Hubby has brewed for several years, but I've only helped out on the drinking end of things. He's out of town for a couple months, and I got a bee in my bonnet to brew. Bought a 3 gallon carboy from LHBS, along with LME, DME, specialty grains and 3 oz Centennial hops. Shopkeep provided a recipe. Sort of a Two Hearted clone. I didn't buy yeast, because three smackpacks of Wyeast had gotten lost at the back of our fridge - 18 months old! but heck, that stuff is expensive... I baked bread with one (yup), and it seemed viable. I brewed the morning of 12/16. Four hop additions, at 60, 15, 5 and zero. Kitchen smelled like the Garden of Eden. Cooled my wort in the snowbank beside my garage. OG 1.063. Pitched at 10AM, and tucked the carboy away in my basement (lovely clean dry concrete space, a constant 65 degrees F year-round). At bed-time, no activity. The next morning, nothing. And that evening, too. Wednesday morning - nada. Should I repitch with fresh yeast...? Got the newbie panic revving, but I can't call Hubby for help because this beer is going to be a late Christmas surprise. Wednesday evening I peeked again - and found a beautiful layer of golden foam. This morning (Thursday 12/19) the Krausen is two inches thick, rocky, greenish scum on top, and the airlock a steady cheerful Blip Blip Blip. Why is this so thrilling? Why does it feel like such a triumph? Just had to share with folks I know will understand.
Way to go! Man, I can only imagine the volume we'd make and consume if my wife started brewing too... I'm also really curious about the bread. I almost made some with some washed WLP013 but had to pitch all that I had. I've got a stout on Nottingham that I'll wash and try some with that.
Congrats. You discovered what so many newbies refuse to believe... that the answer to "Should I repitch with fresh yeast?" is almost always No.
OK, The Bread... As I mentioned, this yeast was 1 1/2 years old. I wrongly assumed it was dead - and may have had better success with gentler initial treatment. I smacked the pack but didn't give enough time for full swell (when I made my beer I gave the yeast three full days from smack, the pack was bulging fit to burst). For that first pack I simply smacked, waited a few hours, and dumped it in sugar water. Nothing happened so I added a bit of flour to make a sponge (consistency of cake batter rather than bread dough) and let it sit covered in my warm kitchen for a couple days. That finally started it off. Then I divided the sponge into three, put 1/3 in the fridge for later, to 1/3 I added flour, brown sugar and salt, to the final 1/3 flour, brown sugar, salt, OJ, raisins and cardamom. Let them sit again. Inactive, obviously not happy, and very slow to rise. To add to the shock and abuse I threw at my poor old sleepy yeast at smack, I probably divided out too much yeast and added too much flour. But then this is ale yeast, not bread yeast. (Though at the Dawn of Beer these must have been used accidentally and interchangeably - discussion for another day.) The dough sat for a week all told, but never rose well and didn't spring when I put it in the hot oven. The finished product is a brick, dense, chewy, and with a pronounced sour flavor (which I like) from its long warm ferment. It's not a light bread! Of course, my ale will not be a "lite" beer, either. The cardamom bread is actually quite delicious, that spice giving an intense floral flavor and aroma similar to my personal favorite hop varieties. The raisins add sweet depth. The OJ got lost - I might just lose it next time. Actually, these flavors - dark brown sugar, raisins and cardamom - could make a very interesting dark ale. I'm sure it's been done by better brewers than I! I do plan to use the final third of my beer yeast sponge to try again, but I have a feeling that dense brick of bread is likely to be authentic for a beer-yeast bread. No Wonder Bread in ancient Egypt...
Yes when one pitches low volumes on new wort I have seen many anxious 3 day lags until started Blip Blip Blip. I my old days even now play around I use to carefully pour out one of my homebrews, leave ~10% of the bottle left. Then swirl these dregs (could see any dregs) and pitch. Presto 3 days later starts fermenting. My favorite pitching is an the last beer, primary or secondary when there is a load of yeast. Big fast fermentation
