misc fairly detailed questions

[JLivermore]

boil, after cool down i hear some people pour the wort into the fermenter, leaving most of the sludge at the bottom, i believe i read some dump a fair bit of the sludge in, others siphon. how much do you worry about getting the most of the wort and leaving the sludge?

yeast - how much do you really think it affects the taste? i usually order dry rather than liquid because it's a bit cheaper. my guess is if you set beer made with each side by side and had me taste test i would not be able to tell the difference.

hop sacks - for dry hopping i've been using muslin sacks because siphoning is such a pain when it gets gunked up. but the hops don't really dissolve. any opinions on draining or even squeezing this as you remove it before bottling/kegging?

 

[two_one_seven]

This is called cold break. Most generally leave as much as possible behind in the kettle. Depends on who you ask. I leave unless I am desperate for volume then i put in as little as I can get away with. Some theories say that the cold break helps with fermentation. I peronally think it tends to leave some chill haze behind. But as with most things in brewing, Do it you way.

 

[RoughandReadyRanch]

boil, after cool down i hear some people pour the wort into the fermenter, leaving most of the sludge at the bottom, i believe i read some dump a fair bit of the sludge in, others siphon. how much do you worry about getting the most of the wort and leaving the sludge?

yeast - how much do you really think it affects the taste? i usually order dry rather than liquid because it's a bit cheaper. my guess is if you set beer made with each side by side and had me taste test i would not be able to tell the difference.

hop sacks - for dry hopping i've been using muslin sacks because siphoning is such a pain when it gets gunked up. but the hops don't really dissolve. any opinions on draining or even squeezing this as you remove it before bottling/kegging?

1) I don't worry. If I did I would get a filter or a hop back or a screen and take care of it. You can visually see when it is getting pretty thick at the bottom and that is about the time I call it good and stop the pour. If you are looking for crystal clear then it is going to matter more. Are you going to get it because you whirlpooled and siphoned or what ever you do to keep those particles out? Debatable. Some schools of thought are that those proteins are actually pretty helpful and others say nay. Do what feels right to you and makes the hobby more fun for you. That is really all that should matter unless you are trying to play the competition game.

2)"Brewers make wort, yeast makes beer" There is a reason why there are so many different options out there. It really comes down to what you want from this hobby. I personally like to taste every yeast out there so I am always trying new ones. I will split batches and pitch a known yeast like 04,05,33 etc. and pitch a liquid and see what I can pick up. Some will say that liquid is the best of the best and if you are using dry your cheating yourself. I say if you like the flavor of the yeast you are using then screw the rest of them and enjoy "your" beer.

3) Two options. Ditch the bag and make a screen filter for you siphon or racking cane. Or, get over it and live with the loss. To much risk of oxygenation for my taste and I personally don't like tasting wet cardboard for a bit more beer. I have chatted with a lot of commercial brewers and they loose so much beer to dry hopping it made me begin to cry but it is the nature of the beast and the only saving grace for them is that the bigger the batch the lower the hop requirement as apposed to us mere mortals brewing less the 20 gallons. Some may argue to go for the squeeze but I personally am not a fan of the risk on it.

Hope that helps.

 

[Captain Damage]

1- I dump everything from the kettle into the fermenter. My beers taste clean and are crystal clear when they're done.

2- Yeast can make a big difference. Try making the same recipe twice, but with different yeasts. But use different strains, not the same strain from two manufacturers (although that would be an interesting experiment too). I use dry yeast most of the time I'm using the Chico strain (US-05 = Wyeast 1056 = Whitle Labs 001). The biggest advantage to liquid yeast, imo, is the greater variety of strains. They're like pedigreed yeasts. But it's more work, making a starter ahead of time.

3- Make sure there's enough room in the hop bag for the hops to swell up and still be loose. I'll use two or three bags if I have to. And don't use a stretchy bag like the muslin "gym sock" bags they sell for steeping grains. I do squeeze my hop bags as I'm pulling them out of my carboy and have not encountered any oxidation issues. Dry hop in primary. There is no need to rack your beer.

 

[RM-MN]

Any sludge you leave in the boil pot contains sugar laden water with hop particles. That sugar laden water makes beer. Pour it all in, let the yeast sort it out. When the ferment is over, gravity will sort out the hop particles at the bottom with yeast above that. Beer will be on top so siphon carefully to get as much beer as you can without too much yeast.

There are a lot of things that change the flavor of the beer. If you use dry yeast for one batch and liquid of a comparable strain for another you will have a hard time telling which is which. If you choose a liquid yeast for its qualities and there is no dry yeast that is comparable, you will decide that the liquid yeast is best but you have so many options to change the flavor before the yeast contribution becomes prominent that it might take you a lifetime to explore all of them.

Hops add the flavor and aroma by being associated with the beer. I feel that any restrictions on that association is counterproductive. I wrap the input end of the siphon in a paint strainer bag held on with a rubber band. That keeps the hops out of the bottles.

 

[unionrdr]

I strain going into the fermenter. What little trub from the BK is left is well drained,so there isn't enough sugary stuff left to worry about. & cold break,ime,doesn'r pack down that well in the bottom of the fermenter.
And I've never oxydized a batch by using muslin hop sacks. No more than one ounce of pellets per sack to get decent flow through during dry hopping or boil.
Different yeasts give different esters that add some flavor complexity to the beer. Others ferment clean & leave no esters in their ideal ferment temp range. Then they can accent the malt profile or lean towards the hop flavors.
Which you use depends on what style & what flavors you want to accent.

 

[JLivermore]

Those were some quality answers, thanks a ton.

Would it generally be true that a better yeast will make a better beer and a liquid yeast will likely be a better yeast? As for a starter, I've rehydrated dry yeast but I don't think it makes a difference. I don't think I know what a starter is. For liquid I try to get it up to the temp they say then dump it in.

RM-MN I've tried what you say, but with cheesecloth. It clogs up and takes FOREVER. This is why I started dry hopping in muslin bags, to avoid that painful siphon. I just got a couple larger bags and will try that next time. Hopefully it'll make a big difference.

 

[JimRausch]

Liquid yeast isn't necessarily better yeast than dry, there are just many more strains(varieties) with liquid. I use US-05(dry) frequently for my pale ales, cream ales, browns and ambers. Would I use it for an Oktoberfest or Dobblebock? No way- for those I want an authentic German lager yeast. I have a ways to go to develop my yeast preferences, so I try different strains and take tasting notes. Maybe after 60 million batches I'll have tried them all.

 

[two_one_seven]

Jim, I agree 100%. I will say that I like the US-05 a lot more than th S-04. Just something about the 05 that is very very tasty.

 

[evrose]

yeast - how much do you really think it affects the taste? i usually order dry rather than liquid because it's a bit cheaper. my guess is if you set beer made with each side by side and had me taste test i would not be able to tell the difference.

I bet you would tell the difference. White labs does this in their tasting room. They brew the exact same beer, and use different yeast... the differences in the final products are dramatic.

Yeast makes the beer. Literally.

Having said that, some of the dry yeasts are fantastic and can make great beer.

 

[Captain Damage]

A few years ago there was an episode of the Basic brewing Radio podcast that talked about how big a difference different yeasts can make (sorry, I was unable to find it quickly, but they have an extensive archive). They included results from listeners who brewed the same beer with different yeasts. The yeast can affect just about any aspect of the finished beer - including things like the color, bitterness, hop aroma expression, mouthfeel. But that doesn't necessarily mean that you will see a dramatic difference going from yeast A to yeast B. They may be too similar for that particular recipe to show a difference.

Experimentation, the manufacturer's descriptions and experience will help you make better-educated guesses as to which yeast would be best for your recipe. Also, keep in mind that many (most?) commercial craft breweries use only one strain for all of their beers, developing their recipes to work around that strains strengths and weaknesses.

 

[JLivermore]

I was looking for a brewing podcast. I will definitely nerd out and listen to a podcast about brewing beer the next time I'm brewing beer.

Thanks!