Piney the elder clone and noob questions

[adamdillabo]

This is the most expensive beer I have done and i want to get this one as perfect as I can using extract and my poor practices.

1. Yeast: i washed the San diago super yeast from a finished beer last night and got a 1L flask and 32oz jar of what looks like really clean yeast. How do I know how many billions of cells I have?

2. Late LME additions and hop utilization. Last beer I added most of the LME to the boil pot and added the rest to a smaller pot of 1.5 gallons to make my top off water. How many pounds of LME for 3.5-4 gallons of water to balance over cooking the LME and getting the most of my hops.

3. Yeast nutrient: can I add some of my washed yeast to the boil because I used up the last of my bottled stuff.

4. Gypsum: I read it can help get crisper hop flavor but more is worse than none. Should I add a pinch?

I love you guys wish me luck. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1424003267.154945.jpg

 

[brewprint]

I would just follow their directions.

I've never heard of adding yeast to the boil. That just sounds like it would kill the yeast. Now the nutrient is a different story. That wouldn't hurt to add.

It wouldn't hurt to make a yeast starter With your yeast if you're worried about not having enough. Better to have more than not enough. Some people believe that starters aren't even necessary until abv exceeds 8%.

 

[Mike_kever_kombi]

I would just follow their directions.

I've never heard of adding yeast to the boil. That just sounds like it would kill the yeast.

Yes, it does kill the yeast. That is exactly what it is meant to do. The live yeast will eat the dead yeast. It was actually a fairly common practice before yeast nutrients started gaining traction a decade or so ago. I suppose for some it still is a common practice.

I guess it could be compared to making a compost pile out of vegetable scraps, and then adding it back in to your garden.

 

[brewprint]

Nice I've never heard of that.

 

[ultravista]

I have never used yeast food/nutrients and every beer came out as expected.

 

[adamdillabo]

I used brewers friend to help figure out my hops. I had no idea changing a gallon of water for the boil or only adding 6lbs of LME made such a huge difference. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1424018959.077750.jpg

3.25 gallon boil. Only the corn sugar is a late addition and only 1.5 oz of magnum.