Making 2 clones and using the same primary bucket, which would you do first?

[rockout]

Hi all,

Been brewing for 3 years and have never tried a clone, so I decided to try two of them that use the same yeast. I've also never tried the method of transferring the first beer to secondary and using the yeast at the bottom of my primary for the second wort.

I ordered the clone recipes from AHBS for Stone Ruination and Arrogant Bastard, two of my favorite commercial brews. They have almost the same expected OG - 1.073 and 1.074. The Arrogant Bastard takes 5 oz. of Chinook hops, while the Stone IPA takes 2.5 Magnum and 1.5 Centennial in primary (there's also dry hopping later, but I guess that wouldn't matter to me).

Any advice on which I should put in the bucket first and which one should get the yeast on the second go-round? Does it even matter in this case?

Thanks.

 

[Yooper]

I wouldn't use the yeast cake from such a big beer. Generally, if I do use the yeast cake, I'd go from a 1.040 beer to a 1.080 beer.

If you want to use the same yeast, you can simply harvest some of the yeast from the fermenter and wash it. Or even use some of the slurry. However, I wouldn't want to reuse yeast from such "big" beers.

I would make a big, big, big starter before either batch. Split it, and save half. Use 1/2 for the first beer, and 1/2 for the second beer. Consult mrmalty.com to find out how big of a starter you'd need.

 

[rockout]

I will, as always, take your advice. I've already made my starter in an Erlenmeyer flask, so I guess I'll just take that and make another, larger starter out of it. Just curious, what kind of container do people use for gigantic starters? I imagine if I used the 1L flask again it would not be big enough.

 

[Yooper]

I will, as always, take your advice. I've already made my starter in an Erlenmeyer flask, so I guess I'll just take that and make another, larger starter out of it. Just curious, what kind of container do people use for gigantic starters? I imagine if I used the 1L flask again it would not be big enough.

I use growlers, or those 4L Carlo Rossi wine jugs.

 

[rockout]

Can't believe I didn't think of my growler! You still cap that with a piece of sanitized foil?

 

[Yooper]

Can't believe I didn't think of my growler! You still cap that with a piece of sanitized foil?

Yes. This time of year, though, I'm fighting fruitflies so I sometimes need to use an airlock just to keep those buggers out of my starter. A #6 stopper fits both the growlers and the wine jug.

If you don't have a problem with fruitflies, the foil is fine.