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bug country 2014

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any ideas on what the recommended fermentation temp is for ECY20?

i'm thinking of starting on the warmer side, say 75*F, for a week then letting it go ambient in my basement for secondary/aging/etc. carboys in my basement are currently sitting at 66*F, will likely dip down to 63 over the course of winter. is 75 too warm?

brewing tomorrow :D

All of Al's blends seem to like a warmer start, in the past I have pitched in the mid 60's and not had activity for 48 until I warmed it up to 72f. I would try pitching close to 70 then warming it up from there, even though these blends like it warmer I still dont like pitching too warm. Pitch cool and warm up is how I always go, helps limit fusel alcohols and ethyl acetate.

Do you think one "vial" is sufficient for a ten gallon batch??

TD


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

Should be plenty, ECY vials come with 300-500b cells per vial. I actually like to under pitch my wild beers and will use about 1/3 of a vial of Bugcounty or Bugfarm in 5g then top the vial off with sterile water to use for another batch.
 
I snagged a vial of ECY20 and I want to brew both a Flanders red and a lambic. What is the best way to pull this off with 1 vial? I was thinking of starting with the Flanders red and letting it go for a month or two, then rack it when I have a free carboy and use a portion of the cake to start the lambic. Would it be better to just use half the vial for each brew, or should I stick with my initial plan?
 
I got some ECY 20 in a trade and just ramped it up before pitching it into a 50G barrel where I used a modified turbid mash. ECY20 came out much more sour (but not too sour by any means, just more) than the more traditional Lambic Blend from WYeast.
 
I snagged a vial of ECY20 and I want to brew both a Flanders red and a lambic. What is the best way to pull this off with 1 vial? I was thinking of starting with the Flanders red and letting it go for a month or two, then rack it when I have a free carboy and use a portion of the cake to start the lambic. Would it be better to just use half the vial for each brew, or should I stick with my initial plan?
that's how i'd do it. you're essentially making a big starter. the balance of bugs will be off in the second brew, but with enough aging everyone will get around to doing their thing.
 
Do you think one "vial" is sufficient for a ten gallon batch??

TD


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

For what it's worth, I split a vial of Bugfarm for two 5gl batches last spring and they are coming along fine. I'm sure it'd work just as good for Bugcounty.
 
How long do you let this sit on the cake? If/when do you rack to secondary if not adding any fruit or anything like that?
 
...use about 1/3 of a vial of Bugcounty or Bugfarm in 5g then top the vial off with sterile water to use for another batch.

Do you top off with sterile water just to eliminate the possibility of anything airborne contaminating the vial?
 
How long do you let this sit on the cake? If/when do you rack to secondary if not adding any fruit or anything like that?
it's got a lot of brett, so i wouldn't be worried about leaving it on the cake.

the only reason why i'll be racking mine off most of the cake is because i want to re-use it in another beer. i plan on leaving about half the cake behind, maybe 1/3.
 
Do you top off with sterile water just to eliminate the possibility of anything airborne contaminating the vial?

I actually top off with a few ml of wort from the batch I just brewed, keeps things active and at least the jar is full. But its probably not even necessary.
 
i found a place near me that sells 15.8 gallon french oak wine barrels. i plan on buying one on Friday and over the weekend plan to brew up 15 gallons and get a solera project going making a lambic. probably brew 5 gallons on Saturday start the fermentation to get the pitch rate right. then Sunday brew the other 10 gallons and see where it goes from here.
 
i found a place near me that sells 15.8 gallon french oak wine barrels. i plan on buying one on Friday and over the weekend plan to brew up 15 gallons and get a solera project going making a lambic. probably brew 5 gallons on Saturday start the fermentation to get the pitch rate right. then Sunday brew the other 10 gallons and see where it goes from here.

How much are they?
 
WOOT!!!

I just placed an order for BugCounty! They've got it at Love2Brew right now. I just happened to notice they had posted about it on facebook 2 hours ago and luckily there was still some left for me to get my order in.

Can't wait to brew with it.
 
WOOT!!!

I just placed an order for BugCounty! They've got it at Love2Brew right now. I just happened to notice they had posted about it on facebook 2 hours ago and luckily there was still some left for me to get my order in.

Can't wait to brew with it.

$15 for shipping, good lord! Surprisingly, they still had some in stock. I'm a little shocked at the price, but I went ahead and ordered some. I'm going to use this for a three-vessel solera project.
 
The USPS option for me would have been $6, but still, $17 for one vial was enough for me to pass on it. If they still had Dirty Dozen in stock, I might have done both.

Frustrating thing is, I was driving within 2 min of their retail store on Saturday and could have stopped by to pick it up in person if I had caught the announcement in time...
 
Not sure why most people pay for the expensive shipping. If you click more carriers, they list USPS for way under half price of the UPS shipping.
 
I have been waiting for bug county and dirty dozen for awhile but last week I stumbled upon The Yeast Bay and I'm in Southern Cali anyways, so I was able to pick up some Amalgamation, Melangie and Lacto Brevis so I was stoked and I'll pass up the bug county this time around to see how TYB stacks up. We shall see!
 
I just looked at Love2brew checkout system again. You're right, there's two dropdowns, one has "more carriers" as an option. Totally not obvious, especially on a phone. That really pisses me off. Not my first order either so I've been had before. DOH!
 
ECY is a little more expensive than other yeasts but considering how much effort & time i'm going to put into these beers, the extra few dollars seem kinda trivial.

my two vials (ECY20 and ECY34) cost me $29.85 with shipping.

morebeer: a pack of Roeselare and a WL brett L = $24.99 with shipping. swap out the WL for Wyeast brett L and you're up to $27.47 (that last price comes down to $20.48 if you buy enough to get free shipping).

yeast bay: melange + amalgamation = $26.95.

nothing against those other fine products, but for a few extra dollars i'm happy to go with ECY.
 
ECY is a little more expensive than other yeasts but considering how much effort & time i'm going to put into these beers, the extra few dollars seem kinda trivial.

my two vials (ECY20 and ECY34) cost me $29.85 with shipping.

morebeer: a pack of Roeselare and a WL brett L = $24.99 with shipping. swap out the WL for Wyeast brett L and you're up to $27.47 (that last price comes down to $20.48 if you buy enough to get free shipping).

yeast bay: melange + amalgamation = $26.95.

nothing against those other fine products, but for a few extra dollars i'm happy to go with ECY.

My only point with TYB was that I had just bought the melange and amalgamation otherwise I would have bought the ECY20 and ECY34!! I'm just glad because TYB doesn't have as long to travel! :)
 
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