Upgrading to partial mash.

[midmobrewer]

So im finally taking the steps necessary to start doing partial mash. I just upgraded to a 5 gallon kit from midwest supplies from a mr beer set. I also bought a boston red recipe kit for my first attempt. I just have a few questions i need answered before i start the stove.
It's going to be a couple days before i begin as i'm waiting for my yeast starter kit to arrive. Should i refrigerate my yeast while i wait.
It seems most of my mr. Beer batches turned out with a sickly sweet taste. Any ideas why?
And last question, my thermostat reads 75. Is that too high?

 

[teddy4xp]

Refrigerate the yeast and I always ferment in the low to mid 60's....75 is too high

 

[freisste]

Regarding Mr. Beer being too sweet: in my experience, those kits weren't great quality and they were often old. This could lead to yeast being old and possibly not very viable. Because
Mr. Beer does not want to intimidate a beginner, it never talks about starters or ideal pitch rate/temp. If you were like me, you probably stressed the yeast and didn't get the attenuation you wanted.

 

[midmobrewer]

Figured it was yeast under attenuated myself. Hence why i will use yeast starters now

 

[freisste]

It could just be malty recipes; I certainly can't guarantee. But if I was a betting man...yeah, I'd say poor yeast health leading to under-attenuation.

 

[unionrdr]

Do you mean your furnace thermostat? you should have a temp strip on your fermenters to read the wort temps during fermentation,not the ambient air temp.

 

[flars]

Check out the yeast manufacturers web site for the optimum fermentation temperature range of the yeast you will be using.
Look up information on the various types of swamp coolers for controlling the temperature of the wort during the first few days of fermentation.

 

[midmobrewer]

Checked out vids on building fermentation chambers. Ordered stc-1000 off ebay for less than $20. Now just waiting to see a cheap fridge

 

[ballsy]

Swamp cooler...swamp cooler....swamp cooler. Go to Walmart, it's like 5 dollars. Are you using liquid or dry yeast? I keep in fridge no matter which BUT if dry, there is no need for a starter (it's just extra time and money spent). My advice from past mistakes doing a true PM brew....commit to a good technique for maintaining your mash temp, you can mess up a beer from the start if bad/inconsistent mash temps no matter how well you control ferment temps, etc...