Hey there brewmasters, got a scenario I want to run by y'all. Was talking to SWMBO the other day and it turns out several people in her parenting group are either brewers or interesting in brewing. So I thought I'd do a brewday / demonstration, try to get more people hooked on the hobby.
I was thinking it would be good to demonstrate as many aspects as possible, so taking a tip from the cooking shows I thought I'd have a beer mostly finished, and one ready to start. So here's the plan more or less:
Have a strawberry blonde finished with primary, ready to transfer to secondary on the fruit. Start the day off by demonstrating this transfer, racking onto the fruit, cleanup etc. Using the yeast cake from this beer, transfer various amounts of this yeast to pre-made starter wort, for use by anyone brewing later.
Once the starters are going, we'd head outside and start the new beer from the beginning, mash, boil, etc (going to do an IIPA to use up some aging hops. I've also got a buddy who does extract who will be brewing, to show both methods. By the time everything is chilled and ready for pitching, hope the starters have started going and are ready to use.
Oh and of course lots of beer drinking/research for everyone involved.
So my main questions are around the starters. I'm not yet sure how many people will be brewing, but my thought is just having several mason jars of sterile wort, and to pour some measured amount of yeast cake into each. Looking at the mr. malty calculator for yeast slurry, does it matter how much wort I have? Is it more important to just transfer the correct amount of cake? Basically I guess I'm asking if I'm actually growing yeast with this method, or am I just waking up what's already there and getting it going.
Also, is 6-8 hours enough time for these starters to get going and be viable? When I do starters I usually wait for the krausen to fall, cold crash, decant, warm back up, etc., but with this slurry method I'm thinking much less time involved?
Anyway, thanks in advance for all the responses. My low post count is a testament to the voracious knowledge of this forum.
Edit: Also, was thinking of using the Denny's Favorite yeast strain as it looks to be good for just about everything. Thoughts on this choice?
I was thinking it would be good to demonstrate as many aspects as possible, so taking a tip from the cooking shows I thought I'd have a beer mostly finished, and one ready to start. So here's the plan more or less:
Have a strawberry blonde finished with primary, ready to transfer to secondary on the fruit. Start the day off by demonstrating this transfer, racking onto the fruit, cleanup etc. Using the yeast cake from this beer, transfer various amounts of this yeast to pre-made starter wort, for use by anyone brewing later.
Once the starters are going, we'd head outside and start the new beer from the beginning, mash, boil, etc (going to do an IIPA to use up some aging hops. I've also got a buddy who does extract who will be brewing, to show both methods. By the time everything is chilled and ready for pitching, hope the starters have started going and are ready to use.
Oh and of course lots of beer drinking/research for everyone involved.
So my main questions are around the starters. I'm not yet sure how many people will be brewing, but my thought is just having several mason jars of sterile wort, and to pour some measured amount of yeast cake into each. Looking at the mr. malty calculator for yeast slurry, does it matter how much wort I have? Is it more important to just transfer the correct amount of cake? Basically I guess I'm asking if I'm actually growing yeast with this method, or am I just waking up what's already there and getting it going.
Also, is 6-8 hours enough time for these starters to get going and be viable? When I do starters I usually wait for the krausen to fall, cold crash, decant, warm back up, etc., but with this slurry method I'm thinking much less time involved?
Anyway, thanks in advance for all the responses. My low post count is a testament to the voracious knowledge of this forum.
Edit: Also, was thinking of using the Denny's Favorite yeast strain as it looks to be good for just about everything. Thoughts on this choice?
