WLP645 Brettanomyces Claussenii
WLP650 Brettanomyces Bruxellensis
WLP653 Brettanomyces Lambicus
WLP655 Belgian Sour Mix 1
WLP677 Lactobabillus Bacteria

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The Original Carboy Cleaner now available at homebrew4less.com

Dear Fellow Homebrewer,
Like you, I have struggled numerous times cleaning the leftover sediment out of my glass carboys. Getting all of the sediment out without wasting gallons of water was near impossible.
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If you are a Home Brewer you know how important it is to make sure all of your equipment is clean and sanitized. the Carboy Cleaner will help make sure each batch of wort turns into a great tasting beer you can enjoy with family and friends.

Finally, a product that really cleans carboys!

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I started brewing in the 1980’s, which was the modern equivalent of the wild west days of home brewing. We simply did not have either the technical knowledge or access to the high quality ingredients that brewers have today.

Yeast, in particular, was one ingredient that improved dramatically in the last 20 years. When I started, the only yeast available was dry packet “bread-style” yeast. It came in two flavors – ale and lager. The quality of these two yeast strains was questionable, resulting in significant variation in flavor and character.

In the early 1990’s Wyeast and White Labs introduced high quality liquid yeasts to the US homebrewing market. Companies like SafeAle also brought high quality dry yeasts into the picture. This revolutionized homebrewing in a way that is difficult to explain today.

Brewing Yeast

Brewing yeast is a single cell microorganism (technically a fungi), and both ale and lager yeasts are members of the family Saccharymyces Cerevisiae. Lager yeast was earlier classified as S. Uvarum, but a recent reclassification put it in the S. Cerevisiae family. Ales are traditionally called “top fermenting” for the yeast layer that forms at the top of the fermenter, while lagers are called “bottom fermenting”

Ale yeasts ferment in the range 10-25C and produce beers high in esters and often lower in attenuation, both distinctive characteristic of ales. Ale yeast strains are often mixed together to aid in attenuation and flocculation. Lagers ferment in the range from 7-15C and produce a cleaner beer with lower esters.

The Fermentation Life Cycle

Yeast goes through four overlapping phases when fermenting beer into wort. After pitching, yeast starts in the “Lag Phase”. During the lag phase, the yeast strives to reproduce as fast as possible. The key ingredient during this phase is Glycogen, an sugar stored internally in the yeast, which is broken into glucose to fuel yeast reproduction. If an insufficient amount of yeast is pitched (or the yeast itself is low in glycogen), you will get an excess of dicytl (buttery or butterscotch flavor) in your finished beer. A properly sized Yeast Starter is critical.

The lag phase is followed quickly by the respiration (also called the growth) phase. In this phase the cells grow logarithmically (usually one to three doublings) by cellular division. In this phase the critical ingredients are oxygen and a variety of yeast nutrients. The cells will continue to grow until the oxygen or nutrients have been depleted.

Once all of the oxygen has been scrubbed from the wort, the fermentation phase begins. Yeast cells convert simple sugars into carbon dioxide, alcohol and beer flavors. As the sugars are consumed, the gravity of the beer will rapidly drop. Fermentation normally takes 3-7 days.

Sedimentation is the final phase of fermentation. Yeast will begin to form into clumps and settle to the bottom of the fermenter in a process called flocculation. In this phase, yeast will also store the glycogen needed for future reproduction as it prepares to enter a dormant state. Some yeasts will settle (flocculate) much more rapidly than others, so settling can take from days to weeks depending on the yeast variety.

Understanding Yeast Characteristics

Selecting a yeast appropriate for a given beer involves some knowledge of key yeast characteristics:

• Attenuation: Refers to the percentage of sugars converted to alcohol and CO2. A high attenuation yeast will result in a clean, dry finish. Low attenuation yeasts typically leave ester, malt and other flavors behind leaving a more full bodied complex beer flavor.
• Flocculation: Flocculation refers to the ability of yeast to form clumps (flocs) at the end of fermentation and rapidly sediment (or be skimmed) from the finished beer. Low flocculation yeast is often called “powdery” yeast. High flocculation yeasts tend to fall out of the beer before completing fermentation, leaving a more complex, higher gravity beer. Low flocculation yeasts such as lagers will completely ferment, leaving a cleaner finish but it can then be difficult to separate the yeast from the beer.
• Temperature Range: Different yeast strains have differing temperature tolerances. Ales ferment at a higher temperature. Higher temperature fermentation is associated with higher ester production, and lower temperature with clean dry flavors.
• Alcohol Tolerance : Many yeasts are sensitive to alcohol content, and will have trouble fermenting very high original gravity wort. Champagne, Wine, or other alcohol tolerant yeasts are frequently used either for primary fermentation or as a second yeast addition to assure full fermentation of very high gravity beers such as barley wine.
• Beer Flavor: Individual yeast strains can add widely varying flavor profiles to your beer. A good example is Hefe-Weizen, where a significant majority of the clove and banana beer flavor comes directly from the yeast. Matching the yeast strain to the style of beer is a the best way to provide proper flavoring.

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It turns out that the answer is not as simple as one or the other, but the main point is that rehydration is not really necessary. You can rehydrate your yeast if you absolutely want to, but be sure to do it accurately and precisely, as explained further below. The rest of us will tear open the package and dump it in, and spend the extra time sampling our last batch!

When performed correctly, rehydrating gives the highest live cell counts, and the quickest, most thorough fermentation. The catch is, it has to be done precisely correctly. Lalvin EC 1118 champagne yeast, for instance, asks you to add the yeast to 10 times its weight in water at 40-43°C (104-109°F).

Breaking it down, the amount of ’10 times’ is important if you’re trying to maximize live cell counts. That’s because the yeast is dried on a substrate of nutrients and sugars. At a ratio of 10:1 water/yeast, the osmotic pressure allows for maximum nutrient uptake (osmotic pressure is influenced by the dissolved solids in the water, like nutrients and sugars). If too much water is used, the yeast will grow only sluggishly. If too little water is used, the cells may burst from the flood of liquid and nutrients forced into them.

Secondly, the temperature range is inflexible. The outer integument of a yeast cell is made up of two layers of fatty acids. These layers soften best in warm water, much as greasy film will come off of dishes best in warm water. Once it has softened up, it will allow the passage of nutrients and waste products in and out of the cell much more efficiently. If the water isn’t warm enough, the cell won’t soften. If it’s too warm, generally anywhere above 52°C (125.6°F) the yeast cell will cook and die.

The next thing you have to worry about is temperature. Yeast is terrifically sensitive to environmental conditions. If it goes too quickly from a favourable temperature to a less favorable one, weakened cells may die, and others may go dormant, in an attempt to ride out the temperature shift. This reduces the numbers of live, viable cells available to ferment the must, and gives spoilage organisms a chance to get a foothold, and potentially ruin your wine. So if you are rehydrating your yeast, you’ll have to wait as the yeast cools to within two degrees of your must temperature before adding it: accuracy counts!

On the other hand, simply dumping the yeast onto the top of the must should result in lower cell counts. Empirical evidence shows this isn’t the case: the yeast appear to know what they’re doing. Generally, a five-gram packet of yeast will have less than a six-hour lag phase on an average wine kit. This is perfectly acceptable, and isn’t long enough to allow spoilage organisms to get a foothold in your wine. Plus, it’s a heck of a lot simpler than going through the rehydrating process.

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You can buy it here
http://www.store.homebrew4less.com/LIQUOR-QUIK-ACCELEVIN-KC2-Ferments-wine-kits-in-5-days/productinfo/LD2310/

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Malt Type                  Color(ASBC)              Grist % by Weight

Pilsener                        1.6                               75.0%

Munich                         14                                15.0%

Special Aromatic          4.5                               5.0%

Amber/Biscuit               20                                1.2%
Caramel Vienna            20                                3.5%

Kiln Black                    500                              0.3%

Bittering Hops: 20-22 IBUs

Suggested Variety: Brewers Gold or Fuggle

Late Hop Addition (last 20-30 min. of boil):

2 oz./US bbl (9 grams/5 gal.)

Suggested Variety: Strisselspalt or Hallertauer

Options: Add up to 8% white sugar (by extract)

Fermentation: White Labs WLP072 French Ale Yeast at 66-68ºF

Secondary Storage: 3-4 weeks at 32-35ºF

Original Gravity: 17ºP (1.072 SG)

Comments: This version uses a variety of specialty malts to yield a greater complexity and depth of malt flavor. Use of White Labs WLP072 French Ale is suggested.

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Getting your homemade beer off to a good start

- 1 “growler” or large 22 oz bottle
- soup pot with a lid
- sanitizer
- airlock and stopper that fits your growler or bottle
- measuring cup
- yeast
- scissors or knife if you have to cut open the yeast packet
- 1/3 cup Dried Malt Extract (DME)
- small funnel

If using a Wyeast “slap pack”, make sure the pack is bulging (swollen so it’s hard to the touch) before making your yeast starter. It usually takes a “slap pack” anywhere from one day to one week for the packs to bulge. You should make your yeast starter a day in advance of the actual brewing day. If you plan on brewing on Friday night, make your yeast starter on Thursday night.

Steps for creating a yeast starter

1. Bring one pint of water to a boil in your soup pot.

2. Add your 1/3 cup of DME and boil your wort for approximately 3 minutes.

3. Take your pot off the heat, cover it with the lid and shut off your stove. Place your soup pot in a sinkful of cold water so it cools. DO NOT ADD COLD WATER OR ICE DIRECTLY TO THE SOUP POT.

4. Sanitize the growler/large bottle, airlock, funnel, and stopper while the soup pot is cooling.

5. When your wort has cooled (usually is cool within 15 minutes, try to get it down to 75-80F), add your cooled wort to the growler/large bottle via the funnel.

6. Add the yeast to the growler/large bottle via the funnel and place the airlock(filled halfway with water) and stopper on your growler/large bottle.

7. Voila! Your finished, keep the starter in a cool place between 65-75F. You should see some sign of fermentation within 12-24 hours. You want to pitch your yeast starter while it is active.

8. Make your batch of homebrew. Pitch yeast starter after the wort has cooled.

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Also, after every batch I discard the stone that has contacted wort. A dollar or two seems rather cheap insurance against a contaminated batch.

An activated carbon filter removes odors but is not an efficient filter of particulate matter. A second stone in a jar half filled with 3% hydrogen peroxide (the common drug store variety) offers a solution. Hydrogen peroxide is an oxidizing agent that will remove odors and a mild antiseptic that will destroy airborne microflora. In addition, any particulate matter is washed out in the peroxide solution. Any peroxide washed into the wort is quickly broken down into water and oxygen, which at this point in the process is desirable. Here’s what the setup looks like.

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A yeast starter is a method of preparing your yeast for fermentation by introducing your yeast to a small amount of wort before fermentation in order to encourage yeast cell multiplication to create an optimum amount of healty, ready-to-go yeast cells for an ideal fermentation of your beer.

How Much yeast do I Need?

As an average, you need about 3.75 billion yeast cells for each point of OG for about 5 gallons of ale wort1. Lager fermentations will require a bit more due to the extended fermentation and generally cooler temperatures. This means that, for a 1.060 ale, you would need about 225 billion yeast cells for optimum fermentation conditions. To compare, an average tube or pack of liquid yeast has abut 100 billon cells. So, as you see, you’re going to need to increase this yeast count if you plan to pitch one tube of yeast.

As a rule, the larger the starter, the more yeast reproduction due to the fact that there are more sugars for the yeast to use as fuel for reproduction. As another general principle, a 2-liter starter will approximately double your yeast count1 (with varying conditions taken into account including the amount of oxygen present in the starter.)

There are mathematical formulas and researched-based ratios to calculate all this exactly. However, there is a much easier way. Jamil Zainasheff has written a great tool for calculating starters on his website : the Mr Malty’s Pitching Rate Calculator. I encourage you to use this tool and try various scenarios with different OG values and different starter configurations to see how the starter procedures affect the final cell count.

I plugged in 5.25 gallons of 1.060 ale wort using a stirplate aerated starter and found out that I would need to make a 1 liter starter from one vial of yeast in order to produce about 219 billon yeast cells.

Prepare the Starter Wort

First thing’s first, we’re going to need some wort to use in our starter. By far, the best food for yeast that is going to be consuming wort in the very near future is, you guessed it, wort. I say this because you may, at some point, have the idea that you can just use table sugar for your starter. This is a bad idea because the yeast will become accustomed to consuming the simple sugars in table sugar and when it’s time to eat up all those beer sugars (maltose, etc.) they will not take to the idea very well and may drop out of the fermentation before the job is done. Think of this as having to drink a Bud after having a great, homebrewed beer – you wouldn’t want that and, in a way, it’s the same with the yeast.

The best source of easy-to-prepare wort is dried malt extract (DME.) You will need enough DME to prepare a starter of about 1.040 OG. A higer gravity, regardless of the beer you’re going to make, is not better as the higher gravity will stress the yeast more than is needed for simple propagation and will leave your yeast in bad condition for the fermentation itself. To achieve the proper gravity, you will need about 6oz (by weight) of DME for every 2 quarts of water1. That equates to roughly 3oz. of DME for every 1000ml of starter water you use.

Do bother to weigh out your DME with that same scale you weight you hops with (you do have one, right?) as differing amounts of moisture in different DME brands might make 1/2 cup of one brand contain much more or less than 1/2 cup of another brand in terms of volume measurement.

The next thing you will need is a container. The best piece of equipment for starters is an Erlenmeyer flask made of borosilicate glass. These are able to withstand very high temperatures and temperature swings, are equipped with volume measurements, and have a flat bottom for use with a stir plate. If you do not have an Erlenmeyer flask the next best thing is a growler from your local microbrewery. Failing that, any glass container that can be covered with an airlock, stopper, or piece of foil will do.

To prepare the wort, weigh out your DME and add the volume of declorinated water (plus a little more to take evaporation into account) to achieve your desired starter volume either directly to the Erlenmeyer flask or to very clean and soap-free pot. Your Erlenmeyer flask can be placed directly on the stove. However, a word of caution, if the volume you are making does not provide enough headspace for the hot break material when your wort comes to a boil, it will be one nasty boilover and one messy stove. You can always boil some water on another burner in your flask while you’re boiling your wort for the sake of sanitation.

Boil the wort for about 15 minutes, remove from heat, and cover immedately as sanitation is now ultra-important. Cool your coverd wort to a reasonable temperature and, if needed, transfer to your sterilized starter vessel.

The temperature of your starter should be kept roughly the same temperature as you plan your fermentation to take place. Once your wort is at that temperature, sanitize your yeast packet or vial, the top of your starter container, and anything else like a funnel that might come into play here then pitch your yeast into the starter. If you are using a Wyeast smack pack, you can smack it to add a bit of yeast nutrient into the mix. If you don’t that’s fine too as the yeast is in the big container, not the little pillow in these systems.

Finally, make sure to cover your starter vessel. You can use a stopper and airlock. I personally use a piece of loose-fitting aluminum foil that I place on the top of my Erlenmeyer flask while I am boiling the wort (or water if just sanitizing) to ensure that the foil is sanitized. Bacteria, dust, and whatever else in the air that may affect your starter wort falls down, not up, so anything that covers the opening of the starter container and let’s CO2 escape during yeast activity should be sufficient.

You may be tempted to add some hops into your wort as well, knowing that they do have some anti-microbial properties and, after all, it’s a mini beer. This really is not necessary and, if you are worried about sanitation, put extra extra effort into making sure that each and every thing that comes into contact with your starter is sanitary. If you want to add anything to the wort, some yeast nutrient would be appropriate to encourage optimum growth conditions.

Oxygenate your Starter

Actively reporducing yeast need available oxygen to be able to reproduce and build strong, healthy cell walls. The presence of sufficient oxygen (8 to 16 ppm2) will allow the maximum amount of cell reproduction – the ultimate goal of the starter process. Oxygen can be provided to a starter in many ways, including the introduction of pure oxygen. If you do have an oxygenation system that you use for your wort, I would caution the use of this in the small volume of a yeast starter. I know some people do this with reportedly good results, however it is my opinion that the risk of killing your yeast in the starter solution may be far greater than then benefits.

The first way to more safely introduce oxygen into your starter is by simply shaking the starter as often as possible (for example, hourly.) This method is free, simple, and while the least effective of the methods I will mention, is much better than no oxygenation method at all.

A better method is the use of an aquarium air pump with a sanitary air filter inline and a bubble producing stone that is placed into the starter. All tubing and stone should be sanitized prior to introduction to the starter. This method produces agitation of the liquid which breaks up the surface and allows air/oxygen to be introduced to the solution. This method is reported to be better than periodic shaking.

The best method, albiet the most expensive, is the use of a laboratory stirplate to create a whirlpool effect in the starter. This method provides constant, gentle oxygenation and encourages the most cell reproduction of the three methods mentioned.

To illustrate the differences, I used the Mr. Malty Pitching Calculator again on a 1.060 wort but compared the volumes required to produce that same 220 billion yeast cells with different aeration methods. With a plain starter, no aeration, a 2.43L starter is required. With agitation, a 1.4L starter is needed. With aeration, a 1.22L volume is required and with a stirplate, only 1L of starter volume is required to produce the same number of cells. So, the correlary of this is that, with the same volume of starter wort, more cells are produced with better oxygenation methods.

When to pitch

After a few hours, you should see some bubbling and evident yeast activity going on in your starter. There are two schools of thought on when the best time to pitch your yeast might be. One way of thinking is that you should pitch the entire yeast starter into your beer wort when it is a high krausen (anywhere from 8 to 18 hours) as the yeast is actively eating sugars and is ready for more. Another way of thinking about this is that you should pitch the yeast portion of the starter after it has completely fermented the starter sugars and has had a day or two to build up its cell reserves.

I see both sides of this and, for me, it boils down to which method fits into my brewing schedule best. If I think ahead enough to prepare a starter a few days ahead and allow ample time to settle out, great. If I think of preparing the starter the night before or even the morning of the brew day, I can pitch at high krausen.

Why Bother?

With all this said, a yeast starter is not necessary to make a good beer. If you read this and find that it’s too much to mess with for your brewing abitity or you are not one who takes great precautions with sanitation – no worries. Pitch your yeast vial or smack pack as-is and your beer will likely end up just fine. The activity of producing a yeast starter is just one more tool in your toolbox to make even better beer.

Above all, enjoy your homebrewing sessions and drinking your hard earned beer.

Reference

1. Zumurgy – March/April 2007 – Making A Starter by Jamil Zainasheff (pp 21-25)

2. How to Brew – 3rd Edition by John Palmer

homebrew4less.com

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