Funky 007

[Beerbuddha]

I know it's not perfect but I'm stuck for time......I have 007 slurry..... slight funky sulphury smell from the water on top of yeast....not so strong after I decanter water. Slurry looks white. Question is will I get away with using it ? Have starter cooling ready for use.

[Beerbuddha]

I have inoculated the wort with funky 007.
As no one has come across this issue before it will be a learning curve for us all.
SG 7.5 Plato. I will measure it again in the morning as yeast possibly goosed.
Added some yeast viagra also .

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Stick your ph pen into it, if it's around 4 it'll be ok if it's 7 its goosed.

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Ps put the pen into the yeast slurry, I know it's too late now but it's handy to know for the next time. If the yeast has autolysed ie the cell walls have burst the ph of the slurry will change from acidic to alkaline

[brenmurph]

Great to know these little gems tanks SA.  Bb ill b across to rest de result in  few weeks

[Beerbuddha]

Cheers brother I was beginning to think I was on the wrong forum........ soap making or something !
Gravity didn't budge and bready auroma. Next time I will look at ph.

As its my first imperial I'm glad now it didn't work as a few packs dried yeast seem to be the preferred method.

Doubt imperial will be ready for taste test anytime soon Brendan.

[Beerbuddha]

I might take a ph reading of next yeast cake and let it go bad to see at what ph the yeast goes bad. At what ph lvl difference will I the yeast cells are imploding .1 ?

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

The traditional yeast vitality test uses a microscope, a Haemocytometer, a clicker type counter and some methylene blue. I have a Lidl microscope which I nought for the kids a few years ago, haemocytometers are mad money but cheap Chinese one are available on ebay Aliexpress etc, and methylene blue is available in pet shops. In short the yeast is stained with the methylene blue solution and a tiny amount is placed in the haemocytometer (which is used for blood count tests hence the name) under the magnification of the microscope it looks like graph paper. The methylene blue is absorbed by the dead yeast cells only and not the living cells. You count the cells in a number of squares to get a representative sample using the hand held counter. There are lots of detailed descriptions  out there on the interweb.
I was at a yeast seminar a few years back and one of the guys from the uk said that they used a ph test as a quick indicator of yeast vitality, I have never tried it myself but he said that because the contents of the yeast cell are alkaline the yeast slurry solution ph would rise as the cells die off. Ideally the ph should be around 4 for a healthy sample deteriorating towards ph7 as the vitality dropped. It's a good idea to test it out as you say, it would be best to get an actual yeast count of the sample along with the ph test to correlate the results. Depending on how busy they are in work one of the lab guys might do a yeast count for you or better again show you how to do it yourself, it doesn't take long.

[Beerbuddha]

I have better idea the Queen is now working in microlab at her work !

I will definitely try the ph myself great info brother. Oh my ph pen is telling me everything is ph 7. Hannah ph pen 150 Euro had it like 6 months well peaved.

[Beerbuddha]

While I'm at ........looking for information on chalk diluting. When treating water with chalk brun water assumes you are diluting chalk into water with CO2.  I read that without co2 it dilutes approx half so I wounder if I just double the amount giveing me half which is 100% what I need or is it that there is like a max saturation so this will not work.

So do I need to keg some water with chalk and apply co2 or can I just get bottle sparkling water and put chalk into it ?

[Beerbuddha]

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Building_brewing_water_with_dissolved_chalk

Nice step by step guide.

[brenmurph]

 Nifty article ...bb. Anyone know where to buy a kg of calcium carbonate to play around wit. Was looking in bakery suppliers no luck.

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00CWMA702?pc_redir=1413036795&robot_redir=1

[brenmurph]

Thanks rory. Sesrched amazon other day all i got was tiny homebrew packs. Great stuff. 

[Beerbuddha]

Well u ain't gonna find it in a homebrew store near any of us !

I'm waiting for delivery of magnesium chloride and pickling lime. Can bring over some spare grams at next available time.

+1 for rorys eagle eye's