Better Bottles, Northern Brewer, Rehydrating yeast....

[luigi13191]

U sound like Chuck liddell

[CraigTube]

Hey Tom. I'm still up in the air about re-hydrating vs not. I've done both with both Nottingham and Coopers yeast, and never noticed any difference. I sprinkle my yeast onto the foam, and cover it for 10 minutes. It starts chowing down on that foam and that re-hydrates it pretty good, then I give it a stir. The jury's still out for me on this one. Cheers mate!

[tomroeder]

@CraigTube According to John Palmer and all those guys on the Brew Network, they say that it is a bad idea to just sprinkle it in. According to them, "Often the concentration of sugars in wort is high enough that the yeast can not draw enough water across the cell membranes to restart their metabolism.". They say that half of the yeast cells will die immediately without re-hydrating. I don't know, I didn't notice any faster start, but I figure the experts are telling me to, and it can't hurt!

[CraigTube]

@tomroeder I agree, it never hurts. Those guys are the pros.

[yambor44]

TOM!!! Where ya been??!!

[tomroeder]

@yambor44 Waiting on my new camcorder! I plan on doing more videos now that I have a nice camcorder!

[conduct623]

Tom, where did you get that heavy tubing from? I can't find it anywhere. I'm sick of this vinyl crap.

[tomroeder]

@conduct623 I assume you are referring to the silicone tubing. Got it at Austin Home Brew. A little pricey, but 100x better!

[brewale4me]

I also was stung by Nottingham. I agree re hydrating is a must. If the yeast sinks it's dead. Your brewery and beer look good. Cheers

[tomroeder]

@brewale4me Thanks for watching!

[jakecpunut]

now where's the video of you lifting that big arse carboy?? haha.. nice video!!

[tomroeder]

@jakecpunut Yeah, that is a big problem with it....it is over 100 lbs. I can do it, but I really don't want to, plus it would increase the likelihood that I would drop it, which could be fatal! I've got an idea in the mix for that....future video!

[videoMC2010]

when the starsan is cloudy will it work just as well? mine is always cloudy.

[tomroeder]

@videoMC2010 From the research that I have done, cloudy Starsan indicates hard water. Hard water, depending on how hard it is, can reduce the acidity of Starsan, thus reducing its sanitizing properties. From what I have gathered, Iodophor is less affected by hard water. I live in Indiana, and we have very hard water, attributed to the large deposits of limestone that we have. I have a very good water softener, which seems to prevent the Oxiclean scaling that some refer to as well.

[tomroeder]

@videoMC2010 Also, people with very hard water will have much better results with PBW than with Oxiclean because PBW has additives especially formulated to soften hard water chemically. If you talk to people that have very hard water, they will tell you that Oxiclean will leave a scaling behind, where as PBW will do the same, but not anywhere near as bad as the Oxiclean, because of the additives PBW has in it. Hard water sucks...I recommend water softeners. Modern ones are very efficient!!

[videoMC2010]

@tomroeder thanks for all that info cheers man.

[immolateus]

That is a monster carboy!

I have to find one

[tomroeder]

@immolateus I have actually seen one on Craigslist before, and my mother in law said that she saw one at an antique mall. My only worries are how to move the damn thing when its full, getting it up a couple of stairs, getting it on my counter to siphon, but, I think I have a solution for that. Future video about that! Thanks for watching!

[Tantrum777]

are you kidding me peated malt? No way!

[immolateus]

@Tantrum777 He did call it a smoked porter...peated malt would work

[Tantrum777]

@immolateus I know, if you watch my chan you would prolly understand my comment more. Cheers!

[immolateus]

@Tantrum777 I have watched a bunch of your vids, but you have like 100+ so I don't think I have seen the one to which you are referring....I'd like to check it out. What is it called?

[Tantrum777]

@immolateus It depends on the beer, peated malt is not a normal smoked malt it adds extra flavor. I smoke my own malt sometimes as well and have had very good results with that. Cheers

[Tantrum777]

@immolateus Sorry I guess I just should have come out and said it I am a fan of peated Scotch I have a Ardbeg and Laphroaig single malt Scotch reviews up and they are peated whisky. I don't do home brew vids but I have been an all grain brewer for 2 years plus.

[immolateus]

@Tantrum777 When I'm going for a smoky flavor I use a bit of peated malt or rauch malt, both seem to give a good hint of smoke, what do you use?

[tomroeder]

@Tantrum777 It is only 8 oz out of a 25 lb grain bill. From what I read, everyone said to use the peated malt sparingly. It smells like a slab of bacon! Thanks for watching!