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5/17/2010 -- what is your phone number?
Response From Homebrew Heaven: We can be reached at (425) 355-8865
Our toll free order is (800) 850-2739
5/28/2009 -- I am wondering which of the yeasts to use in order make a Hefeweizen similar to Widmer or one of the other NW Hefs
Response From Homebrew Heaven: For a true German style, I would go with the Wyeast #3068. For an American style hefe (like Widmer), either the #3056 or #1010 would work well.
4/25/2009 -- I live in Costa Rica and will be going on vacation to the States in June. If I order the Wizard's Wheat, and possibly one other, should I stick with the dry yeast since I will have to carry it through customs and possibly take a couple weeks from the time I receive the kit at my friend's house in California?
Response From Homebrew Heaven: Yes, I would stick with the dry yeasts under the circumstances. If customs decides to open the liquid yeast pack it would be ruined.
The dry forms of yeast are really quite good these days anyway. Long ago, they were not so great, but in the last 10 years or so the quality has really improved. Mostly this is what I use now, unless I am after a particular style of beer, like a hefeweisen, or a true belgian style ale. For those, I go with the liquid cultures.
1/30/2009 -- is Rogue Pacman Ale Yeast in a activator pack or a propagator?
Response From Homebrew Heaven: All of our Wyeast liquid cultures come in Activator™ size packs (the larger size). The Activator™ is designed to inoculate five gallons of wort (up to 1.060 SG) providing the pitching rate recommended by professional brewers.
12/22/2008 -- I'm going to brew a 10 gallon batch. Should I use 2 packages of the dried Lager Yeast or is one enough?
Response From Homebrew Heaven: Use both. More yeast is a good thing, and it is virtually impossible to use too much yeast. It just gets off to a faster start, and does NOT contribute to a "yeasty" flavor. I have used 6-8 packs in some of my favorite brews!
Some brewers routinely "culture up" a HUGE yeast culture before adding it to their wort. An active, large yeast addition is probably the easiest thing you can do to improve your homebrew. Breweries know this, and use much larger yeast additions and WAY more than the typical home brewer. Guess what? That's one of the reasons they are successul!
4/27/2008 -- what are the pros and cons of the dry yeast included in your ingredient kits vs the optional wet yeast culture? i'm especially interested in whether one produces more alcohol over the other and viability of the yeasts after shipping, and i welcome any other info you care to share.
Response From Homebrew Heaven: Both dry yeasts and liquid yeast cultures are excellent products. Generally speaking, you would use a liquid yeast culture if you are trying to replicate a particular style (or brand) of beer. This is especially so with specialty beers, like hefeweizens, bocks, or lambics for instance. To give all the pro/cons for all styles would be a huge task.
A good source of information on liquid yeast cultures is the Wyeast website. It gives a rundown of all their cultures and viability information. Here is a link to their product selection section. For more alcohol, you would select one with a high attenuation value. That means it is capable of consuming more malt sugars (the yeast has a higher alcohol tolerance).
http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_yeaststrain.cfm
Liquid yeast cultures are fresh, and normal shipping is not a problem for them. If the shipping route crosses a very HOT area, it may make sense to add a frozen gel pack to your order to keep the liquid yeast cool for the trip. After it arrives you should put it into the refrigerator until the day before you brew.
4/24/2008 -- I've never bought liquid yeast online before and I was looking for a little encouragement before ordering. I live in hawaii and I'm concerned about the transit time and temp on the way. How does the wyeast hold up on jouneys like this? Thanks.
Response From Homebrew Heaven: Hawaii is not a problem. We use USPS Priority Mail, which arrives in 2 or 3 days. The Wyeast liquid yeast cultures do ok with that. If you are still concern, you can order a frozen gel pack to go in the same package, and will keep it cool for at least 1 or 2 of those days. We recommend doing that.
Additionally, there are some newly released ale yeasts, like Bier de Garde, that are intended to FERMENT at temperatures up to 95 deg F! They would certainly be good choices for Hawaii...
1/26/2008 -- I live about an hour (if traffic is good) from the address on your website. Do you have an actual store or is everything here based solely online?
Response From Homebrew Heaven: Yes, we have an actual brick-and-mortar store in Everett, WA. People actually walk in and buy stuff!
Our address is:
Homebrew Heaven
9109 Evergreen Way
Everett, WA 98204
Here is a video of our shop:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1a5fKvv8XI
Heck, you can actually call us on the phone, too! It's 425-355-8865. A person will actually answer as long as it's business hours!
12/9/2007 -- I have a recipe for a pilsner beer that requires a top fermenting yeast. What is the differeance between top fermenting and top cropping yeast. Thank you.
Response From Homebrew Heaven: Top fermenting yeasts are typically ales. Bottom fermenting yeasts are lagers. A pilsner would usually be made with a lager yeast, but there is no reason why you CAN'T use an ale yeast.
5/13/2007 -- If I were to take the sediment of this lager yeast from the bottom of a primary fermentation and bottle it with a carb tab, and refridgerate it, could I store it, and innoculate a later batch? Technically how long could I store a culture like this, assuming sterile conditions?
Response From Homebrew Heaven: Yes, you can do that, but don't add a carb tab. It would cause it to carbonate in the bottle. Use an airlock on the bottle, and if you want to "feed" your yeast, add a very little dry malt extract instead.
Under sterile conditions, you can store yeast this way for a LONG time. Some breweries do this, and maintain the original strain for a hundred years or more. We don't recommend that home brewers do this, due to the levels of sanitation required, but you should be able to use that original yeast 4-5 times without any problem.
11/5/2006 -- I live in Seattle, can I come and pick up the bottles in Everett? Do you have a "brick and mortar" store?
Response From Homebrew Heaven: You sure can. It is literally made of bricks and mortar, in South Everett. Our address is:
Homebrew Heaven
9109 Evergreen Way
Everett, WA 98204
425-355-8865
Hours are 10-6:30 M-F
and 9:30-5 on Saturdays
Here is a video of the place:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1a5fKvv8XI
Take a look around!
5/17/2005 -- Does the Wyeast package ever blow up?
Response From Homebrew Heaven: You mean explode? They don't seem to. We've had one at our front counter that has been there for about a year. It gets really, really large, and tight, but it has not blown out.
3/17/2005 -- My first time brewing. I smacked the pack, but not hard enough. I poured in the yeast and found the small pack was not mixed with the yeast, so I opened the package and poured it in and stirred it in. It is the next day, and it looks like it may be fermenting. Should everything work?
Response From Homebrew Heaven: Yes, it should be fine. The small (inner)pack IS the yeast. On the outside of that is the yeast nutrient media. It may take a little longer to get going, is all.
4/26/2004 -- I started my first attempt at homebrewing and am seeking some follow up advice.
Using wyeast #1028 London which had been refridgerated up until 3 hours before pitching. I followed the instructions in terms of the smack pack and allowed it to rest at room temperature but then pitched it directly in to the Wort (cooled to 70oF) after only 3 hours.
Will the yeast still activate or did I need to give it more time before pitching? There was no activity in the fermenter this morning and I guess I' afraid I needed to give the yeast a full 24 hours before pitching.
Response From Homebrew Heaven: As long as you "smacked" the inner pouch as directed on the package, it should still ferment. It WILL take much longer to see activity, however (maybe 48 hrs, even longer sometimes).
Additionally, I don't see your name as one of our customers. We keep our yeast FRESH...if it was purchased elsewhere, it may be old. If that is the case, it may be a LONG wait. Hard to say.
12/6/2003 -- if i am using a smack pack and planned on brewing tomorrow afternoon do I need to smack it today? how long does it take to be ready to use on the averge?
Response From Homebrew Heaven: Yes. You need to allow about 1/2 to 1 day incubation time for each month since it's "manufacture date". This date is imprinted on the edge of the package.
10/13/2003 -- Hi, I was just wondering what the highest possible amount of alcohol is that a beer yeast can live in? I am planning on making a strong beer, and I want the alcohol to be at about 8-9%, so I just want to know if this will be achievable with just beer yeast? Or will I need to add champagne yeast to the fermentation, after the beer yeast has done it's job?
Response From Homebrew Heaven: A good question. The alcohol tolerance of beer yeast varies with the strain of yeast, the amount of yeast added in the beginning, temperature, nutrients present, oxygenation and probably many other factors.
GENERALLY speaking a good quality ale yeast, like Nottingham, when used in sufficient quantity, is capable of fermenting to about 9% alcohol. Some liquid cultures, like Wyeast Trappist High Gravity #3787, are capable of going to 12% with proper care and feeding. Be sure to aerate your wort well, and use more than the usual amount of yeast to achieve it.
Adding a wine yeast, like champagne yeast, (after fermentation with a beer yeast)is always an option if you need to. If residual sugars are left (a high ending gravity) this may be necessary to complete the fermentation. When done in this way, your beer is called a barleywine!
10/12/2003 -- I AM BREWING BEER FOR THE FIRST TIME IN YEARS AND I ALWAYS USED DRY YEAST ,I HAVE HEARD THAT WET YEAST MAKES A MUCH BETTER BEER ,I HAVE A LITTLE BIT MORE THAN THE BASIC KNOWLEGE OF BEER BREWING (NOT A COMPLETE DUMMY ) BUT FAR FROM A EXPERIENCED BREWER WOULD YOU RECOMMEND ME TRYING WET YEAST ,AND DOES THE PACKAGE TAKE YOU THROUGH THE PROCESS STEP BY STEP OR EASILY?
Response From Homebrew Heaven: The new liquid yeasts are definately a good line of products. The dry yeasts have improved over the years as well, however.
I would use the liquid yeasts for when you are trying to "capture" a particular beer style, like a hefeweizen, a belgian abbey ale, or a Guiness clone. The many different strains that are now available make this possible, and even easy! Yes, there are instructions on the package on how to activate and use these cultures.
If you are not trying to replicate a particular beer, or beer style, the dry yeasts are hard to beat. They work fast, are inexpensive, and less suseptable to aging and temperature problems.
In short, the choice is yours. It is certianly nice that we now have such a range of products.
9/20/2003 -- I ordered some of this with the liquid yeast here recently. When in the initial brewing stage, I mixed in the liquid yeast as per instuctions, and 24 hours into the brew, I saw no action at all in the check valve, so I removed the check valve, and added the dry yeast I had that also came with the package. Upon entering the secondary fermentation stage, there seems to be a slightly different odor than my first batch, slightly less sweet....reminescent of a German lager.
Did I mess up my beer by adding the dry yeast? IS there anything I should worry about? I did a taste test, and so far, it seems ok, but until the first bottle is opened, you truly never know.
Response From Homebrew Heaven: Nothing to worry about at all! I'm certain it will turn out just fine. Many people, when using liquid yeasts are unaccustomed to the longer "lag" time they experience comparded to dry yeasts. This is entirely normal.
For your next batch, however, I would wait for the liquid yeast to kick in. It will, it just takes longer.
You can avoid this longer lag time by building a "starter culture" prior to adding to your wort. Very easy to do, and makes sense especially with lagers and high gravity beers.
8/7/2003 -- Are these liquid yeasts one shots? or are there multiple batches in a pack?
Is it a smash pack?
Response From Homebrew Heaven: Typically, people use them as "one shot" per batch. Because of their superb purity, however, it is possible to make a small culture and save it for another batch or more. Instructions are on the pack, but basically, you just "feed" the yeast a little malt to grow a culture. A wine bottle or jug works well for this. Be certain that everything is sterile, and use an airlock.
Yes, these are often called "smack packs". To get them going, you smack the inner pouch to rupture it. The yeast then mixes with the nutrient in the outer pack, and the pack swells up. When this occurs, it is ready to use!
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