Homebrew Necessities

[VatorMan]

I sterilize my chiller in the wort before chilling.



I transfer chiller and wort to tall pot for chilling.



I do leave the lid off. Beer is pretty hardy stuff. Hell, in Australia, they just recommend placing cheese cloth over the wort for fermentation.

[askmrjesus]

Originally Posted by VatorMan

I sterilize my chiller in the wort before chilling.

I transfer chiller and wort to tall pot for chilling.

I do leave the lid off. Beer is pretty hardy stuff. Hell, in Australia, they just recommend placing cheese cloth over the wort for fermentation.

I sanitize my chiller in One Step(TM), and then drop it in the wort for the last five minutes of the boil.

I keep the lid 2/3rds on, just to help keep the bugs out.

When I was at the Pilser Urquell brewery, I saw the old wooden, open top fermenters they used back in the day. They still use a few of them so people can try the original recipe while taking the tour, good stuff.

I'm going to stick to airlocks, too many different types of molds and wild yeasts around here.

Method, if you want to speed things up a bit, it's definitely OK to leave the lid off during the beginning of the chill cycle. The wort doesn't really become vulnerable to contamination until it gets below 140.

JC

[LeeNetworX]

Originally Posted by askmrjesus

I'm going to stick to airlocks, too many different types of molds and wild yeasts around here.

JC

Vagisil. Just sayin'.

[askmrjesus]

Originally Posted by LeeNetworX

Vagisil. Just sayin'.

Hmmmmm......

No.

JC

[VatorMan]

Originally Posted by LeeNetworX

Vagisil. Just sayin'.

lol

[Method]

This is good to know - I also sterilized the chiller in (i believe it is) one step as well prior to putting it in the wort at boiling temp.

I'll try opening the lid quite a bit more - I think that was one of my biggest issues is the heat retention by keeping the lid 98% closed. My main concern was that it would get contaminated by something floating in the air but it sounds like that's mostly unfounded. I don't mind it taking quite some time as I set aside the day, I was worried about contamination the longer it stayed out of the sterilized fermenter.

Another question for you guys: When I pitched the yeast (dry) I took the advice of one of the brewshop guys and boiled a small bit of water, let it cool to room temp and added the dry yeast to that just prior to pitching it, then pitched the solution. Do you guys take the extra step or do you sprinkle the dry directly on the wort?

I'm considering firing up another batch of something else in a couple of weeks once the IPA has had a week in the secondary. That way I can reuse my primary and by the time the 2nd batch is ready for the secondary the IPA should be in bottles.

I figure it gives me a better chance for good brew in case I fucked something up along the way with one of the batches.

[askmrjesus]

Originally Posted by Method

Another question for you guys: When I pitched the yeast (dry) I took the advice of one of the brewshop guys and boiled a small bit of water, let it cool to room temp and added the dry yeast to that just prior to pitching it, then pitched the solution. Do you guys take the extra step or do you sprinkle the dry directly on the wort?

Re-hydrating is never a bad idea, but only minimally worth the time. The cell count in dry yeast packs is so high, that failure from dry pitching is rare. The down side to re-hydrating, is the risk of contamination if you're not very careful about sanitizing the container you rehydrate in.

Originally Posted by Method

I'm considering firing up another batch of something else in a couple of weeks once the IPA has had a week in the secondary. That way I can reuse my primary and by the time the 2nd batch is ready for the secondary the IPA should be in bottles.

I sometimes brew and transfer into secondary, at the same time. If you're making the same beer over again, you can reuse the yeast in your primary. Just add the new wort @ 70-75, after you have racked the first batch to the secondary. You can do this about 4 times, (I just do it twice) before the yeast gets too stressed. Saves me money on the liquid yeast I use. Not so much a money issue with the dry yeast, but you'll have very fast take offs since the yeast is well propagated.

Don't sweat pitching too much. If it doesn't work within 48 hours, you can always re-pitch with new yeast.

JC

[tommymac]

I used to usualy do starters withthe liquid yeast and would take soem from the last brew and grow it out for a future batch, I also would only do it 3 or 4 times for a strain.

[VatorMan]

I want a conical so bad it hurts. It hurts I'm too cheap to buy one.

[askmrjesus]

Originally Posted by VatorMan

I want a conical so bad it hurts. It hurts I'm too cheap to buy one.

A conical?

Shit, I need at least three.

JC