Yeasts are micro-organisms used in brewing to produce alcohol during the process of fermentation.
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Yeast, CO2 Toxicity with mead and beer
Degassing CO2 during early fermentation is important for wine and mead. But why not for beer?
I'm getting back into mead making and see plenty of references to degassing the must during early ...
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3answers
120 views
Wyeast Activator Swelling Expiration time
I intended on brewing tonight so I broke the activator on my Wyeast 1450 last night. Only today did I realize I'm missing a fermenting bucket to actually ferment with (d'oh, big mistake!), so I'll ...
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Harvested Yeast - What are these layers and do I have too much?
I harvested yeast a few weeks back from my hefeweizen (Wyeast 3068) which I had open fermented. To harvest, I scrapped it right off the top, after ~36 hours of fermenting, with a sanitized spoon. I ...
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3answers
662 views
Can Dried yeast function at a low temperature?
I started my first batch of home brew lager around 24hrs ago I aerarted it and it was at 20 Degrees celcius but does not appear to be fermenting..... I know people say I have to give it time as I read ...
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813 views
Alternative/homemade yeast nutrient?
I forgot to add nutrient to my must when I put it in my carboy the other day (first time brewing mead). I fear I won't be able to get to my homebrew store before it's too late, so I'm wondering if I ...
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801 views
Wyeast 1187 Ringwood Failure
I'll start by saying that I've never used liquid yeast before, so it could all be my fault... Anyway, I ordered some Wyeast 1187 Ringwood to use for a Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA clone that I did on ...
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Making a starter when reusing yeast
I want to reuse the washed yeast from a previous batch of beer in my next batch. Should I make a starter for it? If so, how much of it? I looked at MrMalty, and it seems to me they tell me not to make ...
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Troubleshooting a stuck fermentation with Ringwood Ale
I'm brewing an IPA using Wyeast 1187 (Ringwood Ale) and it seems stuck. I'm brewing 19L (5G) with an OG of 1.052 and pitched two (smacked) smackpacks of 1187 straight into the primary bucket. I used ...
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What is the purpose of stepping up a starter
Very simply, what is the difference in pitching 100 billion cells into a 1L starter and into a 2, 3, 4L starter of, say 1.040 OG?
I understand the logic with a 5.5 gallon batch of beer: you want ...
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184 views
Always making a starter vs. following package description
I have noticed that the smackpacks say on the package that the package is meant for a 5 gal. batch and that you should pour the pack directly into the wort.
On the otherhand - nearly everyone tells ...
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229 views
Are cheap poratable USB microscopes good enough to count yeast, and check vitality?
I have read that a 400x magnification is right for counting yeast on a hemocytometer, and also using dye to check vitality.
I'm looking at using a cheap portable $50 USB microscope. They are rated ...
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Possible to intensify/increase the amount of yeast flavor?
I will soon be making a hefe and will be using wyeast's 3068. In recent hefes I have made, I have always desired much more intensity in the flavors provided by the yeast strain. The only method i am ...
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222 views
Top Cropping Cell Counts
TLDR: I have no idea how much top-cropped yeast to pitch into a ~1.055 OG Octoberfest (5.5 gallons)
I am planning on making an Octoberfest (late I know) on August 18th. Instead of making a boring ...
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1answer
225 views
Using a low alcohol tolerance yeast in potentially high alcohol must
i have posted this question on other forums but haven't really gotten a good answer.
If I am attempting to create a sweet mead and want to avoid backsweetening (lots of additional tweaking) or ...
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1answer
283 views
How much yeast nutrient does starter wort need?
I am going to make a batch of wort to be stored in 1 quart jars to make starters from. I'd like to add the yeast nutrient (diammonium phosphate and yeast hulls) at this time so I don't have to mix it ...
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What would cause yeast to fail to flocculate?
I am using WLP002 - English Ale Yeast - in my current batch, a Young's double chocolate clone. According to the manufacturer's product page, this yeast is highly flocculant.
The beer remained in the ...
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2answers
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Measuring yeast in a slurry
Please tell me if I'm being overly simplistic here.
I was reading the book yeast by Chris White and Jamil Zainasheff. In the book, they talk about measuring how many cells are in a slurry by using a ...
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How much yeast do i need for 1bbl batches?
We are planning on brewing 1bbl batches, but we are kind of stuck on how much yeast we need. We contacted White Labs but their 1bbl pitchable yeast is way too expensive. I want to know what would be ...
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1answer
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What flavors come from fermenting S-04 on the warm side?
I brewed this 1064 OG recipe and used my reverse flow chiller to get it down to 74F (could have gone cooler, but my starter was at 76F or so). It fermented like nuts (over 1.5 gallons of krausen ...
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132 views
My yeast isn't floating at the top of my mead
I just made my first ever batch of mead. I used a stronger yeast (a wine yeast) and the package said to let it sit for about 15 minutes in 50ml of warm water. I did that and added the water and yeast ...
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348 views
Storing Yeast Slurry
If I take a yeast slurry from a batch of beer, wash it and store it in a sanitized container - how long can I leave this yeast slurry in the fridge before repitching? I'm thinking of leaving it in the ...
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How do I make a Yeast Starter?
I know I should be using a Yeast Starter so that I can make sure I have enough, healthy yeast, but I've never managed to go around to it.
How would I start a yeast starter? How long before brewday ...
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Ideal fermentation temperature
I'm just finishing up a DIY fermentation chamber made from a chest freezer, reptile tank heater, and a temperature controller.
Now I just need to figure out what temperature to set!
Most yeast ...
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1answer
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I moved a Kolsch to secondary after 4 days. Should I repitch yeast?
This is my first batch ever, a Kolsch from a kit. It fermented like crazy the first 2 days, but after 4 had stopped bubbling, so I moved it to a secondary container. As I was transferring, I noticed a ...
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How can I restart fermentation on a stuck strong dark belgian ale?
What can we do to restart fermentation that got stuck over the winter?
Our club brewed about 7 gallons of this recipe in November. Primary went well, but then the weather got cold and the yeast went ...
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Do yeast die after bottling?
Do yeast die after bottling?
My second batch of beer have been stored in bottles over a month now without producing any co2.
I want to add some priming sugar to start the fermentation again, but I'm ...
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1answer
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Flanders Red from Brewing Classic Styles
I am interested in brewing the Flanders red that is found in Brewing Classic Styles. Jamil mentions using the Wyeast 3763 or WLP655 and leaving it sit for a year until the pellicle forms then falls ...
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Wine yeast for beer?
Has anyone ever used wine yeast for a batch of beer or a beer yeast for a batch of wine? I brew beer and my neighbor makes wine and we have been toying with the idea of trying to make a batch of our ...
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Does suspended yeast contribute to high SG?
I've got a SMaSH beer (Baird Maris Otter and EKG) finishing in primary. It's been fermenting for just over a week. Starting Gravity was 1.046. I mashed at 154F for 60 minutes. Fermented with WY1335 ...
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208 views
Does dry hopping affect attenuation?
Does the anti-microbial affects of hops affect yeast activity and therefore attenuation when dry hopping near the end of primary fermentation?
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What differentiates the lag phase from fermentation?
When making a starter, the intent is to make yeast. We use stirplates in part to continually oxidize the wort, enabling the yeast to multiply.
In this question about starter oxidation, one of the ...
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Pausing a ginger beer plant
I am making ginger beer, the old fashioned way with a plant. The plant is a jamjar which I feed with one teaspoon of sugar and powdered ginger daily.
I'm going on holiday soon, for several weeks. ...
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Any need to stop yeast before kegging?
I'm brewing to keg for the first time, finally. I am planning to force carbonate and was wondering: Are there was any steps I need to take to stop any active yeast before putting it in the keg and ...
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2answers
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Yeast for very high gravity (1.138) stout
I'm planning to brew a very high gravity stout. I'm expecting an OG between about 1.118 and 1.138 depending on how much my efficiency suffers. I've done this before with decent results, but I think I ...
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Attribute taste variation to volume of bottle?
This is not exactly a home brew question but this site seems to be the best fit in the stack exchange network for it. You can home brew the beer in question with a kit produced by the brewery though ...
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How well does liquid yeast travel?
I have often heard people talking about the viability of pitchable liquid yeast either in a vial or smack pack dropping over time. This effect is greatly accelerated with increased temperature, so ...
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Chilling wort before pitching yeast
I know it is important to chill wort to <80 before pitching yeast, and that quality of final beer is affected by the speed with which the wort was chilled to this point, and there are various ...
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4answers
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Yeast , dead or alive?
G'day , how long after the fermentation has finished does the yeast live ? I am curious because not only is it the cost of the yeast but if you find a particular strain and you like the taste ( ...
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Is it necessary to aerate wort when pitching onto an existing yeast cake?
To my knowledge, aeration provides oxygen so that the yeast can reproduce before fermentation. If you're pitching onto an existing yeast cake, there should theoretically be enough yeast already to ...
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3answers
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What happens when you push a yeast near its alcohol tolerance?
I'm brewing with Wyeast's West Yorkshire Ale yeast, which has a documented alcohol tolerance of 9%.
I'd like to push that boundary by brewing an 8.5% ale and wonder what to expect. Common sense says ...
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2answers
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What Type and Power of Microscope For Observing Yeast Cells
I'm interested in buying a microscope that I can use to observe yeast cells. Ideally, I'd like to use this to count cells in region and do calculations to get estimated populations (though I don't ...
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1answer
146 views
When should I hydrate my dry yeast?
I'm brewing beer tonight (in roughly three hours) and I've decided to try rehydrating my dry yeast instead of throwing it directly into the cooled wort. If I boil a couple cups of water, how long does ...
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Dry Hop Filtering and bottling
This is my first attempt at dry hopping. I added hop pellets directly into the secondary fermenter. They have been in for 1 week and many have settled to the bottom, however there is quite a bit ...
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1answer
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Can ale yeast be used weeks after it's opened (Safale S-04)?
Second-time brewer (to be).
When I did my first kit brew, I didn't want to mess anything up, and the instructions I was following told me to avoid the yeast sachet taped to the top of the LME can and ...
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1answer
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How do I know when a starter has hit 'high krausen', when using a stir plate
I've been advised to pitch an alcohol tolerant yeast "at high krausen" into a barley wine where the fermentation has slowed (OG 1.101, now 1.035). But if I've got it on a stir plate, how do I know ...
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WLP 566 Saison Long Fermentation
I brewed up a saison/BGSA 13 days ago, OG of 1.088. Don't have the grain bill/fermentables handy, but there was a good bit of sugar/highly fermentable adjuncts. Pitched a 32oz starter with this ...
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oxygen and yeast pitching rates
Many online references, such as BYO, mention that oxygen is needed by yeast to reproduce, and that a wort with low dissolved oxygen levels will have longer lag times and less attenuation.
This might ...
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Premature fermentation of wine must. What to do?
I recently took delivery of a five gallon pail of white wine juice. Supposedly, the juice had been refrigerated on its trip from California and stored in a cool warehouse here in my home town. ...
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Yeast Starter with Corn Sugar?
Anyone try making a yeast starter with Corn Sugar instead of DME? If so what proportions of corn sugar did you use? I am planning on brewing a high gravity stout, and don't have any DME for the ...
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1answer
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How quickly do I let the fermentation temperature rise if it starts off too low?
I brewed something like a Black IPA today (hoppy and dark). I ferment in carboys in a chest freezer with an external temperature control. It is frigid today, and the garage where the chest freezer ...
