So, i went to work last night, and got a text from my buddy at about 2 a.m. telling me that the airlock is moving and producing movement.

I just went down there when i got home today to find the airlock moving up and down in a pretty rhythmic pace - so i think we're in the clear! Now we just have to hope that there's no gunk from the ice in there fermenting.

Binko wrote:A lot of brewers still recommend pitching at closer to fermentation temps, claiming there's less ester and fusel off-flavors. These flavors are produced at higher fermentation temperatures. I personally don't think there would be that much fermentation at these higher temps, and by the time the yeast fully takes hold, your wort would have settled down to room temperature. I do personally notice more yeastiness when I ferment at, say, 72 instead of 65, but that's five days at this temperature, not a few hours (as your wort cools down.) For a stout, I don't think any off flavors you might develop in that time period would be noticeable, but in a lager or otherwise clean-tasting beer, it could be.

Thank you for the heads up, thats all good stuff.

We have an extra carboy right now and some time on our hands, so an hour ago we finished THIS recipe. NICE! this one went well I think.

I'll keep you guys posted on both batches. Two batches in two days...not shabby thus far.

I like making ciders - they're easier than beers. Are you going for a still or sparking variety? Also, Montrachet can make it extremely dry - if you want a little more sweetness, you might consider adding a pound of lactose.

nr706 wrote:Are you going for a still or sparking variety? Also, Montrachet can make it extremely dry - if you want a little more sweetness, you might consider adding a pound of lactose.

Sparkling.

And when is it too late to add lactose? The carboy is currently hidden away and the airlock is bouncing up and down every second.

Lactose can be tough to dissolve. Try adding it to the mix when you heat up your priming sugar, then add it just before bottling. Doesn't really matter when it goes in, other than the solubility issue, though.

For cider, my best results have been with Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan. I did batches with freshly pressed apples with the following yeasts: natural (no yeast), Weihenstephaner, Lavlin EC-1118, S-02, Nottingham Ale, and Cote de Blanc. The best (in my opinion) was the 3068, followed by the S-02, then wild yeast, then Nottingham, EC-1118, and Cote de Blanc.

So, Tuesday at 6 pm we put the lid on and airlocked it. We started to notice some movement and bobbing within the airlock 8 hours in and it's been slowing down since. I'm having very little activity currently.

Is this normal or do we need to pitch another batch of yeast?

Our cider airlock is bobbing faster than 60/min. It's goin nuts right now.

No need for more yeast if it was bubbling nicely earlier. (If you were going for a high gravity brew, that'd be another story ...) At about one bubble/min, or if you have to shake it up to get a bubble, it's definitely time to siphon it into the secondary. A good time to dry-hop, too.

Hopefully your beer is doing its magic.

Some pointers I've gleaned from others, as well as from trial and error are:
1) Cleanliness is, indeed, of utmost importance.
2) Temperature control is very important. I tend to like to ferment at the lower end of the yeast's range. This produces a much cleaner tasting result. I generally brew from Fall through Spring, as I can't keep the lower temps in the basement throughout the summer.
3) Don't be afraid to leave the beer in the primary fermenter for longer than the recipe's instructions state. Generally, a week or two does not give the yeast the chance to clean up their byproducts. I generally leave my beers in primary for 3-4 weeks and have excellent results.
4) Get an autosiphon (they're pretty cheap) and an immersion chiller (not so cheap) if you can. These are two pieces of equipment that have made my brewing life better and more enjoyable.
5) Using a secondary is not necessary for most beers.
6) Dry yeast is an excellent option. I'm partial to US-05 (for american styles) and S-04 (for british styles). Dry yeast has a much higher viable cell count, so you don't need to make a yeast starter, as you would for most liquid yeasts. It's also much cheaper and stores well in the refrigerator.

There are probably many other things I could relate, but these are some that popped into my head when reading your posts.
A great resource forum is http://www.homebrewtalk.com. Lots of extremely experiences home brewers post there, and they are usually extremely willing to help newbs. Registration is free. Check it out.

Hopefully these are helpful for your subsequent brews, as I'm obviously to late for your initial ones.

Jeff

I've only recently started dealing with dry yeasts, and have been very happy with the results from, as you mention, S-04 as well as Danstar Nottingham Ale yeast. The yeasts are quite affordable and tasty.

I thought most of the common liquid yeasts didn't require a starter? I use White Labs, predominantly, and also the Wyeast slap packs. Neither require making a starter (unless you consider the slap pack a starter of sorts.)

Wyeast recommends a starter for its Propagator packs (1.75 oz.); the Activator packs (4.25 oz.) don't need one.

Ah. I see. I guess in all these years, I've never used the Propigator packs.

1. Get a triple scale hydrometer, it'll keep you from guessing when your beer is actually done fermenting. Also the triple-scale will give you alcohol %.

http://www.howtobrew.com/appendices/appendixA.html

2. Steady consistent temperatures are key. Check the yeast temp range, and keep the wort within that range. Try not to get the temps to fluctuate too much. For keeping the fermentation temps down during the summer months, a cost effective solution is building a swamp cooler. Remember that fermentation is an exothermic reaction, therefore the temps inside the carboy will be a few degrees higher than the temps outside the carboy.

Re: Dry yeasts
I'd steer away from Nottingham. They've had lots of problems with their packaging (holes from their stamping process) and have had very mixed reviews since then. I used to use Notty all the time, but have since found great results with US-05. It also ferments well up to 75 degrees, whereas Notty gets pretty estery around 70.

Re: Liquid yeasts and a starter.
Whether or not you need a starter depends on the gravity of your beer. A higher gravity beer will definitely require more yeast, so you might need a starter. If you use a pitching calculator, you can calculate exactly how much dry or liquid yeast you'll need. I use Mr. Malty (http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html) and have had excellent results.

A digital kitchen scale is also a very useful tool. I find it invaluable for weighing dry yeast, hops and dry malt extract, among other things.

Jeff

I'm going to piggyback on this thread, in the hopes of some quick responses. LTHers tend to give more well-written and well-thought out responses to things.

Anyone have much experience wet-hopping? I'm heading to BevArt in a little bit to pick up some grain and yeast. I need to get a scale as well, and if one's reasonably priced, I may weigh out some fresh hops from my first-year plants--cascade and centennial--for a late boil/knock-out addition. I'm also planning on doing a wet-hop addition in secondary, and then brewing up an identical batch once the hops have been picked/dried, for side-by-side comparison.

Anyways, have you any thoughts on timing, volume, and general ideas about wet hops in the boil? Yours, beerily--

--mtgl

So we went ahead and brewed with all fresh Cascade. My brewing buddy had gotten about ten ounces of wet Cascade from an acquaintance, and I picked some of mine minutes before their addition. Altogether, 15 oz. fresh, 5 oz. each at 60, 30, and 10. Probably going to throw some in secondary, too. When some keg space opens up, will do a dry-hopped version of the same, perhaps with my dried Centennial as well...still not quite sure.

Thanks for all help everyone. This turned out surprisingly great. The head is a lot thicker than we anticipated, the mouthfeel is a bit...I don't know..thin for a stout but whatever. We've been drinkin em haha

Currently the cider is still in the glass carboy and we have a gumballhead inspired extract recipe that we put together at brew and grow in another.

Second time around was a lot easier...hopefully this one will turn out too

Congrats, man, looks good. Body will come along once you mini/partial mash, or add some lactose. Now you can actually relax and have a homebrew.

Nice! I'm going to brew my first partial-grain (instead of just all-extract) this weekend, an oatmeal stout!

Congrats. The oatmeal should help provide a rich, really long-lasting head (a bit of wheat might help with that too).