Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenLantern
A friend made a homebrew kit from Paddockwood, a Brown Ale. I think it was a bit cold to start during the fermentation process so some of the yeast fell out early, but overall it has a great taste to it. It was our first batch so definitely a learning curve, but overall we did good. Sanitation is the most important thing.. now we have an English Ale we are starting tomorrow night.
Here's a label I made up for fun:
I used this guys website: http://www.beerlabelizer.com/
Cochin Ocean being a reference to Jackfish Lake for anyone familiar with the area.. turns out Boathouse Brewery exists already, so we are going to jail. |
Something I learned after my first couple of brews is that it's difficult to add too much yeast.
Next time, if you added one packet, add 2. It won't do anything bad to your beer, it just helps make sure it reaches the full fermented potential. You might get more of the flavours that the yeast produces in your beer, but if you're concerned that the yeast isn't doing it's job fully, you might be tasting those already.
Having learned that lesson, I 'over pitch' my yeast nearly every time. The more the merrier.
And if you really want to geek out, over christmas I would suggest making two batches in a week. The first batch, something not very hoppy, as hoppy beers leave oil on the yeast that is difficult to remove. When you go to move it from the fermenting bucket, start your next brew and add that wort to the bucket you just transferred beer out of. You should have a nice yeast cake on the bottom from the previous batch that is healthy and ready to go.
Yeast, apparently, develop in the fermentor to be more efficient at consuming their environment, so that second batch you put on the original yeast should likely ferment faster and better than the first batch, with more consistent flavours. If you're having problems with coolness, this should really help, as the jumpstarted yeast factor will raise the temperature of the wort quite quickly.
Also, if you think you've got a stuck fermentation (it's not really where it should be after a couple of days), just add more yeast and see what happens.