the-rambling-homebrewer

[the-rambling-homebrewer]

The 30 Best Breweries in the Country Right Now, According to Beer Pros (2024) | VinePair

[the-rambling-homebrewer]

Hendo: Write beer recipes independently from the equipment. Write beer specs and document the complete process.

What to measure and when?

Make measurements independent of equipment.

Helps with consistency and when you need to scale recipes

[the-rambling-homebrewer]

Yeast cell counts matter. Under pitching and over pitching both cause problems. I've done both now.

My under pitching has mainly been in the form of using barely enough yeast that is older and has low viability.

Over pitching happened in the last stout batch. One pouch was not quite enough, so I used two. And made a starter. And it turns out the white labs recently doubled the cell count in their pouches. And it was fresh. The resulting beer wasn't bad. It just dried out too much, abv was too high, and I was dumping yeast for a long time.

Consider looking into options for calculating and counting cell counts. For now, be mindful of age and volume of yeast.

[the-rambling-homebrewer]

Made a yeast starter last night with 2 packets of Bootleg Biology Classic NE. Since I only have a 2L flask, I wanted to keep the gravity to the usual level, and I didn't want it to overflow, I kept the starter size to 1.5L, using 1.5 cans of wort + 1.5 cans of water. I have no idea if this is the right way to go about this.

I also aerated the starter for the first time ever. I'm curious to see whether this helps or causes any problems. Most likely there will be no perceivable difference.

The yeast packet were labeled as being from a batch in early July, along with advice to use it within 3 months - not a good sign when it is now early November (4 months later). I should have checked the date earlier - it arrived in late september, just shy of 3 months after manufacture. Not cool that they sent a product on the edge of them considering it to be too old. Hopefully the starter will help to revive the yeast and bit and get it ready to do its work.

I've also never used this yeast strain. When adding it to the starter, it was thin and dispersed throughout the starter wort with no clumping.

The next morning, about 8 hours later, there were no visible signs of fermentation or settling out. We'll see how it looks after work today.

If there is no sign of life by tomorrow morning, I might need to make a trip to the homebrewing store to get some fresher yeast.

[the-rambling-homebrewer]

I do not like dank enigma hops. They smell and taste like paint thinner, and they infect everything that they touch, even in limited amounts. Avoid at all costs.

Fieldworks seems to like them. I don't know why. Maybe they got stuck with a bad lot and are trying to make the best of it?