Gnawing Questions

I’ve been putting these questions off because I’ve had so much stuff to buy that I almost felt that I’m putting the horse before the cart. But these questions have been driving me nutz. What I wanted to do was to purchase a large amount of DME a small amount of Yeast so that I would always have fresh. Then buy one pound of hops for each that I use so that they are there in reserve. So the first question is easy:

When measuring out liquid yeast, how much do you use to equate to 12 grams of dry? Also, how many batches do you get out of a jar of white labs? I’m sure that some will say that I maybe jumping the gun since I haven’t gotten it yet but this is a question that has been at the back of my mind since I decided to try it.

Second, I know that it is good to refrigerate yeast and even better to freeze it to preserve the effectiveness of the product. Though I didn’t read until tonight that hops naturally deteriorate as well and this had never occurred to me before. So, I know that some say to refrigerate hops but what about freezing?

Also when I Dry hopped last time, I did it with pellets and there was so much sediment that it was really annoying even before bottling. Does someone know how much run off that there is between flowers, pellets and plugs? Last, when you use one of the three do you use the same amount of weight for each form?

I've never seen a jar of white labs. What's the volume? The tubes I'm used to are about the same as ONE gram of dry yeast (10 billion cells).

I freeze my hops.

Run off?? Don't understand.

Dry hop with whole hops when possible, but always use the same weight.

david_42 said:

I've never seen a jar of white labs. What's the volume? The tubes I'm used to are about the same as ONE gram of dry yeast (10 billion cells).

I freeze my hops.

Run off?? Don't understand.

Dry hop with whole hops when possible, but always use the same weight.

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Well, I'll tell you exactly what i'm looking at:

http://morebeer.com/product.html?product_id=19816

Frankly, I don't know what the quantity is and i'm not quite certain how the starter works....I've been told its good (though there are many that disagree), but the more I have considered it, the better it has looked.....

Run Off - What I meant was simple....I meant, when you have a pellet it no longer stays in that form......does the plug? And with the whole flowers, is there anything that falls off of them? You know, sediment that would fall to the bottem.....

I know these are stupid questions but that's because i've never bought this stuff...I'm just going off of my first experience, recipes that I really want to taste and a drive to do better then I did the first time...

Each vile is good for one batch of beer. A starter will verify that the yeast is good and increase the cell count which decreases the lag time between pitching and the start of fermentation. Under pitching can also lead to a stuck fermentation so a starter can also help your beer fully ferment.

I'm not a hops expert, but I do know a little about the yeast. The yeast are for ONE 5 gallon batch. Even that is not really sufficient, so most people make a starter. A starter is simply some DME and water boiled and cooled to pitching temperature so that you can grow more yeast in it. Then, when it's finished fermenting, you throw away the beer you made and pitch that yeast into a 5 gallon batch. You can't freeze it unless you have some specialized equipment, because freezing and thawing will kill your yeast.

I freeze my hops pellets. I close them tightly and them put them in a ziploc in the freezer. You use different amounts for pellets vs. fresh. I think you use 25% more with fresh, but I'm not sure on that. Someone else here on the board can confirm that.

Lorena

ldaug said:

Each vile is good for one batch of beer. A starter will verify that the yeast is good and increase the cell count which decreases the lag time between pitching and the start of fermentation. Under pitching can also lead to a stuck fermentation so a starter can also help your beer fully ferment.

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Really? This is making me think again because that makes white labs quite expensive to work with...I realize that they maybe good but that seems like a lot of money when you can just use 12 grams of dry and achieve just about the same thing......

The 12 gram dry yeast packets are pretty good for a 5 gallon batch. No starter is needed so they are convienient and ferment out real well. I keep a couple around for emergencies but I do prefer the liquid yeasts. I try to get 3 batches per package by washing or reusing the yeast from a prior batch. A good yeast information page is here > http://www.mrmalty.com/

I use pellet hops and they are far easier to store. I put mine in the freezer.

lorenae said:

I'm not a hops expert, but I do know a little about the yeast. The yeast are for ONE 5 gallon batch. Even that is not really sufficient, so most people make a starter. A starter is simply some DME and water boiled and cooled to pitching temperature so that you can grow more yeast in it. Then, when it's finished fermenting, you throw away the beer you made and pitch that yeast into a 5 gallon batch. You can't freeze it unless you have some specialized equipment, because freezing and thawing will kill your yeast.

I freeze my hops pellets. I close them tightly and them put them in a ziploc in the freezer. You use different amounts for pellets vs. fresh. I think you use 25% more with fresh, but I'm not sure on that. Someone else here on the board can confirm that.

Lorena

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Well, I know that you can Freeze Dry and I know Freezing Liquid is a bit trickier (http://www.schwedhelm.net/brew/yeast_harv_freeze.html)......that's something that I hadn't gotten into yet.....

Blender said:

The 12 gram dry yeast packets are pretty good for a 5 gallon batch. No starter is needed so they are convienient and ferment out real well. I keep a couple around for emergencies but I do prefer the liquid yeasts. I try to get 3 batches per package by washing or reusing the yeast from a prior batch. A good yeast information page is here > http://www.mrmalty.com/

I use pellet hops and they are far easier to store. I put mine in the freezer.

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I had seen part of this......I don't know if I'm stupid or if the ADD had kicked in but my eyes started to glaze after about a half a page of that stuff.....

You are correct in thinking a dry yeast will do as good a job, provided the ale style is not one (like hefes & Belgians) that depend on the yeast for specific flavors. For a hoppy IPA or a any dark ale, Nottingham or Windsor (for a sweeter finish) will do the trick.

david_42 said:

You are correct in thinking a dry yeast will do as good a job, provided the ale style is not one (like hefes & Belgians) that depend on the yeast for specific flavors. For a hoppy IPA or a any dark ale, Nottingham or Windsor (for a sweeter finish) will do the trick.

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No, nothing too sophisticated....I'm still a newbie, I've got on the new schedule:

(From Papazian)
Scotch Ale
Irish Red Ale
Imperial Stout
Cherries in the Snow

Personally I do have some quesitons over technique but I will save them for when I get closer to production.......But I just wanted to keep things really simple and hopefully produce something tasty......

That's the main Goal Anyway......