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So first all grain brew day was last Monday. Got strike water in the esky up to temp and circulating, switched off the pump and added 5Kg of grain and stirred it in. Waited a while for it to settle and flicked the pump back on to recirculate the mash. Bugger, all the valves where wide open so got no flow as the pump sucked grain through everything.
Took almost an hour to clear that and the mash temp dropped a lot but eventually got back on track. drained it, boiled it and cooled it and got it in the bucket with yeast. It's still fermenting. Lesson learned. Got some stainless 100 mesh coming to cover the esky manifold in an attempt to keep it clear.
Gearing up for the next brew now , a 150 lashes clone, and I've used this yeast before. It needs a double dose or a starter else it stalls. I opted for the starter and didn't that work well. Made 800ml of starter and dosed it with a packet of yeast. I made a plate stirrer from an old pc fan, a couple of magnets and a voltage regulator. I dropped a stirrer stick in the starter and it was bubbling in an hour.
Drained off the spent starter liquid after 12 hours and poured 3/4 of the yeast residue into a sterile jar. Kicked off another 800ml dose and harvested that as well. Got lots of yeast for this brew.
It went so well I decided to upscale X3 for the next brew. It uses a German Kolsch liquid yeast which must have a starter. It's not cheap to buy so I'll keep some in the fridge.
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