Here's to yeast...

[tooblue02]

That magical little organism that eats sugar and poops out alcohol and CO2!

I brewed my second batch (extract) of beer yesterday, a smashing pumpkin ale from Northern Brewer (bought the supplies at MLHBS and added a few things). For this batch I was planning on funneling the wort into the fermentor only to have it immidiately clog and I could not get any more through. As time started to become a factor I decided to go ahead and just pour the rest of the wort into the fermentor and then get her sealed, aerated, and yeasted. It was bubbling slowly this morning so that was a good sign. My question is what kind of funnel strainer set up are you guys using? Do you think my screen was more suited going to a secondary fermentor? Does anyone have a link to a good funnel/screen combo for use in a 6.7G primary?

When pitching yeast, I was using US-05 dry, does it matter if it is on top of the foam? Do I need to get it into the wort directly? Or do you guys just pitch and rock a little bit to get it moving?

Also, and yes I know I am supposed to be patient but hey it's my first brew and I couldn't resist... I decided since I was brewing more beer that I should just relax and have a home brew, my first batch has been in bottles since Sat, so not long enough, but I figured I would give it a shot to check on how my priming went and capping went...

Well it went very well! The cap made a nice hiss when opened and I had a great head on the beer, and it tasted pretty decent. I unfortunately had nothing to compare to, but I feel like there might have been a stronger alcohol taste than I was expecting? OG was 1.077 and FG was around 1.020. OG was supposed to be 1.064 and FG was supposed to be 1.014. It is an IPA from a local shop. My calcs put this somewhere around the mid 7's for ABV, so I was going to compare to another fairly strong IPA and see how it plays out. The rest of the bottles will sit till Labor Day and then head to the fridge. Thanks for the help!

 

[twistr25]

Do not strain going to secondary, that is a sure fire way to aerate your beer. I haven't done the Smashing Pumpkin one, but I know the last pumpkin one I did had a ton of trub even after putting it in a grain bag. Did you use any extra pumpkin puree or anything? What kind of funnel/strainer do you have?

Pitching on top is just fine, it'll find it's way in there.

Was your IPA an extract recipe as well? Do you use top off water at all? Or did you make a full 5 gallons? Also, what were your fermenting temperatures?

 

[aiptasia]

My question is what kind of funnel strainer set up are you guys using? Do you think my screen was more suited going to a secondary fermentor? Does anyone have a link to a good funnel/screen combo for use in a 6.7G primary?

Line your bottling bucket with a sanitized bag such as this. Your LHBS should have them in spades.

When pitching yeast, I was using US-05 dry, does it matter if it is on top of the foam? Do I need to get it into the wort directly? Or do you guys just pitch and rock a little bit to get it moving?

Follow the hydration directions on the packet and pitch. If pitching directly into the wort, sprinkle it evenly over the wort surface. Putting the lid on it and rocking the fermenter back and forth on it's axis for a few minutes will help aerate it, which is beneficial for the yeast.

The higher than expected OG was probably due to unfermentable sugars getting into your wort, which will give the beer a malty sweet flavor. The 1.020 hump that most new brewers have difficulty in breaking can be broken by lower temperature mashing and the additions of yeast nutrients and oxygenation of the wort early on in the brewing process. Buy some yeast nutes and/or servomyces from your LHBS and be sure to aerate your wort adequately when you pitch the yeast. Also, make sure you're pitching the proper amount of yeast. Sometimes two, three or four packets/tubes are necessary or making a yeast starter for higher gravity beers.

 

[tooblue02]

Ahh, that looks like it would work way better! Thanks...

I have yet to try my hand at different yeasts so maybe on my next batch I will give it a whirl, I am definatly getting hooked on brewing already!

The IPA was an extract recipie but the amount of LME wasn't exactly fine tuned, so I am not sure if I hit the 10.5lb's of LME or went over, I was a little parinoid when brewing and went back with a plastic spatula type thing to get more of the LME out, could have been the reason for the higher OG, plus I thought I hit the 5g mark but I could have been lite on that end. I did mix it well though.

Fermenting temps have been in the lower 70's, It is in the space under the stairs but not in a basement or anything. We are renting a house while we are stationed in Washington DC, so when we leave here and buy a house (finally) I will be sure to take brewing into account for the layout!

What gravity would you consider going to more yeast or maybe liquid yeast? What is the bennifit of the liquid? Is it difficult?

 

[pjfallat]

I had this problem with my last batch as well. Figured out that you could fill the funnel and take a large spoon and scrape the sediment clogging the strainer the wort will flow through. This takes some time and it is helpful to have a second pair of hands (aka my son) work the spoon as I filled the funnel. With the 2 of us it only took a few minutes to filter the wort going into the primary.

 

[k_mcarthur]

First, when you said "I decided to relax and have a homebrew" you passed the test. Congratulations, I see many wonderful brews in your future if you follow that simple advice.

Second, I never screen anytime along my brews journey. The only time I would is going into the fermenter after chilling, and that would be for aerating and not to remove particles. Hot break, cold break, hop crud, and such doesn't affect the beer in anyway and will eventually settle to the bottom anyways.

Third your method of adding the dry yeast, while not "wrong" per se, just not ideal. Sprinkling on top takes at least twice as long for it to get going but also I have read that not all the yeast make it doing it that way. Better would be to rehydrate while your brewing, not only do you give them a head start but you can rest easy knowing that you saw with your own eyes that the yeast is alive.

Welcome to the very addictive hobby called homebrewing. Cheers.

 

[twistr25]

If you do an Imperial or something similar you may need to pitch two packets, but if you do a liquid yeast you should almost always do a starter. It is a step up in difficulty, but not hard to do. Biggest benefit to liquid yeast is there are a ton more varieties than in dry yeast and can expand your beer creation possibilities.