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Frequently Asked Questions I

Frequently Asked Questions

Question:
Is there a difference between cleaning and sanitising?
 
Answer:
Cleaning is performed to remove any debris left from the previous use of your homebrew hardware. A common dry powder cleaning agent is Brewer's Detergent (Sodium Meta-silicate). Sanitising is performed after equipment cleaning to control wild bacteria during fermentation.

Some modern sanitising agents are hydrogen-peroxide based or phosphoric acid based. Unlike their sulphite based predecessors modern homebrew sanitisers are typically no rinse. This makes the home brewing process even easier. Some modern sanitisers such as Stellarsan are yeast friendly and will act as a yeast nutrient during fermentation.
 
Question:
Is there a difference between baker's yeast from the supermarket and a sachet yeast from a home brew store?
 
Answer:
Baker's yeast is sometimes erroneously referred to as brewer's yeast. Both yeast are strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae discovered hundreds of years ago. However each strain has its own unique characteristics which define its purpose. Baker's yeast is a flavouring agent used to provide taste and a leavening agent as it creates CO2 which gluten traps in dough. Baker's yeast is sometimes used with interesting nutrient mixes to ferment basic sugar starches. Brewer's yeast though as a strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is more tolerant to alcohol and can be used to produce high levels of alcohol.

If the brewer was creating a high abv craft beer it is unlikely baker's yeast would be used. Basic Brewer's yeast itself performs poorly when fermenting complex starches, fruits to make champagnes, dry wines, ciders, and meads and peaks around 6.0%ABV. Modern home brew hybrid brewing yeasts have been specifically created to add unique flavours, aromas or characteristics to the ferment in addition to having a higher alcohol tolerance. Some hybrids of brewer's yeast can achieve over 23.0% ABV. There are now over 480 specialty craft beer yeasts alone.

 
Question:
What is the shelf life of a kit beer yeast?
 
Answer:
Several beer yeast manufacturers indicate that the life of a yeast is two to three years from when packaged. This attempts to consider the possible range of temperatures a home brew yeast may endure. However if you store a yeast sachet around ten degrees Celcius and colder you can extend its shelf life by as much as another two years.

While the malt in a home brew beer kit will darken with time and degrade slowly the included yeast becomes unusable much sooner. Some yeast are plain date coded while others are little different. The first two character are the yeast application, the next three are the day on which it was packaged,  and the last two the year. As an example a Thomas Cooper's Series yeast may display TC32420 ie: Thomas Cooper Series, day 324, year 2020.
 
Question:
Are Epsom Salt from the supermarket and yeast Nutrient sold by a home brew store the same thing?
 
Answer:
Epsom salt is sometimes used as an energiser or a nutrient because of its very low cost. Epsom Salt is Magnesium Sulphate. It is made up of Magnesium, Sulphur, and Oxygen. Yeast responds well to magnesium. However the sulphur content can have negative effects. Incorrectly calculated Epsom Salt quantities as a fermentation nutrient will produce cloudy or coloured products. Excess sulphur and oxygen during fermentation can also produce off aromas and bitter flavours. Home brew store yeast nutrient is often a blend of vitamins, minerals, magnesium, potassium, phosphates, zinc, nitrogen, and other organic matter. It will help the yeast to reproduce efficiently as alcohol levels rise in your wort with minimal side effects.
  
Question:
Do I need a hydrometer to make a brew?
 
Answer:
A hydrometer is considered an essential piece of home brew hardware. Without it you can not determine what is happening with your brew. It will reveal if a brew has finished primary fermentation, if it has stalled, if it is ready to bottle, and it will help you calculate the alcohol strength of a brew. A hydrometer indicates the density ie Specific Gravity of your beer wort, wine must, or spirit wash. Sugar and water solution is denser than alcohol and water so the Specific Gravity decreases as alcohol is produced. Alcohol will increase because of bottling sugar by approximately 0.5%. A simple formula to calculate ABV is: ((Start Specific Gravity – Finish Specific Gravity) *131.25) + 0.5 = %ABV approximately.
Example:   ((1.048 SG – 1.008 FG) * 131.25)  + 0.5 = 5.25 + 0.5 = 5.75%ABV.
 
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