John Palmer joins me this week to discuss beer brewing yeast, the yeast life cycle and his upcoming new edition of “How to Brew” in a show recorded from the Homebrew Con 2016 show floor in Baltimore.
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Topics in This Week’s Episode (38:55)
- Today on the show I welcome John Palmer, the author of How to Brew, Water and Brewing Classic Styles (Full Disclosure: Amazon Affiliate Links). John joins me on the show floor of Homebrew Con 2016 to discuss brewing yeast and the yeast life cycle.
- We discuss John’s ongoing update to develop the “How to Brew” fourth edition of the book, which is planned for release next year, including John’s plans to update the book to take into account changes over hte last 10 years.
- We start with an overview of the life cycle of a yeast cell and the stages of activity involved.
- John explains the adaptive stage which is the first stage yeast enter when you pitch htem into your wort.
- We talk about fatty acids and sterols and the role they play in yeast growth.
- John explains the reproduction stage and what’s happening here.
- He discusses his “sheep” analogy for pitching the right amount of yeast for a particular beer.
- We explore what happens when you underpitch your yeast (or overpitch)
- John talks about the role that oxygen plays in yeast development and also several methods for achieving proper aeration.
- Temperature also plays a key role in yeast growth and fermentation, particularly in the early phases – and we explore that
- John shares his thoughts on the hibernation stage and storing yeast.
- We talk about flocculation, the falling out of yeast, and how it can be managed.
- John shares his closing thoughts on working with yeast.
Sponsors
- Thank you to our sponsor Craft Beer and Brewing Magazine for sponsoring this episode. I encourage you to subscribe to their great magazine!
- And also Anvil Brewing Equipment. Anvil is a new line of kettles, burners and accessories from John Blichmann at Blichmann Engineering. They make top quality brewing equipment built to last a lifetime.
- Also check out BeerSmith, BeerSmith Mobile software and the new DVDs John Palmer and I filmed – How to Brew with Malt Extract and How to Brew All Grain are available now. You can subscribe to the BeerSmith newsletter for free to get some great articles on home brewing.
Thanks to John Palmer for appearing on the show and also to you for listening!
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> Re: Diacetyl rest, “But never raise above 75F/24C” That’s a pretty standard fermentation temperature for a lot of ales. What do you do if that’s your fermentation temperature?
If that’s your fermentation temp, then you almost certainly don’t need to perform a diacetyl rest. A diacetyl rest is most necessary when fermentation happens at a low temperature where the yeast are more likely to go dormant before cleaning up their byproducts (diacetyl being one). If you are fermenting in the 70s, the yeast will have no problem cleaning up at that temperature (unless you have an unusually high-flocculating strain that drops out early, but that’s not necessarily a temperature concern); however, you might have to worry about other off flavors such as fusel alcohols and overproduction of esters, depending on your chosen yeast.