable, so I'm going to try it. It has the sacch temp. I also found a BYO article on the web that gave protein rest and sacch temps as if they had spoken with the brewery.

Anyways, I'm going to run through it once and see what I get...if it's good I'll try and perfect it. Otherwise, Whole Foods sells Aventinus.

Look into the 1st decoction. And you may just replace the 2nd decoction with a hot-water infusion. The idea of the mash-out is not to denature the proteins, but primarily fully stop the beta-amylase. If they were left to work during the lautering, they may eat up some of the body that you want to have in the beer. It also reduces the viscosity of the mash -> easier lautering.

I'm doing batch sparging as well, and always added a mash-out.

Kai

I'll check at home if any of my clone brew books has an Aventius clone as well. Just for comparison.
Did BYO mention anything about decoction? I'd be surprised if Schneider is not using a decoction mash schedule for this beer.
 
Yeah, I meant denature the enzymes (victim of trying to work and goof off at the same time). On my current system I go from runoff to boiling in <20-25m, so I only mashout when it's convenient to add an infusion to equalize my batch volumes. But I'll look into it.

I can't recall if the BYO article mentioned a decoction or not. I'll have to dig around for it. I believe it was actually a generic article on Weizenbocks, and they happend to mention as an example the temps that Schneider mashes at.
 
Here's an Aventinus clone BYO has, but I have a different recipe. It wasn't my understanding that a lager yeast could be used, but this is my first experience with this animal:
http://byo.com/recipe/714.html

Here is another BYO article that discusses what I was talking about:
http://byo.com/feature/442.html
*Note: To employ a step mash, the real Aventius employs a rest at 128¡ F and is stepped up to 152¡ F with hot water.
So according to this, they don't do a decoction but an infusion. Hard to say how trustworthy the statement is.
 
Baron von BeeGee said:
So according to this, they don't do a decoction but an infusion. Hard to say how trustworthy the statement is.
Well, I don't have a better source and decoction is not mentioned on the Schneider web page either. I was taking it from what I read about Weissbiers in the book mentioned above.You should follow the recipe you have. I don't want to be responsible for possible problems/disappointments ;)

Kai
 
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