Brewing Master

Question:

I have an old batch of an Anchor Steam clone I did way back about 7 months ago.  I got wrapped up with some other things, and I sort of let it sit in the dark closet. I originally used the Wyeast "American Ale" variety in the primary fermentation.  After about 8 days, it went into the carboy. After smelling and tasting, it seems to be ok (actually, it seems to taste very good!), but now the question is the yeast for bottle carbonation.

I bottled a brown ale which was sitting in secondary for a year, and it carbonated beautifully in the usual 2-3 weeks. So put some trust in your yeasties. They’ve somehow managed to survive for billions of years in nature…

Response:

I will agree with Mike. I split 10 gallon batches and pitch two yeasts quite often. Occassionally, I’ll see 2 points difference but that’s not too common. Burp, -Dan — Replace nospam with msn to email me.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hmm. I have been totally confused on this subject until now then. I have a question, if that is the case, why would anyone care about yeast being more or less attenuative ? (ie , that White Labs yeast strain chart for example giving an apparent attenuation of , say, 75-80% for a certain strain)  I was picking yeasts in part based on this, and how dry i wanted the beer to get. But I do find the beers i made with Danstar Nottingham always came out several points dryer than the same beers made with other yeasts. Don’t have my notes with me, but I can look up the details. It will vary slightly, but the characteristics of the yeast are more than the attenuation, there is the flocculation, the flavors and aromatics, and a host of other factors.  Brewer’s yeast is basically brewer’s yeast in the way it performs.  Take an APA, use 1056, 1272, 1007, and something odd, let’s say 1728, and I’ll be willing to bet if the mash and boil are all from the same beer, you won’t see more than a point difference between them, and that will mostly be experimental error. You can use one yeast and hit a gravity and have a beer that has the driest finish ever, and use another strain and hit the same, or similar gravity and the perception in the finish be sweet. Sometimes I think you get effects where the yeast do things they really shouldn’t be capable of like fermenting to an extremely low FG.  It happens. Cheers, Mike

Response:

— A good experiment for someone would be to take 1 single wort and use 3 different yeasts in three fermenters and measure the FG.  It should be essentially the same for most yeasts.

I have done that a lot and the most I can recall seeing is maybe three points difference.  It seems to have a lot to do with floccation. Dan Listermann Check out our E-tail site at www.listermann.com Free shipping for orders greater than $35 and East of the Mighty Miss. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I wouldn’t for one reason. Difference in attenuation between the 2 strains. What if the second strain (ie nottingham = super attenuative IMHO) ferments stuff that the first one didnt, and you get bottle bombs. Possible? Impossible? It seems like it could present a proble. i think you only need something like .002 drop in s.g. for carbonation. Not really.  The yeast do not control the attenuation as much as the fermentable sugars do.  If the yeast is healthy, you should ferment pretty much all the fermentable sugars. Cheers, Mike

Response:

Hmm. I have been totally confused on this subject until now then. I have a question, if that is the case, why would anyone care about yeast being more or less attenuative ? (ie , that White Labs yeast strain chart for example giving an apparent attenuation of , say, 75-80% for a certain strain)  I was picking yeasts in part based on this, and how dry i wanted the beer to get. But I do find the beers i made with Danstar Nottingham always came out several points dryer than the same beers made with other yeasts. Don’t have my notes with me, but I can look up the details.

It will vary slightly, but the characteristics of the yeast are more than the attenuation, there is the flocculation, the flavors and aromatics, and a host of other factors.  Brewer’s yeast is basically brewer’s yeast in the way it performs.  Take an APA, use 1056, 1272, 1007, and something odd, let’s say 1728, and I’ll be willing to bet if the mash and boil are all from the same beer, you won’t see more than a point difference between them, and that will mostly be experimental error. You can use one yeast and hit a gravity and have a beer that has the driest finish ever, and use another strain and hit the same, or similar gravity and the perception in the finish be sweet. Sometimes I think you get effects where the yeast do things they really shouldn’t be capable of like fermenting to an extremely low FG.  It happens. Cheers, Mike

Response:

I wouldn’t for one reason. Difference in attenuation between the 2 strains. What if the second strain (ie nottingham = super attenuative IMHO) ferments stuff that the first one didnt, and you get bottle bombs. Possible? Impossible? It seems like it could present a proble. i think you only need something like .002 drop in s.g. for carbonation.

Not really.  The yeast do not control the attenuation as much as the fermentable sugars do.  If the yeast is healthy, you should ferment pretty much all the fermentable sugars. A good experiment for someone would be to take 1 single wort and use 3 different yeasts in three fermenters and measure the FG.  It should be essentially the same for most yeasts. Cheers, Mike

Response:

Hmm. I have been totally confused on this subject until now then. I have a question, if that is the case, why would anyone care about yeast being more or less attenuative ? (ie , that White Labs yeast strain chart for example giving an apparent attenuation of , say, 75-80% for a certain strain)  I was picking yeasts in part based on this, and how dry i wanted the beer to get. But I do find the beers i made with Danstar Nottingham always came out several points dryer than the same beers made with other yeasts. Don’t have my notes with me, but I can look up the details. John – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -A good experiment for someone would be to take 1 single wort and use 3 different yeasts in three fermenters and measure the FG.  It should be essentially the same for most yeasts. Cheers, Mike

Response:

I wouldn’t for one reason. Difference in attenuation between the 2 strains. What if the second strain (ie nottingham = super attenuative IMHO) ferments stuff that the first one didnt, and you get bottle bombs. Possible? Impossible? It seems like it could present a proble. i think you only need something like .002 drop in s.g. for carbonation. John – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Yes. I would have used something cheap like Danstar Nottingham for the yeast, but that is me… Also, my store was out of American Ale, so I went with the "Ale Blend" variety for this venture.  How should this turn out?

Response:

I say wait until you brew again and then shortly after krausen, take a cup of the fermenting beer and add it to the Steam Beer, prime and bottle. Burp, -Dan — Replace nospam with msn to email me.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I have an old batch of an Anchor Steam clone I did way back about 7 months ago.  I got wrapped up with some other things, and I sort of let it sit in the dark closet. I originally used the Wyeast "American Ale" variety in the primary fermentation.  After about 8 days, it went into the carboy. After smelling and tasting, it seems to be ok (actually, it seems to taste very good!), but now the question is the yeast for bottle carbonation. My local homebrew store owner suggested pitching a new package of Wyeast into the bottling bucket with the priming sugar.  I would think that agitating the wort would cause that oxidation problem, so I plan to siphon the brew onto the sugar/yeast. Is this a good idea?  Also, my store was out of American Ale, so I went with the "Ale Blend" variety for this venture.  How should this turn out? Brian Gilbert

Response:

You should print up some cute labels that say "Botox Steam Beer." Or maybe that doesn’t strike you as funny. http://www.littletinywit.com/Column_11062002.html – Belgian Beer and Small       Breasts http://www.littletinywit.com/Column_11022002.html – Cartoons and Beer Brevity is the soul of trolling.

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I have an old batch of an Anchor Steam clone I did way back about 7 months ago.  I got wrapped up with some other things, and I sort of let it sit in the dark closet. I originally used the Wyeast "American Ale" variety in the primary fermentation.  After about 8 days, it went into the carboy. After smelling and tasting, it seems to be ok (actually, it seems to taste very good!), but now the question is the yeast for bottle carbonation. My local homebrew store owner suggested pitching a new package of Wyeast into the bottling bucket with the priming sugar.  I would think that agitating the wort would cause that oxidation problem, so I plan to siphon the brew onto the sugar/yeast. Is this a good idea?

Yes. I would have used something cheap like Danstar Nottingham for the yeast, but that is me… Also, my store was out of American Ale, so I went with the "Ale Blend" variety for this venture.  How should this turn out?

Fine. Try to not oxidize the brew… Cheers, Mike

Response:

I have an old batch of an Anchor Steam clone I did way back about 7 months ago.  I got wrapped up with some other things, and I sort of let it sit in the dark closet. I originally used the Wyeast "American Ale" variety in the primary fermentation.  After about 8 days, it went into the carboy. After smelling and tasting, it seems to be ok (actually, it seems to taste very good!), but now the question is the yeast for bottle carbonation. My local homebrew store owner suggested pitching a new package of Wyeast into the bottling bucket with the priming sugar.  I would think that agitating the wort would cause that oxidation problem, so I plan to siphon the brew onto the sugar/yeast. Is this a good idea?  Also, my store was out of American Ale, so I went with the "Ale Blend" variety for this venture.  How should this turn out? Brian Gilbert

Response: