Hydrometer question

[AidanMatthews]

Today i bought supplys for my 2nd brew,


for those who helped me with my other post about my first brew thank you again

today i bought
1 hydrometer
1 priming spoon
1 premium brewing pack including
1 tin of beermakes draught
250g of wheat malt
11.5g of yeast
1kg of brewblend no15

wish me luck.

however the real question is, with the hydro meter i dont want to pour my beer into a jug like it says as this is to much beer to taken out of the fermentor for a test. can i use the container it comes in as sorta like a test tube. its longer than the hydro meter and almost as round as a 20c piece. it should seal up ok to.

[AidanMatthews]

also follow up question

the yeast that came with the pack is SAFLAGER s-23

it says keep fermentor at 9-15*c

hahhhaha in South Australia... in febuary

forget it...


what should i do... is it going to be to hot to properly make my beer?

[lethaldog]

Yes u can use the container that it comes in as most do

[KEG]

yeah, the tube is meant for that

don't use that yeast, you'll end up with a massive overdose of fruity flavours.

nick back to your home brew shop and get a SafALE yeast instead of a SafLAGER. Try Safale US56, it's a pretty good all-rounder, will suit that brew. Not sure if you're aware or not, but lager yeasts are low temperature bottom-fermenting yeasts, and ale yeasts top-ferment happily at warmer temperatures. Not too warm though, you'll get too many fruity esters and heavy alcohols produced, affecting the flavour. The closer you can get to 18, the better. Over the last few weeks i've only managed to keep temps down to 22-23 by keeping the fermenter in a bath half-full of water with a wet towel around it.

if you can't get hold of anything locally, try http://www.craftbrewer.com.au. Haven't purchased from them personally, but seen NOTHING but several good reports. Asked them a question via email and received a prompt helpful reply shortly after too

[SpillsMostOfIt]

My hydrometer came in a tube with removable ends. The Day I Experienced The Clumsiness was when I was using the tube to measure SG and through a spectacular event the room I was in became completely covered in a spray of protobeer. Be careful.

I have become used to the concept of 'wasting' protobeer in the pursuit of making the rest of the beer better. I also taste everything at every step, figuring that I will learn more and more and perhaps make better beer as a result. Towards the end, the protobeer will have alcohol in it, which you are drinking. You win!

If you intend boiling up some water to put your malt in and you have a pack of yeast you think you *don't* want, throw the pack (or the contents - you choose) into the boil for the last few minutes. You'll kill the yeast, but keep the nutrients and make the good yeast you *do* use much happier. We like happy yeast.

[Link]

You'll kill the yeast, but keep the nutrients and make the good yeast you *do* use much happier.

Really?

I've got about seven packs of kit yeast in the fridge I don't need, been wondering what to do with them. Making a Coops Sparkling starter tonight with the yeast harvested from a couple of longnecks (at least I think it was a couple - I'm starting to lose count, pity you have to drink the beer to get the yeast). Anyhoo, could I whip one of those cheapie yeastie beasties into my malt boil for the starter to kick things along?

And then another in the boil when I'm mixin' up the brew?

Anyone?

CHeers,

[KEG]

yep, that''ll work great

i've thrown kit yeast into the boil a few times now. Haven't observed a big difference yet, but the beers i tried it on aren't ready to drink yet. if i notice anything amazing, i'll post up

can't be bad for the yeast though. well, it's bad news for the kit yeast lol, but you know what i mean

[SpillsMostOfIt]

You may not notice a difference.

The way I look at it is that there are a few things (adding nutrient is one of them) that you can do to increase the chances of success. Ensuring your yeast have everything they need is one thing. You may get a shorter lag (likely to be a contentious statement) or a more vigorous ferment, or just a warm inner glow from knowing you've put a smile on the faces of all your yeast.

I also like to aerate my wort before pitching even though I use dry yeast. Same reason.

[gibovski]

Just a tip with using the container the hydrometer is in. If it is the same as mine it pays to tape one of the plugs in place. I was filling it the other night and it dropped it's plug and made beery mess all over the floor in the spare room. I had to clean up real good cause any beery smells may cause my wife to be unsupportive of the new beer hobby.

[pacman]

Yeh gibovski,

Had a slightly worse scenario. Dropped my dry hydrometer into empty tube. No liquid mess, but fine glass splinters everywhere!

Have used a drop of super glue on the bottom cap of my two hydrometer tubes. No probs since. Probably would not be able to remove these two bottom caps if I wanted to, but why would I anyway?

[Growler & 1/2 Pint]

Expect to drop a hydrometeror two, I'm on to my fourth!