Adjusted Brew Schedule Revision 2 and some updates
March 27, 2010
If you didn’t find it on your own, I posted my 2010 Brew Schedule. I never mentioned it on the blog, so you would have had to notice the link at the top of the site.
If you didn’t check it out, don’t worry, because I had to make some changes to it. Here’s what I did:
1. Re-scheduled missed brews – I was late on both my 90 Shilling clone, and my Octoberfest. Those were supposed to be brewed in February and early March, but I skipped right over them, just too busy. I moved them to the first weekend in April.
2. Moved the Lambics – Since I’m going to need a big pile of fruit for those, I thought it made good sense to make them when that fruit was actually in season. It’s going to be like 6 to 18 months before I drink them anyway, so it’s not like I’m in a hurry.
3. Added a Hefeweizen in April, and a Rye beer in May – I don’t know why I didn’t have these on the schedule anyway, Hefeweizen is one of my favorites, and I’ve always wanted to make some rye beer. Not to mention it will give me something a little lighter to drink in the summer.
If you look at the schedule, April is going to be a busy month, I’m making 2 brews on one weekend, and a third the next weekend. July is pretty busy too, with 3 brews that month too. We have some relatives visiting us over the summer, so I wanted to have a good selection of beer available.
Believe it or not, I’m actually hoping to squeeze in some more brewdays, but we’ll see about that. I’m hoping to start on making a electric Hot Liquor Tun (HLT), which basically just heats and holds hot water, which would save me a lot of time and propane. I hope that I’ll also be getting a wort chiller for father’s day. Both of these should cut some time off of my 8 hour brew days.
Next month I’ll be picking up a 50 pound sack or two of malt from a group buy I’m taking part of in Denver. Near the end of the year, I may have to start brewing a little extra in order to use that all up.
I’ve been having some trouble with my kegging setup, nothing real bad, but I still need to do some work on it. Of course, Pinewood Derby is coming up pretty quick, so I may be doing more of that over the weekends rather than hobby projects. I’ll find out tonight if the Vienna Lager I made is carbonated well enough.
Hope everyone has a good weekend, and thanks for reading!
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April 7th, 2010 at 10:16 am
Hey Mike, from your pictures it looks like you reuse your yeast. I am going to try that for the first time this weekend. Can you think of any secrets or ideas you could share with me? Hope you are having a good day! Thanks, Steve
April 7th, 2010 at 10:39 am
Thanks for Dropping by Steve! The guide I read originally is here on HomeBrewTalk:
http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/
Basically I just boil about 1/2 gallon of water, so it gets sterilized and removes the oxygen. I put a few mason jars in there as well to sterilize them. Then I let the water cool to room temperature.
Just before I rack my beer, I sanitize a growler and a funnel. After I rack the beer, I pour all of the sanitized water in the carboy, shake it up and swirl it around real good, and then pour as much as I can into the growler. Cap it and let it sit out for a little while.
After 10 or 20 minutes, the trub and hop bits should fall out of suspension, and you’ll be left with the yeast suspended in the water. Pour that into the mason jars, then refrigerate.
Once it gets cold, all of the yeast will fall out of suspension, and you’ll be left with a layer of yeast on the bottom, with a bunch of water / beer above it. I’ll usually pour this off and replace it with more cooled sterile water. I label the jars with the date I harvested it, and what generation it is. For me, the first harvest is Gen 2.
When you’re ready to make a starter, remove the jar from the fridge, pour off most of the water. Let it come to room temperature, shake it up real good, and pour it in your starter. You’ll want to do that a couple of days before you brew.
I’ve rinsed an American Yeast 5 times, and it’s been perfect every time. I just used a Munich Lager for the second time. Two other things though:
1. It’s much easier to just put your wort on a yeast cake that you just racked your beer off of. That’s a great strategy for high gravity beers. Brew something light, and then put something heavy on the yeast cake.
2. I’ve heard that you don’t want to harvest the yeast from really dark / high gravity beers. The high gravity stresses the yeast out too much, and the dark beers make it hard to rinse. Although I have done it from a dark beer that had a reasonable gravity without a problem.
3. Always harvest yeast from the primary, not from the secondary. The secondary has only the late floculating yeast. I usually don’t secondary.
Feel free to ask for clarification if you need it, and let me know how it works out for you.