Recipe Advice Thread

[denimglen]

Thought it might be handy to have a thread for some of the more advanced brewers to give some advice on recipes.

Let's see how it goes eh...

[Nick T]

I'd be in. There is one at craftbrewer at $46 + postage, but the US ones at $35NZish incl postage sounds like a go. Are they weldless?

[James P]

No, 1/2" MPT. The weldless are probably a better option...

[Reviled]

LOL, it just sounded so tasty is all :oP

[Tony]

Lager question?

I have, until now not been able to control the temp. of my lagers. The last one I did, was only in the fridge from the secondary lagering onwards. I must say I am really happy with it. The question I have (James and others), is do you allow your lager yeasts to start fermenting at ambient temp (warm) before you cool it down or do you put it straight into the fridge and let it ferment?

I have read many differing opinions and was interested in some other lagering expert opinions?

[Reviled]

The only drain pour ive ever had was a lager! And that was from not building up enough yeast, and not pitching cold!

Ever since, when I do my lagers, I do a 10litre starter, usually just a coopers lager kit, let it ferment out, drain off the kit beer, tip it, then pitch wort at as close to 10*c as possible and ferment at that temp...

Ive also read that Jamil pitches cool and ferments cool, letting it raise a couple of degrees near the end... From my experiance, if you pitch cool you dont need to do a diacetyl rest and the beer will be clean as, provided you had enough yeast to do the job! Try not to let your wort touch the yeast untill its at least down to 12*c...

My 2 cents...

[JackoNZ]

I've done both, pitching warm and then cool to 12c and since I got my fermenting fridge also tried cooling to 7c-8c and then pitched, then slowly warmed to 10-11c over 48 hours and let it ferment at that for 2 weeks. The latter is what Jamil recommends.

I only use dry yeast, 2 packs is enough for 20 odd litres of 1.050ish. Same as Rev I've only had to do a diacetyl rest when pitching warm. A cool pitch seems to be better to me.

[James P]

I have done it both ways Tony and either work fine, it just depends on how much yeast I have at the time. I always carry two packets of W34/70 for pitching low, or build a big starter.

As Rev says if you want to pitch low, make sure you have enough yeast to ferment at that temperature else your beer will suffer.

[Reviled]

Having enough yeast seems to be the key with lagers, I allways find my best lagers are the ones that ive pitched onto like 2 litres of trub, overpitching I hear people saying? I completely disagree!!

[denimglen]

I don't think over pitching a lager is as easy as an ale - because you're pitching cold and (most likely) maintaining a cold temp. Also in a lager reduced ester formation isn't as important as some ales where the yeast character can play a big part in the beer.

I reckon the reason most people recommend to new brewers not to over pitch is because they're likely going to pitch a small(ish) beer onto a massive yeast cake and have not control over temperature. That yeast is just gonna go absolutely mental and hit a bazillion degrees and result in some nasty shit.

Anyway, I'm an ale man so have only done one lager, pitched a 4L starter of 2124 at 10C and fermented at 10C also raising the temp to about 12C near the end of primary. Lagered at 4C for 4 weeks. Was a great beer - no fermentation related problems at all.

[warra48]

I agree with you on lagers.

The only lager I've brewed which I consider a success was my last one, a BoPils.
I pitched the slurry of a 5 litre starter of WY2001, batch and starter at 9ºC.
The starter was built up from slurry salvaged from another BoPils brewed 6 months earlier.

I believe cold pitching lagers is the go, and although I did a diacetyl rest, I really don't think it needed it. I did it because I don't brew many lagers, and it's the recommended thing to do. There was absolutely no evidence of diacetyl in the hydro sample before I raised the temperature.

I had it in primary for 3 weeks, and lagered it at 2ºC for 6 weeks before bottling.
It went from 1.053 to 1.006. Very clean, but Saaz hoppy at 45 IBU.

[James P]

warra, I keep an eye on AHB too, always interesting to see what is happening over there. A lot of good information.

Sounds like we use a similar regime with 3 weeks primary, except I now lager in my kegs under pressure. Czech Saaz is great, but if you get the chance, and have not already give Riwaka a try, it is AWESOME (if you like it)!

[Reviled]

Im still yet to brew a czech saaz pils, but that will most likely be my next lager!!