What are you drinking ?

[jt]

Ok, so What Are You Brewing was a hotty, as topics go.

Now I'm 15 pints into a keg I only filled on Tuesday and wondering if anyone else has a favourite at the moment ?

It's my second brown with US-Oh05 and it's better than the forst, maybe Ikept the temps down a bit during the scorcher we had in januray

[JoKing]

Some of the more ester producing dry yeats benefit from rehydration before pitching. I have definately noticed this, pretty much only with s-04... not so much with us-05. Other things to consider is pitching rehydrated yeast solution into wort that it the same temperature (or lower... but not too much lower +/- 2 degrees) as the wort. And I agree with James too... constant ferm temp is very important with any fermentations.

The same goes with yeasts like wlp002, wy1469 etc. I think temperature shock and such the like is a massively overlooked area when it comes to pitching yeast. Just my humble opinion.

I'd still use S-04 anytime, and cant honestly say it's done me wrong. Neither has US-05... I think I've had way more problems with stuff like 002, 005, etc.\

Cheers boys... still no signs btw.

[MrC]

I always rehydrate, no exceptions, but I must admit I never try to match the rehydrate temp with the wort temp. Might try that next time.

I don't have temp controlled fermentation and I'm only allowed to keep it in the bath for one week at the most. I've been getting some pretty good results by keeping the temp constant (18-19c) for the first week and then letting it sit at room temp (19-22c) for the second week. I have a batch fermenting with S-33 in the bath at the moment, due to move it to room temp tomorrow.

When was the due date and more importantly will it be induced 2 weeks after due date?

All the best Jo.

[JoKing]

You are right - a steady rise in temp after fermentation is a great idea to help complete attenuation easily... and also to reduce any undesirables in the brew.

Thanks for asking... we are a week over now, and we are booked for induction on Wednesday - unless things have already happened.

Cheers.

999

[Martin Bridges]

All the best mate - hope everything goes well.

[jt]

I don't think I've ever had a bad yeast - it's just my mis-use or ignorance that means my results have been below par or expectations

[MrC]

I agree apart from a couple of bad batches of US-05. I still haven't recovered from that. I'm liking S-33 at the moment though.

[Stu McKinlay]

Here here JT... there's no such thing as bad yeast.

[jt]

Too true Mr M, yeast cops so much flack, undeservedly for our own shortcomings

take W1275, it cops a lot of flak from time to time for being problematic- sulpher is common - but when I look back on my own bad W1275 batches, I did a lot of things badly.

When I did them right, it was a superb yeast !

Brewing to your yeast is often overlooked. There's a lot of info out there on getting the most and best from your yeast, but it's often hard to find.

[Martin Bridges]

That's interesting - I hadn't heard these things about 1275. I've got a Best Bitter on the go with it at the moment which is the first time I've used it, so we'll see how we go.

At risk of continuing the off-topicness, what did you do to get it right?

[jt]

Correct pitching rate and good aeration and it's fantastic( - mind you any yeast should be.) I underpitched and didn't aerate enough and stressed the yaest (and myself :-)
Popped the lid off my fermenter once !
Versatile yeast, good for a bitter, also does a nice dry stout

[MrC]

The thing about yeast is that we only get control over it after we receive it. I'm still happy to blame the yeast for a bad batch when I know I've done nothing different yet get drastically different yeast performance.

[jt]

Yep, especially when we have to buy dry yeast so close to expiry...we're right at the end of the food chain as far as product freshness goes for dry yeast it seems