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Yeast amounts?

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J

Juliemac

NewBee
Registered Member
Aug 9, 2010
22
0
0
Amsterdam NY
I just started a new batch, this time its in a 5 gallon starter bucket. No more 1 gallon water containers!

I added 12 lbs of honey to water and heated till 190 deg, skimming the top to get rid of the foam. I aslo added 1 lb of dark molasses for color and depth of flavor.

I started 1 package of Lalvin K1-V1116 with a teaspoon of sugar and warm water.

I added 3 gallons of water to the starter tank (75 deg F) and added 2 lbs of strawberry mix. I then added the hotter honey mix. This reduced the temp to 96 deg F.


(I had previously welded an aerator to a 18" steel rod so I could use a power drill to aerate the mix. )
I aerated the mix for about 5 minutes.

Now I wait, but started to wonder if just one package is enough to get the mix bubbling. Should I start another package and add it?

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
Congrats on moving up to ACTUAL brewing equipment instead of making do with what you can find! :)

K1V's pretty robust, if it's a 5 gallon batch, one packet should be enough, although giving it sugar when rehydrating might have annoyed it... you want to use straight water like the packet says, at the temp it recommends, unless you're using a yeast activator or rehydration agent like Go-Ferm. The exception is bread yeast, they're bred for getting started in sweet situations...

Also if you started your yeast in warm water, then added the water at 75F and honey which was hot enough to raise the temp to 96F, that might have ticked the yeast off too, if tha'ts how it went down, perhaps next batch I'd recommend making the starter with warm water as directed, then mixing your water and honey together (you don't really need to heat the honey either, nor do you need to scrape scum unless it's beeswax), then adding the starter. If that's what you did, please ignore! :D

If you don't get any activity within the next 24-48 hours, that's when to become concerned and repitch. If you decide to repitch right now anyway, it certainly won't hurt anything, some of the guys around here routinely use two or three packets for a 5-gal brew.

Did you get a specific gravity reading? If you don't have a hydrometer, you'll probably want one soon...
 
Sheesh. It was on the table too. I got a reading of 1.85 on the hygometer.

I added 3 gallons to the bucket along with 2 lbs of strawberries I ran through a food processor to medium chunks.

Temp of that was 75 degF. Once I added the heated honey mix and stirred it well, the temp was 95. Thats whan I had my daughter add the started yeast while my home-brew aerator was churning the mix.
 
Ok. I leave it in the container till the bubbling stops and measure the specific gravity at about 1.000.
Once at this point, I transfer to the glass carboy and add the extra fruit etc. Then seal and wait till it drops?

Should the container be stirred on occasion?
 
Juliemac said:
Ok. I leave it in the container till the bubbling stops and measure the specific gravity at about 1.000.
Once at this point, I transfer to the glass carboy and add the extra fruit etc. Then seal and wait till it drops?

Should the container be stirred on occasion?
Click to expand...


I would wait until the SG reading on the hydrometer doesn't change for a week. Fermentation can take the SG below 1.000, for instance I have a batch of hard cider aging right now that made it to 0.094. Wines have been reported to drop even lower on occasion as alcohol has a very low SG (100% alcohol is around 0.687 I -think-) so the more alcohol the easier it is to go low.

Bottling before you have verified that the SG isn't changing anymore only increases your chances of creating bottle bombs.

When it comes to aging, no need to swirl the bottle or anything. Put it in a dark corner and neglect it :)
 
I froze 4 lbs of strawberries and 2lbs of blueberries when I made this batch. I defrosted them, tossed them in Knee-hi's and squished them around in a large bowl. I added this mix to the batch last night.
I think the yeast likes it. Its bubbling away and my kitchen smells funny.
I'll pull the stockings out and skim the top when the fermentation stops. It will make racking easier.

Thanks guys & girls!
 
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