Planning Beer Progression

[FizzyLiftingDrinx]

...well anyway...I racked my RIS wort onto the yeast cake in the evening and when I went to check it in the morning, I found a bit of a mess. It seems that when Jamil says to use a blow-off tube, your best bet is to go ahead and use that blow-off tube. I figured that with the 6.5 gallon carboy, I'd be okay without, but I was mistaken. That was by far the quickest and most violent start to a fermentation I've seen in my short and distinguishless brewing career.

So, I'm going to keep up the experimentation with this technique, but I'm going to stick with two styles instead of three. I generally need to remind myself to take things slowly to keep from trying too much at once. In fact, I've skipped the whole bottling procedure--just went straight to kegging. This RIS that is fermenting will be (if all goes well) my first batch to bottle. Assuming it's good, I can't wait to show it off.

[BigBadBrad]

I don't rack right onto my yeast cake, but I do repitch almost all of my yeast at least three times. I rinse the yeast in sterile water to remove the trub, then repitch.

The progression I am working on now is American Amber, American Brown, Oaked American Amber, Brown Porter with WLP007. Next, I am going to do a progression of Ordinary Bitter, Blonde Ale, Pale Ale, RyePA, RIS using the Rogue yeast from Wyeast.

Brad

[FizzyLiftingDrinx]

Thanks Brad! Sounds like you've got your system perfected. Rinsing is the key to extending the "repitchability" I think. It's a bit too much of a hassle for me at this point, but your system of progression is basically where I want to be. And I think that it's obvious that the trub that collects in the fermenter is what's going to keep me from fermenting more than two beers in a row. In fact, I may not have had the blow-out if I had rinsed my yeast. But that's what experimenting is all about. Brew and learn. Thanks again for the examples!

[consumes]

whats the most effective way to wash trub off of yeast ?

[BigBadBrad]

whats the most effective way to wash trub off of yeast ?

There have been several threads talking about this subject and Jamil talked about it on some of the Sunday shows. Do a search for it and check out the archives. It's really pretty easy, the key is being a sanitary as possible.

Brad

[BDogD]

For the best of Jamil (prior to the Jamil Show), check out the Sunday Show archives from 7/3/05, 9/4/05 and 11/20/05. I think he talked in some detail about his methods of repitching in the last of these three (IIRC ). All three are well worth listening to (I have multiple times).

As far as progressions, view it from the yeasts that you want to use, then think of the "entry" beer you'll use, then the progression of beers. By entry beer, I use Jamil's idea of using a session beer as a big starter (or you can use a directly pitched vial or smack pack or wake it up with a liter starter).

A few entry beers:
Wyeast 1056/WLP001 - Blonde Ale, Light APA, Scottish 60/-, Light Wheat

British Ale Yeasts (various) - Blonde Ale, Mild or Pale Mild, Ordinary Bitter, Summer Bitter

Scottish Ale Yeast - 60/-

German Ale Yeast - Light Wheat

Lager Yeast (various) - Light Helles, Light American Lager, Blonde Lager

Cal Lager Yeast - Blonde, Pseudo-lagers, Light Cali Common

If you want to skip the session entry beers, make your initial starter a little bigger for a little bigger "starter" beer. Also, pay attention to what combos will work - one example that I heard Jamil mention is to progress from a Cali Common and use the Cal lager yeast for a robust porter.

[Push Eject]

No no no, don't "rinse" your yeast and Brad is a FAT LOAD.

No, not really, but it was fun to type.

Cal ale IS a great one to repitch. Jon Plise made me do it on a Scottish 60/- (OG: 1.034) by throwing a Robust Porter (1.070) onto the cake.

BTW, the results are fantastic. At least I think so. I'll ship some off to JZ and The Plise for formal (and public) analysis.

Cheers,
Push Eject

[TimL]

I have my doubts pitching on top of trub would yield good results after a few batches, all due respect to Jamil et al. I wonder if Jamil has used that technique when brewing his reward winners? I will admit that I have repitched German Hefe+trub after a month in the fridge in a jar that was lazily sanitized with no remarkable flavor drift.

I feel that some of the weaker microbrew product lines I've tasted may use the same yeast or repitch too much. All the New Belgium beers seem to taste vaguely similiar and nasty to my palette. Taste Fat Tire and their just released Saison, then grab a German wheat and a Saison Dupoint and tell me they're in the same universe. Ditto Sam Adams.

To me, it seems like the correct yeast and hops make or break the beer I'm trying to make. No way am I using Cascade in my German Hefe. Similiarly, try to brew a Saison with a Cal-Ale or British Ale yeast and I bet you will be disappointed.



Wyeast Yeast Reuse Process