Jim's Beer Kit

Welcome. What's the software/technology behind it? For example, it looks like there is some automated opening of valves - how does that work?

I thought I would give an update on this since so many people gave good advice. The original starter I made never did clear (as discussed above), so I made another out of the dregs of two bottles of Fullers 1845. I made a 300ml starter initially (can't remember why I settled on 300ml), then stepped ...

It’s not what I’d expect to see after a few weeks, it should have cleared by now. Even a low flocculating strain. Dead cells drop like weights. As JonB suggests, if it's some weird mutant cells staying in suspension, decanting off the spent wort is going to to get rid of them. Personally, I'd say w...

Some yeast strains won't flocculate without a fight, it could well be what's happening here. That being said you may also have some cells with mutations that now won't drop out. It'll be fine to use, and you can just chuck out most of the liquid before pitching and this will take out what's in susp...

Hello all, As discussed earlier, I kept the dregs of a bottle of Fullers 1845 with the intention of trying to make a starter from it. Well, it seems to have worked out very well and I now have a nice layer of yeast at the bottom of a kilner jar. The only problem is, despite being in a fridge for abo...

Thanks for posting those photos Nallum. I just bought myself one of those reagent bottles and have got some yeast slurry from a Belgian blond in there at the moment which I will use to practice with later. In the meantime, I enjoyed a bottle of Fullers 1845 last night and kept the bottom inch or so ...

Start with a 300ml starter and step up with 1000ml. 30 gr of DME for the 300ml and 100 gr for the 1000ml It is very important get some oxygen into the wort after boiling it. Ideally with a stir plate. If not by shaking it vigorously. With liquid yeast costing £13 quid a time it is worth buying a st...

If it's any help, my method is taken from IPA's. I sanitise a jug, then scoop half a litre or so from the top of the fermenting beer, including the krausen. Tip it into a kilner jar and put it in the 'fridge. It carries on fermenting, even at 4°C. The kilner jar allows exces gas to be released as n...

Hi Ian, I like that as well. So you just plunge the wine thief in through the top of the fermenter and you should get some yeast with it? Have you tried drawing it out through a tap at the bottom of the fermenter instead of the wine thief? If you take the sample via the tap it is difficult to sanit...

Hi Ian,
I like that as well. So you just plunge the wine thief in through the top of the fermenter and you should get some yeast with it? Have you tried drawing it out through a tap at the bottom of the fermenter instead of the wine thief?

Thanks very much nallum.

Tomorrow I will post pictures of my method. Dead simple. Don't worry about cell counting. I am still using yeast that I bought ten years ago. I have revived yeast from bottles of beer that were thirty years old and several of them are now in BrewLab's yeast bank. Great - looking forward to that, th...

Mashbag, Thanks very much. Without possibly knowing exactly how many billion starting cells there are, I couldn't understand how those calculators could possibly be effective, so I did wonder if there was a simple solution like yours. And I think I read on another thread here on JBK that someone els...

I've decided that the next thing I want to try to master is harvesting and cultivating yeast from my own brews and from commercial beers. To be honest, my brain still hasn't really recovered from the last couple of years attempting to understand water chemistry, but I have to move on at some point. ...

I've just been reading some of the reviews of CML's yeast on JBK and thinking that I might give them a go rather than splashing out on the expensive liquid yeasts from other suppliers. So I popped over to their website, but noticed that they are retiring: "And now it's suddenly October 2024 and a we...