All-local ale - the next BIAB recipe

[big dave]

Howdy again crew

BIAB #2 went into the cube today, which gets the mind focussing on #3.... I was thinking a single-hop, all-Australian Ale; no imported ingredients. So the recipe I have been playing with looks like this....

22 litres into fermenter @ 1.050
Mashed 90 min @ 65-ish
30-ish IBU
Ferment with a re-cultured yeast from a few Coopers Sparkling

4700 g Joe White Traditional Malt
500g Joe White Wheat
300g Joe White Caramalt
10g Galaxy [13.4% AA] (60 min) - 12.9 IBU
20g Galaxy [13.4% AA] (15 min) - 12.8 IBU
15g Galaxy [13.4% AA] (5 min) - 3.9 IBU
15g Galaxy [13.4% AA] (flame-out or dry-hop) - 0 IBU

Anyone see any problems hereabouts? All advice very much appreciated.

[squirt in the turns]

Looks good to me, Dave. My only comment would be that yeast taken from Coopers Pale Ale is reputed to be more viable that that from CSA, probably due to the lower ABV. It's said to be the same yeast strain in both anyway.

I used yeast cultured up from two CPA tallies for an Aussie pale ale and it took off like a rocket. It was an almost identical grain bill to yours, too, although as I was going for a CPA clone, the hop was POR and there were no flavour or aroma additions.

[big dave]

Hey Squirt

I actually got this one into the cube today, so I am thinking about the starter now. Reckon I will run with the Sparklers, cos they are in the fridge waiting.... Although there are only three stubs left....

What would you advise for the starter? I worried a bit about the small amounts of yeast in the bottles, and how they might struggle with large amounts of fermentables, so I have about 500ml of weak wort to start with; ran about 250ml of wort (1.046) into a sterilised jar, and have diluted this with boiled water. Should I just pour off the beer, then stir up the sediment and pitch it straight in? Maybe start with a smaller jar for a start?

Cheers BD

[jords]

Hi Dave

This may or may not reach you too late. There is a really informative sticky on making yeast starters and reusing yeast in the making beer section of the forum. It might answer your questions.

Cheers

Jords

[squirt in the turns]

D'oh, I'm replying even later than jords. There is indeed plenty of good info around on this topic. Plenty of debate too.

Dave, your 500 ml of diluted wort will be around 1.023, a little weaker than is recommended normally, but it's probably not a bad thing in this situation. Better than too strong, in any case. If I recall correctly, I started off the sediment from 2 tallies in around 100 ml of 1.030 wort - not much at all, but the yeast are probably in a very fragile state at this stage.

Keep the source stubbies chilled and undisturbed to encourage the yeast to settle, sanitise the tops of them, gently pour off the beer (remember to drink it!) leaving enough to swirl around to dislodge the sediment when you pitch it. I would have the 100 ml starter wort chilled too, to reduce thermal stress on the yeast, and allow it to come up to ferment temps slowly. Mine didn't really look like it did much at this stage, just the merest hint of krausen. I fed it another 100 ml or so a couple of days later, and another 500 ml a few days after that, by which time it was obviously starting to enjoy itself and producing krausen every which-way. At this point I think I chilled it again so that I could pour off the spent beer and step it up to a final volume of 2 L - I was using a 2 L flask.

Starting small obviously means more steps and thus more chances for infection to get in or other stuff to go wrong, but if your sanitation is up to scratch this is preferable to potentially stressing the yeast.

[big dave]

Thanks fellas. It isn't too late.

I will have a look at the sticky thread too. I have cultured up a starter once before from some Coopers, just using one of the tallies I had bought and some boiled water, DME and table sugar. Probably not recommended, but it still turned out fine.

I will do it (more) properly this time.