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Yeast for the Winter Months in Vict

PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2020 4:17 pm
by wombat
Gday

Was looking to do a Albran brew over winter( 200 ltr - 30 kgs brown sugar - 1 Albran )
Any suggestions for the yeast or the brew mix itself ( without using any blankets or electric blanket around tub )

Have in the cupboard some Lowans - EC 118 & Safspirit American whiskey but with exp dates of 2017 -

wombat

Re: Yeast for the Winter Months in Vict

PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2020 4:27 pm
by MartinCash
Where are you planning to ferment, and what's the ambient temperature?

For example my house stays a steady 20 degrees, perfect for any ale yeast, but my garage is currently about 12 degrees, which is hard to do without added heat.

Re: Yeast for the Winter Months in Vict

PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2020 4:41 pm
by wombat
Gday MartinCash -

Thanks for ya prompt reply -

In the shed with cement floor - ambient temp now 13C but overnight can get down to 5C sometimes 0 C

Im in Northern Vict -

wombat

Re: Yeast for the Winter Months in Vict

PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2020 5:46 pm
by The Stig
Grab a heat belt and normal bakers yeast will be fine :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: Yeast for the Winter Months in Vict

PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2020 7:37 pm
by Lesgold
Hi wambat.

If I was in your situation, I would try a couple of things. First of all I would get the fermenter off the cement floor. Sit it on some particle board or polystyrene foam to give some form of insulation against the cold concrete. I would definitely insulate the fermenter as the over night temperatures are really cold. Some form of heating would be beneficial if you want a good fermentation In a reasonable time frame. I would tend to experiment with a small ferment first to ensure the measures that you have adopted will actually work. As for the yeast, place a teaspoon of yeast in a covered container of luke warm water (a cup should do it.) and add about a quarter of a teaspoon of sugar. Stir it up and leave it for about twenty minutes and see if the yeast comes to life. If it doesn’t, you’ll need new yeast.

Re: Yeast for the Winter Months in Vict

PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2020 8:13 pm
by Dunnonuthin
+1 what Stig and Les said. I put my 200L fermenter on pine garden sleeper offcuts. Wrapped in 2 removalists blankets and a heat belt on a temp controller. She kept her temp very close to 30. That’s in my concrete garage which is pretty steady at around 13 degrees this time of year. (Sure beats a tin shed in that regard) Just add more blankets.

Re: Yeast for the Winter Months in Vict

PostPosted: Wed Jun 03, 2020 12:51 pm
by MartinCash
wombat wrote:In the shed with cement floor - ambient temp now 13C but overnight can get down to 5C sometimes 0 C


That's almost exactly the same as mine. I've been using a combo of ale yeasts and bread yeast, both with extra heat from heat belts. I use an STC-1000 temperature controller and ferment bread yeast at 30-38 degrees (they need two heat belts per 60L fermenter) and ale yeast at 21 degrees (only needs one heat belt, but two would be better. At the moment they sometimes drop to 19 deg overnight).

Re: Yeast for the Winter Months in Vict

PostPosted: Wed Jun 03, 2020 1:12 pm
by bluc
And raise them off concrete floor if possible..

Re: Yeast for the Winter Months in Vict

PostPosted: Thu Jun 04, 2020 11:15 am
by MartinCash
bluc wrote:And raise them off concrete floor if possible..


Yep. Definitely. I use old milk crates and spare bits of timber, and I also wrap my fermenters in old towels and blankets, but also the higher you can get the fermenters off the ground, the easier (and faster) it will be to syphon from them.

Re: Yeast for the Winter Months in Vict

PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2020 1:02 pm
by wombat
:text-thankyoublue: everyone for ya reply's -

I do most of suggested - up off concrete on mat
electric blanket around tub with normal blanket over electric plus cover top with clear plastic then light blanket on top
using a bunnings submersible pump to transfer wash
Thought there might be a low temp yeast that would slowly tick over a month or 2

wombat :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: Yeast for the Winter Months in Vict

PostPosted: Sat Jun 06, 2020 1:48 pm
by MartinCash
A lager yeast probably would, but I don't know if you'd get the flavour profile you're after, if anyone has tried I'd be interested to hear.

The lager yeasts I've tried (for beer) all leave a higher acetaldehyde level after finishing, which takes a while to clear up. I think this would show up in the fores and heads very strongly unless you lagered it for a while and allowed the yeast to clean up after itself. Probably not worth the bother.

Re: Yeast for the Winter Months in Vict

PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2020 9:34 pm
by wombat
Thanks for all replys -

What done lately - oops didnt do any in winter mths ( as have supply )

2nd Last albran -30 kgs sugar /2 albran /2 lowans /200ltr - done quick -taste bitter in 10 days - done 1 st wk Oct - Northern Vict
Last 1 33kgs / 2 albran /2 lowans / 200 ltr - done & bitter taste under 10 days - done last week Oct
Started each wash 40 C / blankets around tubs with cover on top of tub / didnt need heating -

But at end - amazed the diff of double albran/yeast re : SPEED & NO STALLING

Yep will do again & again

wombat