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Northwest9 wrote:
the other brew was a Coppers Mexican Cerveca, with W-34/70 yeast from my LHBS, rehydrated also for 40 mins, pitched at 19C and now sitting in the freezing house, no heat pad or insulation, and at a constant 14C

Good going,
First tip from me would be to get some sort of box (wood, plastic or metal, as in an old fridge or freezer) so you can control the temps a little easier, no need for fancy stuff yet, just a big box where you can heat it with a blacked out light, & cool it with frozen 2L bottles of water. It comes in handy for holding your bottles at an ideal temp for carbonation too! so get/build a big one to fit a brew & a batch of bottles together!





been brewing over 16yrs & mostly doing K&K until recently. but since early days I worked out that a stable, consistant temp is the most important part of brewing descent beer, no mater what you are brewing.(apart from cleanliness of course)

my first choice was a fish tank heater IN the brew, worked a treat, just set the temp & it will never get too cold. trouble was that it wont go below 22C, was great for kit yeast, being as that was all that was available for many years but not a good temp for the aftermarket yeasts available today.

Cheers, Mick.

As with you, my missus was not happy with my other activities – so she bought me a HB kit as a new hobby. Now I am all the way into all grain and spending an increasing amount time in the shed – she rues the day she invested in my new hobby. hehehehe

well, brew number 6 went down yesterday. i have two fermenters going all the time, and when one is bottled, i clean up and put the next one down straight away.

last night i put down a little creatures pale ale recipe

Black rock pilsner blonde
brewcraft no 15
12gms cascade hops steeped for 15
saflager s23 yeast pitched at 19

stuck it all in the fridge, set the fridgemate to 13 and left it.

i know not to watch the airlock, but by this morning, there still was no movement, and no scum ring around the drum or anything. arrggghhhh it does my head in, a bubbling airlock is just such a comforting confirmation that you havent screwed it up.


the other beers to date:
coopers lager (came with kit, so far its rubbish)
coopers pale ale
mexican cerveca
belgium notre dame lager
belgian white wheat (will bottle in the coming days, smells so good)

couldnt work out why the LCPA wasnt starting. checked the yeast and its expiry is 05/2009

is that going to have an effect, and how can i get it started? it was put down on monday night.

I am in the process of warming it up, hoping that will get it going

Why are you brewing a little creatures pale ALE with a LAGER yeast?

I take it you only pitched 1 packet of the yeast?

Normally you need to pitch double the amount of lager yeast and since this was quite old you may have underpitched by a fair bit.

Do you have any others yeasts available to you? I would be using S-05 in preference to S-23 in an american ale recipe.

So no condensation on the lid?

i went to a different LHBS cause hes a little bit closer, and he said i could use a lager yeast, as the s23 is for lagers and pilsners.

i heated it to 20 over night, and finally got it going.

i will be sticking with my slightly further away, slightly more expensive, but bloody excellent LHBS in kambah from now on

drsmurto wrote: I take it you only pitched 1 packet of the yeast?
Normally you need to pitch double the amount of lager yeast and since this was quite old you may have underpitched by a fair bit.
?

Doc,
I'm just about to start using s-23,
It comes in an 11.5g pack same as the S-04 & 05.

Are you saying this is not enough for a normal 23L brew of about 1040 sg??

Mick.

The normal pitching rate for lagers is twice that of ales.

The way around that seems to be pitching at 20C and then slowly cooling the wort to ferment temp which for S-23 is 9-15C with the optimum of 12C.

I pitch at ferment temps and have only used liquid lager yeasts so i make a 5L starter for a 20L batch as opposed to a 2-2.5L starter for ales.

EDIT - according to MrMalty using dry yeast dated today in 20L of 1.040 wort would require 1.4 x 11.5g packets. If you are making 23L then you need 1.7 packets. Up that to 23L of 1.050 wort and you need 2.1 packets. If you were brewing an ale then with 23L of 1.050 wort you would need 1 packet.

Northwest9 wrote:i went to a different LHBS cause hes a little bit closer, and he said i could use a lager yeast, as the s23 is for lagers and pilsners.

i heated it to 20 over night, and finally got it going.

i will be sticking with my slightly further away, slightly more expensive, but bloody excellent LHBS in kambah from now on

You can, of course, brew with whatever you want, but if you're really keen on getting that clean ale flavour profile out of the recipe you've generated, you are much better off making an ale with US-05 dry yeast...

Hmmmm, I'd say the HBS that told you that you can brew an LCPA with lager yeast is a fecking idiot! Did he give you the sachet off the shelf or out of a fridge???

Sure you can make lagers with S-23, it's quite good for that style, but I heartily agree that if you want to get sound, consistent advice, go and visit Colin at the Kambah HBS...and leave the other goose well alone. If you're really keen on learning more about brewing, come and join the Canberra brewers club - it's an excellent way to meet some very good brewers, talk brewing and drink some nice beers!!

Cheers,
TL aka Bro Stout - Canberra Brewers

yep, packet yeast of the shelf, not from the fridge like colin at colins. im really dissapointed caus ei knew colin has the good stuff, but i was lazy and went the nearby one. turns out the date on the yeast was in fact a best before, not a batch date........

i rang colin for some advice. as per his instruction, i double checked the yeast satchet. out of date... following a few more instructions i heated it up a bit to 18, and it finally started. when i tried to cool it back to a better lager temp of around 13 it stopped again.... very dogy yeast.

anyway, i now have it at 15 where i am going to leave it and see what comes of it, but i am not expecting much.

whats the story with the canberra brewers? id be interested cause this brewing is addictive, i bottled my 5th brew tonight, a belgian white wheat and its going to be great if the smell and sip i took is anything to go by

i havent been brewing long, but it is an infection.....

i went from a coopers kit in early may, to the construction of an AG setup this saturday... hehehehe

the garage is a man heaven, tv for footy, kegging kit for beer fridge arrives tomorrow, 2 fermenters are in the fermenting fridge currently, with a JSAA and a cider madly fermenting away.

mash tun manifold and immersion cooler to be made, 12 mtrs of copper pipe purchased. 50l keg with top removed for the kettle. round esky for mash tun purchased, pinched mums fowler steriliser/boiler for HLT. fancy thermometre, seive, jugs, hops, grains, yeasts, etc etc. its all too much excitement.

the missus is beginning to regret buying me that coopers kit..... hahahaha

You don't muck around, do you? Nicely done.

(You might wanna be a little more careful with words like "infection" in the future. Call me superstitious but you don't want to tempt fate.)

hahahha, indeed, i over looked that.

now ill have to be even more sanitary than usual.... dammit

svyturys wrote:

Throsby wrote:Ditch the heat pad - not needed.

Can't brew ales at the moment here without a heat pad.
The temp is fluctuating from 18C to almost 0C in 24 hrs. The only way to keep things in the 18C range is to give the brews some heat pad bursts. As the brew drops toward 16 a couple of hours gets it back to 18.
Simple but effective method
Cheers

I agree svyturys - I live in Campbelltown and we experience the same temperature fluctuations, but instead of the heat pad (which, like you, is was using in "bursts"), now I've swapped the Coopers yeasts for Saflager S-23 on my last brews to try to cope with the crazy temps. (You can't really go off to work and leave anything electrical turned on all day!) I pitched the Saflager at 20C and it started bubbling immediately, but now it's stopped, even though I ran a fan heater all night in the brewing room and kept the temp. around 15-16C. Getting a bit worried - hope it's bubbling when I get home tonight.

Anna wrote:

svyturys wrote:

Throsby wrote:Ditch the heat pad - not needed.

Can't brew ales at the moment here without a heat pad.
The temp is fluctuating from 18C to almost 0C in 24 hrs. The only way to keep things in the 18C range is to give the brews some heat pad bursts. As the brew drops toward 16 a couple of hours gets it back to 18.
Simple but effective method
Cheers

I agree svyturys - I live in Campbelltown and we experience the same temperature fluctuations, but instead of the heat pad (which, like you, is was using in "bursts"), now I've swapped the Coopers yeasts for Saflager S-23 on my last brews to try to cope with the crazy temps. (You can't really go off to work and leave anything electrical turned on all day!) I pitched the Saflager at 20C and it started bubbling immediately, but now it's stopped, even though I ran a fan heater all night in the brewing room and kept the temp. around 15-16C. Getting a bit worried - hope it's bubbling when I get home tonight.

You turn your fridge/freezer off when you go to work?

Yes, i am a pedantic @#$%

My 2 c - i use a heat pad in a fridge and turn it on at nights. Seems to be holding 18-20C consistently. Altho i really shouldn't be fighting nature, perfect lager brewing weather here......

drsmurto wrote: My 2 c - i use a heat pad in a fridge and turn it on at nights. Seems to be holding 18-20C consistently.

+1 I've got another one in the cupboard I've got my bottles carbing in. Both running on timers.

Anna wrote: I pitched the Saflager at 20C and it started bubbling immediately, but now it's stopped,

Iv'e had similar trouble with my second go at using S-23, keeping it at 12C it got stuck at sg 1020 & all activity ceased, I warmed it up to 16C & it got going again, now set back down to 14 & going OK. This is a K&K using Coopers Lager & Dextrose.

The first one with S-23 was an AG, it went perfect at 12 deg & fermented out to sg 1002.

The Moral, different supplier, older stock & probably not cared for as well OR. could it be the simple sugars in the K&K as apposed to the natural ones in the AG?

Cheers, Mick.

drsmurto wrote:

Anna wrote:

svyturys wrote:

Throsby wrote:Ditch the heat pad - not needed.

Can't brew ales at the moment here without a heat pad.
The temp is fluctuating from 18C to almost 0C in 24 hrs. The only way to keep things in the 18C range is to give the brews some heat pad bursts. As the brew drops toward 16 a couple of hours gets it back to 18.
Simple but effective method
Cheers

I agree svyturys - I live in Campbelltown and we experience the same temperature fluctuations, but instead of the heat pad (which, like you, is was using in "bursts"), now I've swapped the Coopers yeasts for Saflager S-23 on my last brews to try to cope with the crazy temps. (You can't really go off to work and leave anything electrical turned on all day!) I pitched the Saflager at 20C and it started bubbling immediately, but now it's stopped, even though I ran a fan heater all night in the brewing room and kept the temp. around 15-16C. Getting a bit worried - hope it's bubbling when I get home tonight.

You turn your fridge/freezer off when you go to work?

Yes, i am a pedantic @#$%

My 2 c - i use a heat pad in a fridge and turn it on at nights. Seems to be holding 18-20C consistently. Altho i really shouldn't be fighting nature, perfect lager brewing weather here......

LOL!! I think the word is "pedant"! (being the noun)

But yes, good point about leaving the fridge on when I go to work. Must use that explanation to hubby, who is the real worrier. I thought I was being very clever and had the problem fixed last night - I loaded all three crates of bottles (which had brewed with ordinary Coopers yeast) into a built-in wardrobe and put a light globe in there. Alas! This morning, wardrobe temp. was still 15C. Back to the drawing board. Any suggestions?

BTW - My two Saflager S-23 brews are now bubbling happily away!

Anna

Oops DrSmurto! I just realised you HAD used the correct part of speech - I overlooked your @#$%, so of course you would use the adjective "pedantic". That will teach me to be a smarty-pants!