The Mad Fermentationist has a
great article today on bad homebrew shop advice. My personal favorite was "Liquid yeast doesn't need a stater unless you are brewing a barleywine."
I don't know if these guys stopped reading brewing books in 1987, or if they've just drank a few too many homebrews over the last few decades. It seems like if this was your job and your passion you should put a bit more effort into staying on top of the latest trends, techniques, and ingredients. The better the advice is you give, the more brewing success people will have, and the more repeat brewers/business you will create.
The Big Picture has 40 photos from
Oktoberfest in Munich.
On Saturday, September 18th, with the tapping of the first keg by Munich Mayor Christian Ude and a cry of "O'zapft is!", Oktoberfest 2010 officially started in Munich, Germany. While this year marks the 177th Oktoberfest to be held, 2010 is the 200th anniversary of the very first Oktoberfest in 1810 (some years were missed due to war or cholera outbreaks). The Oktoberfest tradition started in 1810 to celebrate the October 12th marriage of Bavarian Crown Prince Ludwig to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The citizens of Munich were invited to join in the festivities which were held over five days on the fields in front of the city gates. This year, festivities will run until October 4, 2010. Collected here are a few images from this opening weekend.
This only makes me look forward to
our 10 gallons of
Märzen beer, given that it has about 10-12 weeks left in the lagering fridge.
This is consistent with my experience:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wyeastlab.com/faqs.cfm?website=1#r19
6. Do I need to make a starter for an Activator?
No. The Activator is designed to deliver professional pitch rates (6 million cells/ ml.) when directly added to 5 gallons of wort. ( <1.060 at 70 degrees). However, if a package is slow to swell, suspected of being mishandled, or if the date is approaching the six month shelf life it is a good idea to build the culture up with a starter. High gravity or low temperature fermentations require higher pitch rates. This can be achieved with inoculating with additional packages or making a starter.