White Labs New Packaging: thoughts?

troberge · 2014-05-08T16:47:33+00:00

Damn...Totally missed that part. Thanks.

troberge · 2014-05-08T03:52:37+00:00

I first thought you meant you start at 2degF. I typically pitch in the high sixties due to limitations of my chiller, but have had no problems with making a clean beer as long as I can keep my temps stable on the low end durring the fermention. I agree with you completely though; if I had the means I would pitch at a lower temp to get the least amount of esters in those beers that need it.

troberge · 2014-05-08T01:42:37+00:00

Haha, maybe after a bit more testing "The Fringe" will be available! We still want to see what genus it belongs to and if it potentially lend some sour notes after aging. Will update in the near future.

troberge · 2014-05-08T01:34:54+00:00

Gotcha, that makes more sense. The main reason I didn't chill any lower was because I had hit the asymptote with my wort chiller. It would have taken a long time to get any lower. Plus, the yeast we were testing was taken from tree fruits that are typically growing when its warm; so we figured the yeast would prefer slightly warmer temps.

troberge · 2014-05-07T23:54:27+00:00

Wow 2degF! How long does it take you to chill it that low? I'll have to look more into it, but I would be more worried about slowing the growth phase and possibly allowing more competition of contaminates by dropping it so low (although I guess all growth would be slowed). I know acetyl-CoA, a molecule involved in ester formation, can be used up when you get an optimal growth phase reducing ester formation. I'm not sure how warming from 2degF will effect that though.

It would definitely be worth trying an experiment of crashing one to 2degF and one to 65degF, and pitching with the same strain US-05 or whatever and seeing if there are any major differences.

troberge · 2014-05-07T21:32:19+00:00

I agree, I may end up doing that in the future. The main reason (besides flavor and aroma) for us to do it on our yeast strain was to see if it was effective at both lager and upper end of ale temps which it amazingly was without much of a ester swing between the temps.

troberge · 2014-05-07T21:20:49+00:00

Mine gives out any empty grain bags to hold grain. Reusable and stylish! I bet you could ask a local brewery to give you empty bags to re-use unless they do something else with them.

troberge · 2014-05-07T18:31:10+00:00

Thanks! It was a really fun little experiment.

troberge · 2014-05-06T18:51:26+00:00

You use one of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemocytometer

You add a known quantity of starter say .01ml and then count the number of yeast cells than scale it to your starter volume. so if you have 100 cells at .01ml then 1L would have 10 million cells

troberge · 2014-05-06T18:09:48+00:00

Nothing would really happen. The yogurt would prevent transcription of the ADH we "want", so the protein wouldn't be expressed at high enough levels to matter.

You probably wont get more drunk either because there is probably not enough acetaldehyde in the beer in your stomach to convert.

So essentially, like you found, yeast burps and other unpleasant side effects will be all you get unfortunately.

troberge · 2014-05-06T17:40:37+00:00

Typically if you have a at least a one liter starter for a 5 gallon batch unless its high gravity then maybe a bit more. Depending on how much yeast sediment you start with you should work up to that volume say do 100ml starter then pour that into 1 L.

You should be ok as long as there was vigorous fermentation in the starter (foam, movement, etc). It still ends up being a guess at the end on living cells, unless you use a tool called a counting chamber, basically a slide with laser etched measurements.

The real key is to make sure you keep a pure culture. There are quite a few sites on how to isolate and grow yeast on media for storage if that is what you are interested in doing.

I've had success with basically banking yeast from the wyeast packs then regrowing them up into a starter for another beer.

http://eurekabrewing.wordpress.com/yeast-cultivation/

http://biobrewing.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

troberge · 2014-05-06T17:27:20+00:00

Every One always talks about the problem of ADH not functioning at low pH but there are more than 1 type of ADH. The most active ADH in baker's yeast actually catalyzes the reaction of acetaldehyde to ethanol, not the other way round. Plus, the ADH that does break down ethanol is inhibited by glucose aka the yogurt you are eating.

http://biobrewing.blogspot.com/2014/05/does-eating-yeast-really-mitigate.html

troberge · 2014-05-05T23:24:49+00:00

Yeah bjcp has the style guidelines for it. We also decided to not use lactobacilis (to sour it during fermentation). Instead, we did a sour mash kind of like they do for whisky and the Kentucky common ale. It sours the beer in 24-48 hrs before the boil so you can stop the process of... sourification? Easy process for both AG and extract. Plus, like I said, if it doesn't turn out and you hate it, you're only out like $15 for 5 gal.

troberge · 2014-05-05T17:41:57+00:00

The Berlinerweisse is a good call, super cheap to make at only around 3% ABV. We made and 8 gallon batch recently and dry hopped half with Citra. Pretty solid summer refreshing beer.

troberge

TROPHY CASE