What did you learn today

[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

Never trust a (digital) scale...

My efficiency has been bad for a good while. I have explored all sorts of possible causes. Sometimes you might not actually have bad efficiency! Just bad data.

I was doing a beer bread recipe yesterday which called for 340ml of beer. I only had a 440ml tin of Heineken which I was prepared to use. I thought I would rather just weigh it out than dirty a measuring jug. My Heineken came out at a starting weight of 285g!

As a double check, I then filled a light plastic jug with exactly 1 litre of water.... Apparently that only weighs 800g

If that error is a percent basis constant, that's would have a huge effect in terms of efficiency! Needless to say, next brew is going to be interesting

[jannieverjaar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jannieverjaar]

Ok but that error should increase your eff. Since you actually added more grain then you thought. You should have a higher starting gravity. Showing better then expected extraction ( although falsely)

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[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

Shit yes. You are right, it's the other way. Damn I'm screwed.

Anyone looking to buy some brewing equipment?

[jannieverjaar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jannieverjaar]

Ja ja.... just keep playing with your kit. You'll figure it out eventually. Or it will stabilize and your new eff will just be lower. So wat it's like 500g of malt anyway

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[groenspookasem Banned Find all posts View Profile Close groenspookasem]

Check the batteries first, I have 3 digital scales, differ in precision, but each one has a different use. The malts I weigh on the scale that came with my Kenwood Major kitchen thing. Smaller one with a small range for hops and a precision jewelers scale for quinine and botanicals. Variations for the three are 8g, 1g and 0.001g respectively, useful to have spare batteries available

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[Langchop Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Langchop]

Yea I have a small jewellers scale for hops and sanitizer measurements too. Big one would never be accurate enough for that.

I did so out batteries and it seems fine/better. I would have anticipated the readout getting dim before the readings got so screwy to be honest.

The good news is it seems the readings were erratic more than low. So that might be a salvation on the efficiency concern (I put the old batteries back in to check and 2L weighed 2.6kg. ) I suspect someone overloaded the thing too.

Either way, I think a mechanical scale and or a 1kg verifying weight would be a good option further.

[jannieverjaar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jannieverjaar]

Well what I learned is that I owe every homebrewer that came before me a hug and a beer. Step mash and 90min boil means my brew day today was 5h long from setup to pouring in the cube. All the experiments and testing and critical thinking by people like you made that I can brew a beer in less then 3h and brew 2x beers in the 5h I used for 1 brew today.

Thanks guys and ladies.

P.s. and the maltsters highly modified malts are awesome

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[nOzwald Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close nOzwald]

Lockdown is going to make me learn how to wash my yeast...


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[JIGSAW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JIGSAW]

Lockdown is going to make me learn how to wash my yeast...


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I've stopped washing yeast years ago ... After kegging I swirl some of the trub with some leftover beer and pour into sanitized containers ... stick them in the fridge and they're good to go months down the line ...
That story about using it within days is another BS homebrewer's myth

> https://homebrew.stackexchange.com/q...-yeast-rinsing

[nOzwald Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close nOzwald]

I've stopped washing yeast years ago ... After kegging I swirl some of the trub with some leftover beer and pour into sanitized containers ... stick them in the fridge and they're good to go months down the line ...
That story about using it within days is another BS homebrewer's myth

> https://homebrew.stackexchange.com/q...-yeast-rinsing

Would work if I kegged, so given that I bottle either need to pitch on yeast cake, or get rid of some of the trub before putting away for storage.


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[jannieverjaar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jannieverjaar]

Since my last yeast saving escapade cost me a batch I had a "good" idea. Instead of going all out trying to save yeast and wash and whatever. I just bottle it and mark the cap with a y. After my last bottle of beer i swirl the fermenter and bottle that trub. I've not used it yet though. So not sure about viability

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[Andreas Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Andreas]

I make a starter, use half and put the rest in the fridge. Next time I just use the left-over starter to make a new starter...

[JIGSAW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close JIGSAW]

Would work if I kegged, so given that I bottle either need to pitch on yeast cake, or get rid of some of the trub before putting away for storage.

It doesn't matter if you keg or bottle ... you need to save the trub.

Like said here >

After my last bottle of beer i swirl the fermenter and bottle that trub. I've not used it yet though. So not sure about viability

And yes it should be viable. Like i said I sometimes store in PET bottles and its good after being in the fridge for months .... Im sure the yeast will give you good reason via smell if its not good

[Toxxyc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Toxxyc]

I've stopped washing yeast years ago ... After kegging I swirl some of the trub with some leftover beer and pour into sanitized containers ... stick them in the fridge and they're good to go months down the line ...
That story about using it within days is another BS homebrewer's myth

> https://homebrew.stackexchange.com/q...-yeast-rinsing

I do exactly the same. If it's many months down the line I'll just warm it to room temp the day before pitch, add a table spoon of dextrose, a quarter teaspoon of Fermaid O and let it sit overnight until next morning. Fresh yeasties ready to work.

[jannieverjaar Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close jannieverjaar]

Mashing in winter leads to a more fermentable wort. My mash dropped from 67 to 62 in 30min so I had to reheat to 66 and it was 62 again after the hour was done. So not only did I get 70% eff vs my usual 66% (cant explain this yet) but I had a more fermentable wort. So instead of fg of 1013 I ended with 1008. I also attribute some of this to the kveik yeast.
The sample from the hydrometer was watery and had a clear alc warmth. Not the beer I planned! Almost 6%.

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