homebrewandbeer.com

Making an extra strong ale

with

2 X cooper draught cans
20g cascade hops boiled
1kg extra dry malt
1kg dextrose
11.5g US- 56 Saflager yeast

what does everyone else think

What is extra dry malt?

Cheers,
Greg

He might mean extra light dme which I think substitutes some ldme for rice extract...could be wrong though

Yeah, that's how I read it.

How long are you boiling the hops?

I think about 10% alky.

Wont it be a lager, not an ale?

he means US-56 Safale.

gotcha

yah

sorry my bad

its light dry malt

Safale US - 56

and will boil the hops for 2 to 3 mins to give it a citrussy fruity flavour

any other tips to making this better

dry enzyme?

Try about 15 minutes for the cascade, and then add a bit at flameout too (as you bring it off the boil).

Also without calculating it you may want some more bittering. Probably a taste thing.

Aerate this one well and use 2 safales.

Quote 'Aerate this one well and use 2 safales'

Dry yeasts do not require arating, completely agree on using 2 packs of yeast though as it will be a big beer.

Do not make a starter using dried yeasts as it is detrimental to the yeast.

Good link to areation topic http://www.beertools.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1252

Cheers
AC

Aussie Claret wrote: Dry yeasts do not require arating, completely agree on using 2 packs of yeast though as it will be a big beer.

I stand corrected with the wort aeration. Thanks AC.

IMO aeration would not be a bad idea on a beer that big. It couldn't hurt.

I know that "no aeration" seems to be the proper thing to do with dry yeast but FWIW I always seem to get better attenuation when I can be bothered pulling out the airstone & pump.

Yeah, I agree. With a gravity that high, even packet yeast will have trouble without a bit extra O2. Give them a good headstart.

Just bottled a similar brew to this last week

2 cans coopers draught
1kg coopers brew enhancer 2
500g light dry malt
1kg dex
used both packs of yeast that came with the cans plus a spare
I had laying around.
pitched yeast at about 24-26c took of like a rocket
blew all the water out of the airlock and had a nice mess on the floor
to clean up the next morning

Aussie Claret wrote:Do not make a starter using dried yeasts as it is detrimental to the yeast.

Oh really? I've been doing just that since 2 of my first batches didnt start properly by just using the dry yeast.

How is it detrimental?

Sathias,
Simply
Dried yeast have the energy reserves and nutirents required to get them to kick off in a relatively short period of time. If you make a dried yeast starter the yeast uses up these reserves or they become depleted which in turn can result in under attenuated beer.

Dried yeast is usually packaged with sufficient yeast cell counts to attenuate correctly whereas liquid yeast may require starters due to the lower viable cell count.

Check out the links for a bit more info.
http://www.mrmalty.com/pitching.php
http://www.fermentis.com/FO/EN/06-Ales/50-10_faq_hb.asp

Cheers
AC

From the fermentis website:

Directions for use

Rehydrate using either sterile water or wort at a ratio of 10 times the weight of yeast to be used. Mix gently to form a cream and allow to stand for 15-30 minutes. Then mix vigorously and stand for a further 30 minutes prior to pitching into the wort. The temperature of re-hydration is important (27C ±3C for Safbrew and Safale, 23C ±3C for Saflager).

An alternative method is to sprinkle dry yeast direct into the wort and allow to stand for 30 minutes before mixing to distribute and aerate the wort.

To achieve the correct pitching rate use one sachet per 20 litres of wort for ales. Use one sachet for lager when fermenting at room temperature and two sachets for lager when fermenting cold e.g. 12C (due to the lower temperature and slower growth of lager strains).

As RWH is trying to point out you can rehydrate your dried yeast which may help minimise lag time but NOT make a starter. Two different things entirely.

Sathias when you say that the dried yeast didn't start properly I'd be looking into this a bit further. There are a few things can can affect dried yeast such as
1. Age of yeast
2. Pitching temperature (you may have shocked or killed the yeast if pitching too warm). (if pitching too cold you will increase lag time time).
3. Storage of yeast (if it was stored too warm the yeast may have been affected).

How long did you leave the yeast after pitching to determine that it didn't start properly? Did you check the gravity, what was the type of yeast, how old was it, what was the pitching temperature?

I have never not known a dried yeast to start.

AC

Right, I see where I was confused... I was just rehydrating my yeast rather than making a starter. Thanks for the info, definately some useful stuff there

As far as where I went wrong, it was when I first started so its highly possible I had my temps wrong when I pitched it.