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Before i started brewing beer, I used to make mead, cider, and cyser (half mead/half cider) from wild yeasts. I used to leave honey-water out in a bowl under some cheesecloth, until it got foamy. Then I'd pitch it. The results varied, but were always pretty funky. I found that aging was key...

i've had it take a week and still come out great.

fratermus: it seems to me like you're arguing over a relatively insignificant point. The main argument against pitching onto the yeast cake isn't about cleanliness; it's about the fact that in order to produce certain delicious flavors, yeasts need to grow and reproduce.

amazing. I'm never using clear candi sugar again.

remilard: thanks for this. this is really interesting. So all the people that say that candi sugar is invert sugar, and that you make invert sugar by heating sucrose with lemon juice, are wrong? Invert sugar doesn't crystallize? If I do the candy-making process, am I really just swapping...

ehh... not so much info in those threads below. There is one assertion that candi sugar is invert sugar, but another person says it's just sucrose, identical to table sugar. I would be curious to know for sure whether there is in fact a difference between the two.

that's kind of what i thought. i'd be interested in hearing dissenting opinions though, if they're out there. Why would tess and mark szamatulski in "beer captured" be so exacting in their priming instructions if it's more or less irrelevant?

and there's no difference as far as the character of the head or the carbonation?

Some of the recipes I've got call for priming with DME, others call for priming with corn sugar or candi sugar... Some even call for half candi sugar, half corn sugar, etc! But I don't think I've ever heard anyone say what the difference is in the results. Opinions?

I was listening to the Jamil Show today and they were talking about how this is definitely NOT a good idea. A lot of the flavors that come from yeasts are produced during the growing and reproduction phase of their life cycle. If you just pitch onto a yeast cake, they're in such high numbers...

That "hop bitterness calculator" seems useful, but whenever I tell it to calculate I get an internal server error. Looks like it's gone down.

How do you do it without software?

Anyway I have to disagree with those who say that it's not a good idea to reculture belgian yeasts. Although there may be some breweries that bottle with a different yeast, I have had stellar results using Saison Dupont and Westmalle. Culturing from the bottle is more fun than buying yeast --...

yeah, I have been wanting that book...

I haven't tried the Hercule, but it sounds pretty tasty. Here's hoping the "belgian imperial stout" will turn out ok! It's just something I wanted to try, never having encountered a beer like that in a beer shop. update on these batches: They've been sitting quietly in the primary carboys...

Does anyone know which Belgian commercial beers are bottled with the same yeast as they are fermented with? for what it's worth, the aroma coming out of the airlocks does remind me of Westmalle... fresh and estery, with maybe a hint of grape.

wow, i didn't know you could do this. I'm always a little bit weirded out by how much darker my beers look than I think they should. But are there downsides? What do I stand to lose by doing a late addition?

oh, and I also added some Amarillo hops (flavor hops) to the tripel... Thought that might be good. Hey this guy has real nice hair: :fro:

Belgian beers are by far my favorite, and just about all I want to brew. Let's hear your advice for making big belgian ales! Right now I'm brewing batches #5 and #6, both in the primary. I'm using DME. Batch #5 is like an Imperial Stout, except that I'm using yeast recultured from a...

Hi folks! It looks like I might have some extra time on my hands for a little while, so I'm focusing on my brewing. Good to meet you! I've got a Belgian Tripel and an Imperial Stout bubbling away right now... Using recultured yeast from a bottle of Westmalle tripel in both batches. Huge...