First batch: No raisins or airlock, added more yeast. Oh boy.

[Chevette Girl]

Highly debatable, depends on the yeast. Some yeast are so aggressive if there isn't enough food/nutes to go around they will try to feed on themselves, and this of course will add for unwanted off flavors.

As I said, in theory. And there's gotta be some good reasons why way overpitching is not common practice, more than likely including yours. But an extra teaspoon in a gallon shouldn't cause that much political strife among the yeast population, when you consider the lees from a good batch is probably a hundred times that volume in dead yeast

I agree about the stainless but I'm still beer paranoid and even keep stainless exclusive for brewing. Its overkill but I can't not do it!

I won't disagree, it's a good idea... even my stainless jam and jelly stuff isn't allowed near the regular cooking implements, although it's more for fear of abuse than contamination... "If it can't handle the way I cook, it shouldn't be in the kitchen," says my husband... so the stuff I don't want him breaking is hidden.

 

[Kiba]

Huh, that part about using yeast to feed more yeast seems a bit like how plants grow better if they have more dead plants to feed off of. I'll keep that in mind.

 

[EJM3]

Really? Why on earth would a country not have a use for a baster? How much easier would it be to baste bitterballen if you had one? Well, if you had basters, I bet bitterballen would be basted!!! How many bitterballen would you baste if you had a bitterballen baster? Ha! Say that 10 times fast.

Actually we usually end up eating stamppot van boerenkool met worst at least once to twice a month. We grow lots of kale here... I have tried the turkey baster method and it just dribbles out all over if you are not careful AND fast AND accurate. I just use a 5, 10, or 20 ml syringe to take small samples now, MUCH EASIER!

I won't disagree, it's a good idea... even my stainless jam and jelly stuff isn't allowed near the regular cooking implements, although it's more for fear of abuse than contamination... "If it can't handle the way I cook, it shouldn't be in the kitchen," says my husband... so the stuff I don't want him breaking is hidden.

Yeah, gotta hide all the good but delicate, or specialized and delicate, or just the good and/or specialized equipment from him at all times, if I don't want to run to the store once a week for replacements!!!

You're not entirely wrong, actually, for two reasons -

2) yeast contains a lot of the things yeast needs, which sounds kind of redundant, but many of us have used yeast to feed yeast (the little cannibals!) but typically in order for your growing yeast colony to have access to any nutrients contained by other yeast, the "other" yeast needs to be lysed (popped to spill their guts) which can be done by boiling or microwaving it in water.

And with respect to separate tools for must/non-food/etc, I don't apply that rule to stainless steel because it can be both cleaned and sanitized pretty thoroughly, but I definitely have separate sets of plastic items for homemade vinegar, jams and jellies and must... and the greasy car stuff stays in the garage!! [/COLOR]

I buy my bread yeast in bulk 1 pound bricks, I just add a couple tablespoons to a cup of water, and boil the crap out of it until it starts to form a sludge, then I mix in some must, and toss it in the fermentor.

And the greasy car stuff comes out once a year to make Chevette Girl Wierd-o-Mel. Shifter knob if I remember right....