Customized brews (outside of the brewprints.....)

[Dustin Frothman]

On 20/12/2021 at 2:10 PM, Hambone said:

Did I miss the outcome of this one? How'd it go? Noting that you have an all grain brew on the run too.

 

Cheers

Sorry about the late reply.

I think there’s a photo of it somewhere back in this thread. It turned out really well. My wife has been working her way through the keg as I made it for her and I think it’s almost done.

Would definitely give it another go and would just add some rolled oats to the steep next time.

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

On 06/11/2021 at 4:00 PM, Dustin Frothman said:

I'm getting everything ready to brew the following as a take on a New England style IPA:

• E5 x 3, X2 x 3, Lallemand Brewing New England American East Coast Ale Yeast, Mosaic and Citra hop pellets.
• Add 2 x X2 to 4 Litres of water and bring to the boil.
• Add 15g Mosaic and cool to 85C
• Add 30g Citra and 20g Mosaic. Infuse with lid on for 30 minutes
• Cool wort to approx. 21C and strain into BeerDroid. Top up to 10 Litres with water.
• Add dry yeast, E5 x 3, X2 x 1
• Set custom brew profile: Propagate 21C, Ferment 18C, Dry Hop, Keg 18C, Store 4C
• Manually adjust fermentation temperature to the following schedule:
  • 18C for 2 days
  • 19C for 1 day
  • 20C until EOF
• Dry hop Citra 35g, Mosaic 50g

 

@Dustin Frothmanif you were doing this again but were adding oats, what changes would you make?

My wife has given me permission to do a BIAB using her big pot and the stove to give it a go.

Also wanted to ask, why did you only boil up the 2x X2 and not the whole lot?

[Dustin Frothman]

2 hours ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

@Dustin Frothmanif you were doing this again but were adding oats, what changes would you make?

My wife has given me permission to do a BIAB using her big pot and the stove to give it a go.

Also wanted to ask, why did you only boil up the 2x X2 and not the whole lot?

You may just need to add some more water when you steep the oats as it’s likely they’ll absorb quite a bit. 

A 10L pot will be more than sufficient for this. The larger the pot the harder it is to cool down quickly.

It’s not my recipe - it’s from the FB group; so I can’t tell you why it’s been developed as is but I can tell you that it works really well and you’ll end up with a nice beer.

Looking forward to seeing how you go with it.

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

On 24/11/2021 at 10:13 AM, Dustin Frothman said:

I mentioned elsewhere that I purchased a Coopers Pale Ale can and other ingredients when they were on special here recently.

The plan is to make a split batch across two Droids - one a hoppy pale ale and the other a NEIPA using oats and some malt in a stovetop mini brew in a bag mash. I’ll use the Lallemand NEIPA yeast again.

You’re likely to have seen it but here’s the link. I’m a big fan of Gavin and his really down to earth approach to brewing:

 

The Brother's birthday DDH NZ Hazy IPA is due to be bottled and kegged tomorrow, will do it first thing in the morning.

Decided to try to do a NEIPA with a partial mash/steep BIAB as shown in this video. Picked up 3x 10-20l paint strainer bags from Bunnings as well as an Inkbird temp probe (I've wanted to get one of these for BBQ'ing as well so it was as good a time as any).

Also managed to pick up some raw wheat and we always have oats in the pantry so I've prepared 250g wheat which I've cracked and smashed (damn that was a good workout) plus 300g of oats.

Additional ingredients list for this:

3x E5, 3x X2

Lalbrew Voss - Kveik Ale Yeast

Azacca, El Dorado and Mosaic hops

I've got 7 litres of tap water sitting on the counter top allowing for the evaporation of the Chorine as the local water profile says it has quite a bit of CL, 0.8 mg/L.

So, once the Hazy is bottled and kegged (6l for the bro, 4l for me 😁) and the Droid is cleaned, whilst waiting for the 2 hour sanitising procedure, I will get on with the BIAB.

The plan is as follows:

Will use 4l of water in my wife's 10l pot, holding back 2-3l for the sparge. As in the video, will bring the water up to approximately 73C, bag in and then the grains.

Once all the grain is well soaked, will take off the stove, straight into the laundry sink where I will have some towels set up for the steep. Will use @Dustin Frothman's trick and use some sanitised AL foil to go over the top of the pot and then the lid on top plus some AL foil around the pot itself. I've some of that thick great quality AL foil from Costco so will use that.

Will let it steep for the hour and then back onto the stove, a small sparging as I don't want too much liquid in total, I'm thinking a maximum of about 5 litres, preferably around 4.5 litres should be enough for the boil.

Then, will boil the wort for 15 minutes adding the 3x X2 for the last 5 minutes to get them well and truly dissolved in the wort. At the last minute, will add some hops, thinking of 10g each of Azacca, El Dorado and Mosaic.

At flame out, I will add the 3x E5 and stir whilst the wort cools. The point of adding all my BrewArt ingredients into the wort and dissolving is to be able to test my OG and of course, FG to determine ABV.

I don't want to add the E5 to the boiling wort as it already has hops added and don't want to add bitterness as I'm going for a hazy juicy AF NEIPA!

Once the wort is cooled, will strain into the Droid, top up to the 10 litre mark, pitch a whole 11g packet of the LalBrew Voss and we're set.

Will do a dry hop at the 48 hour mark and hopefully it is done after 4 days, then a 2 day cold crash and will keg the whole lot.

The kegs will then go into the Kegerator and be force carbonated at 12psi for the next week or so.

Now I'm sure there is one question (probably many more including, "is he f*cking nuts") in your mind now as you've been reading this and that is why the Kveik yeast?

Well I'll tell you, watching heaps and heaps of YouTube videos including many using the various Kveik yeasts and the LalBrew Voss in particular. Ultimately, I want to brew something quick and good and this seems to be the best way. So basically, on the 9th of Jan, my wife and I are off on a well deserved break of 6 nights. Also, given that the fermentation temperature will be set to about 35C, the wort won't have to cool down much before I can just pour it in and it's ready to pitch the yeast.

As I think I may have mentioned, I work for NSW Health and so the past 2 years have been challenging to say the least. My wife starts a new job on the 17th and it's her birthday around that same time so we thought we'd take a break and celebrate at the same time. So, I want something that will brew quickly and finish before we leave for our holiday and the plan is to get a cider on whilst we are away as I understand Ciders can take a long time to brew.

So, am I nuts or what?

[Dustin Frothman]

4 hours ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

The Brother's birthday DDH NZ Hazy IPA is due to be bottled and kegged tomorrow, will do it first thing in the morning.

Decided to try to do a NEIPA with a partial mash/steep BIAB as shown in this video. Picked up 3x 10-20l paint strainer bags from Bunnings as well as an Inkbird temp probe (I've wanted to get one of these for BBQ'ing as well so it was as good a time as any).

Also managed to pick up some raw wheat and we always have oats in the pantry so I've prepared 250g wheat which I've cracked and smashed (damn that was a good workout) plus 300g of oats.

Additional ingredients list for this:

3x E5, 3x X2

Lalbrew Voss - Kveik Ale Yeast

Azacca, El Dorado and Mosaic hops

I've got 7 litres of tap water sitting on the counter top allowing for the evaporation of the Chorine as the local water profile says it has quite a bit of CL, 0.8 mg/L.

So, once the Hazy is bottled and kegged (6l for the bro, 4l for me 😁) and the Droid is cleaned, whilst waiting for the 2 hour sanitising procedure, I will get on with the BIAB.

The plan is as follows:

Will use 4l of water in my wife's 10l pot, holding back 2-3l for the sparge. As in the video, will bring the water up to approximately 73C, bag in and then the grains.

Once all the grain is well soaked, will take off the stove, straight into the laundry sink where I will have some towels set up for the steep. Will use @Dustin Frothman's trick and use some sanitised AL foil to go over the top of the pot and then the lid on top plus some AL foil around the pot itself. I've some of that thick great quality AL foil from Costco so will use that.

Will let it steep for the hour and then back onto the stove, a small sparging as I don't want too much liquid in total, I'm thinking a maximum of about 5 litres, preferably around 4.5 litres should be enough for the boil.

Then, will boil the wort for 15 minutes adding the 3x X2 for the last 5 minutes to get them well and truly dissolved in the wort. At the last minute, will add some hops, thinking of 10g each of Azacca, El Dorado and Mosaic.

At flame out, I will add the 3x E5 and stir whilst the wort cools. The point of adding all my BrewArt ingredients into the wort and dissolving is to be able to test my OG and of course, FG to determine ABV.

I don't want to add the E5 to the boiling wort as it already has hops added and don't want to add bitterness as I'm going for a hazy juicy AF NEIPA!

Once the wort is cooled, will strain into the Droid, top up to the 10 litre mark, pitch a whole 11g packet of the LalBrew Voss and we're set.

Will do a dry hop at the 48 hour mark and hopefully it is done after 4 days, then a 2 day cold crash and will keg the whole lot.

The kegs will then go into the Kegerator and be force carbonated at 12psi for the next week or so.

Now I'm sure there is one question (probably many more including, "is he f*cking nuts") in your mind now as you've been reading this and that is why the Kveik yeast?

Well I'll tell you, watching heaps and heaps of YouTube videos including many using the various Kveik yeasts and the LalBrew Voss in particular. Ultimately, I want to brew something quick and good and this seems to be the best way. So basically, on the 9th of Jan, my wife and I are off on a well deserved break of 6 nights. Also, given that the fermentation temperature will be set to about 35C, the wort won't have to cool down much before I can just pour it in and it's ready to pitch the yeast.

As I think I may have mentioned, I work for NSW Health and so the past 2 years have been challenging to say the least. My wife starts a new job on the 17th and it's her birthday around that same time so we thought we'd take a break and celebrate at the same time. So, I want something that will brew quickly and finish before we leave for our holiday and the plan is to get a cider on whilst we are away as I understand Ciders can take a long time to brew.

So, am I nuts or what?

Sounds good.

Just be very careful transferring your hot wort to the Droid.

I wouldn't do it much past 35 C if you can. If you don't have a decent food grade thermometer yet grab one before you get going on this.

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

30 minutes ago, Dustin Frothman said:

Sounds good.

Just be very careful transferring your hot wort to the Droid.

I wouldn't do it much past 35 C if you can. If you don't have a decent food grade thermometer yet grab one before you get going on this.

Good advice, I'll make sure I don't fill the Droid until it gets to 35C.

Picked up an Inkbird digital thermometer today so all good there now.

Got the plan of action and run sheet for tomorrow all sorted.

Now just need to pull it off.

[Captain 3 Droids]

30 minutes ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

Now just need to pull it off.

You’ll be just fine. Set yourself up, proceed slowly and carefully and all will be good.
Have you a similar set up to Paul84 

 

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

Whew!!!

Okay done bottling and kegging brew No. 5 and finally finished getting brew No. 6 on.

So first thoughts, doing a partial mash BiaB is not as easy as it looks! Getting the water to temp was easy, getting the grains into the bag, sweet.

Put the mash to steep for an hour covered in Al foil and towels, no probs... the rest was a challenge.

Got to the boil waited for 10 minutes and went right, time to add the 3x X2s.

Pour half the first packet of an X2 in and boom, insta dough balls. Bugger!

Lots of stirring at a lower temp of around 85-90C helped. About 1 and 1/4 hour of mad stirring with my wife and I taking turns to stir to get all 3 packets of X2 "dissolved" into the wort.

Every little amount of the X3 malt went insta dough ball the second it hit the wort.

Was not expecting this at all so won't be doing that again in the future.

Anyway, once all the visible dough balls were gone, back on the full burner and eventually to the boil. Once it boiled, immediately flame out and tossed in the hops. 10g of each as planned.

Did not add any of the 3x E5's as that would have just been a nightmare.

Then getting the wort to cool was a real pain in the arse, warm day in Sydney and couldn't find a bag of ice anywhere in the suburb as they were all brought up for NYE. But finally found a bag and finally got it to below 30C.

And then honestly, the clean up was stuffed. The wheat and oat grain mixture was thick and quite glutinous. And it sticks to everything.

Then straining the cooled wort was near impossible because of the thickness of parts of the wort and the hop matter.

Need to get a bigger and better strainer.

Anyway, turned out I got approximately 3.5l of the wort which alone without the 3x E5 added was a SG of 1044 so not bad.

So finally, double strained the wort into the Droid, added Pureau water to 10 litres, pitched the LalBrew Voss Kveik yeast and added the 3x E5.

Set the program to Propagate and Ferment at the hottest temp possible being 30C.

TBH, that was a surprise as I thought the Droid could/would go higher than that, was thinking around 35C but I guess not. Also, didn't select Dry Hop as I will dry hop at 48 hours.

If fermenting at 30 rather than 35C then my plan for a 4 day ferment is not likely to make it. 😒 

[Hambone]

16 minutes ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

Whew!!!

Okay done bottling and kegging brew No. 5 and finally finished getting brew No. 6 on.

So first thoughts, doing a partial mash BiaB is not as easy as it looks! Getting the water to temp was easy, getting the grains into the bag, sweet.

Put the mash to steep for an hour covered in Al foil and towels, no probs... the rest was a challenge.

Got to the boil waited for 10 minutes and went right, time to add the 3x X2s.

Pour half the first packet of an X2 in and boom, insta dough balls. Bugger!

Lots of stirring at a lower temp of around 85-90C helped. About 1 and 1/4 hour of mad stirring with my wife and I taking turns to stir to get all 3 packets of X2 "dissolved" into the wort.

Every little amount of the X3 malt went insta dough ball the second it hit the wort.

Was not expecting this at all so won't be doing that again in the future.

Anyway, once all the visible dough balls were gone, back on the full burner and eventually to the boil. Once it boiled, immediately flame out and tossed in the hops. 10g of each as planned.

Did not add any of the 3x E5's as that would have just been a nightmare.

Then getting the wort to cool was a real pain in the arse, warm day in Sydney and couldn't find a bag of ice anywhere in the suburb as they were all brought up for NYE. But finally found a bag and finally got it to below 30C.

And then honestly, the clean up was stuffed. The wheat and oat grain mixture was thick and quite glutinous. And it sticks to everything.

Then straining the cooled wort was near impossible because of the thickness of parts of the wort and the hop matter.

Need to get a bigger and better strainer.

Anyway, turned out I got approximately 3.5l of the wort which alone without the 3x E5 added was a SG of 1044 so not bad.

So finally, double strained the wort into the Droid, added Pureau water to 10 litres, pitched the LalBrew Voss Kveik yeast and added the 3x E5.

Set the program to Propagate and Ferment at the hottest temp possible being 30C.

TBH, that was a surprise as I thought the Droid could/would go higher than that, was thinking around 35C but I guess not. Also, didn't select Dry Hop as I will dry hop at 48 hours.

If fermenting at 30 rather than 35C then my plan for a 4 day ferment is not likely to make it. 😒 

You will probably still make the 4 days I reckon. I've done Voss Kviek in 2.5 days @ 42. 

I have no comments on the partial mash biab. That's why I'm off all grain. 🤣

Keep the faith.

[Dustin Frothman]

1 hour ago, Hambone said:

I have no comments on the partial mash biab. That's why I'm off all grain. 🤣

 

@Wazza_wantsbeerhas just described beautifully why I decided to shell out the $$ on the Braumeister!

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

2 hours ago, Dustin Frothman said:

@Wazza_wantsbeerhas just described beautifully why I decided to shell out the $$ on the Braumeister!

@Dustin Frothman

When you did your above NEIPA version, how did you go with adding the 2x X2 to the water?

Did you find it clumped up and made instant dough balls?

Found this to be the most frustrating and time consuming part, getting them to break down.

Or, in your recipe, are the 2x X2 packets added to cold water before heating up which allowed for easier dissolving?

[Dustin Frothman]

On 06/11/2021 at 3:30 PM, Dustin Frothman said:

 

• Add 2 x X2 to 4 Litres of water and bring to the boil.

 

@Wazza_wantsbeer

Cold water, add X2s and bring to the boil.

[Dustin Frothman]

@Wazza_wantsbeerapologies for the double post but by the time I thought about your recipe long enough to add this reply it was too late to edit my previous.

I think the clumping of the X2 and X3 packets was to be expected when they're added to near boiling water. As they are basically dehydrated wort then the sugars would be caramelising almost on contact. 

Perhaps a way to do it next time would be to dissolve these in cold water first in another pot, slowly bring them up to the same temperature as your grain and oats that are steeping and then once sparged add the two together.

You'd need to do your water calculations to ensure you get the final volume you're after but these are straightforward and there's plenty of online tools to assist you.

A grain bag or another paint strainer bag works well when you're doing the final transfer of the cooled wort from your big pot to the Droid.

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

12 hours ago, Dustin Frothman said:

@Wazza_wantsbeerapologies for the double post but by the time I thought about your recipe long enough to add this reply it was too late to edit my previous.

I think the clumping of the X2 and X3 packets was to be expected when they're added to near boiling water. As they are basically dehydrated wort then the sugars would be caramelising almost on contact. 

Perhaps a way to do it next time would be to dissolve these in cold water first in another pot, slowly bring them up to the same temperature as your grain and oats that are steeping and then once sparged add the two together.

You'd need to do your water calculations to ensure you get the final volume you're after but these are straightforward and there's plenty of online tools to assist you.

A grain bag or another paint strainer bag works well when you're doing the final transfer of the cooled wort from your big pot to the Droid.

Thanks @Dustin Frothman, it certainly makes sense what you are saying about the X2's caramelising on contact with the near boiling water. Next time, I will definitely follow your suggestion and dissolve in a pot of cold water separately. I'll give this a go for my brew after the Apple Cider.

I was using a normal sieve in the first instance when moving the chilled wort from the pot to a steralised bucket. Then used a second paint strainer bag when pouring from the bucket into the Droid so twice strained.

In terms of recipe, the grains were just a guess and I was pretty much just following the YouTube video in terms of volumes and times, but yes, the online tools will be next up. I set up a Brewfather account a month or so ago but this really was just an experiment to see how the process works.

To be honest, I'm already looking at electric all grain brewer. Your new toy has inspired me. It was the 10l Braumeister if I'm not mistaken? I'd love to go to that level but my wife would simply kill me so I'm looking at the BrewZilla 35L - Gen.3.1.1. Doing either half batches or a full batch and then storing the half wort.

Farking heck, this hobby is bloody addictive.

[Dustin Frothman]

4 hours ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

To be honest, I'm already looking at electric all grain brewer. Your new toy has inspired me. It was the 10l Braumeister if I'm not mistaken? I'd love to go to that level but my wife would simply kill me ...

Yes that's the one.

I didn't tell my wife what it cost ...

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

4 minutes ago, Dustin Frothman said:

Yes that's the one.

I didn't tell my wife what it cost ...

Hahaha, it is what we men/husbands do don't we...   😎

[Dustin Frothman]

Just now, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

Hahaha, it is what we men/husbands do don't we...   😎

Well my wife insists on separate finances so ...

Remember that ad from years ago?

"It's your money Ralph!"

She did alright out of me in 2021 ... I paid the deposit on a new house and lent her the cash to replace her dying car (and sold the old bomb for her too) so I reckon a kegerator and a very fancy brew kettle were fair enough. 👊

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

Okay think I've got a real issue now. Almost a full 24 hours since starting the brew and...

Whilst I saw some activity, it wasn't the high levels of fermentation that I was expecting with a Kveik Voss yeast.

In fact, I can't even see any bubbles rising now.

Checking, the Yeast I purchased was out of "best before date" which was 21/10/21. The guy did tell me that but he said I shouldn't expect any issues as it's been well looked after in his fridge and gave 2 packets for the price of 1. Hmmm, that should have been my first clue. He did recommended using both packets but when I told him I was using a Droid and it only does 10l lots he just said, "okay then just use one whole packet".

Secondly, I didn't put the yeast into water and let it rehydrate, I just pitched it dry and I see on the packet (yes, because I have another packet) that Lellamand recommends to rehydrate yet the website says "Our research suggests that pitching LalBrew Voss™ directly into wort without prior rehydration will often result in better performance including shorter lag-phase and greater attenuation."

Every video I've seen about this yeast says that it gets active within 4 hours and is super active not long after that. Instead, it's now been a whole day and there is no aparent activity at all.

I opened the lid as the smell had changed from a really nice tropical smell to something that smelt off with a sour kind of smell.

Is this batch spoiled?

Another thing I realised, both the wheat and oats I used may not have been the best choice and not really suited to brewing with. The oats were rolled oats and not quick oats and the wheat was Bulgur wheat.

Also, I did open the lid and there appears to be some sign of past activity as there is some krausen on the side of the droid above the "wort line" and some foamy stuff looking a bit dried out and sad floating on the surface of the wort.

Really think there is something majorly wrong going on and not sure if anyone has any advice on how to save it?

Edited January 4, 2022 by Wazza_wantsbeer

[Captain 3 Droids]

3 minutes ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

Really think there is something majorly wrong going on and not sure if anyone has any advice on how to save it?

You need to 1) take a sample out the tap. Note, discard the first 50ml (crap in the tap) then smell/taste another say 100ml

2) don’t stress about the yeast at this stage, the Droid hasn’t stated EOF. Also you do have to look carefully and turn the viewing lights on a few times as in early fermentation the bubbles can be quite big and slow. Through the window your only seeing a very small section of the brew so your really waiting for a bubble to pass near the window.

[Dustin Frothman]

59 minutes ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

Really think there is something majorly wrong going on and not sure if anyone has any advice on how to save it?

*couldn't resist sorry.

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

Yeah, so still no activity at all looking thru the viewing portal.

Yes, I did see activity within the first 4 hours which is to be expected with Kveik yeast.

No visible activity at all now for more than 24 hours and the sour smell is getting worse.

Will do the smell and taste test as @Captain 3 Droids has suggested.

Results dependent from that test, if it doesn't smell or taste off but given the absolute lack of fermentation activity, do you think this is salvageable by pitching another packet of the Lalbrew Voss?

If pitching another packet, would I be better off hydrating that packet first then?

Another thought I have is that before pouring out, I will let it get to the 48 hour mark, let the Droid do it's daily test and see what comes from that as well.

So annoying but at least I have the apple cider ingredients ready to go and to be honest, if this NEIPA isn't salvageable, I would rather just cut my losses and get the cider on as I know that will likely take 2 weeks or more to ferment.

Either way, looks like I will be buying some commercial beers for the next month or so, bugger!

[Captain 3 Droids]

4 minutes ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

Results dependent from that test, if it doesn't smell or taste off but given the absolute lack of fermentation activity, do you think this is salvageable by pitching another packet of the Lalbrew Voss?

Do the test, if all ok then hydrate your other yeast packet and pitch. When you lift the lid look for bubble activity, krausen amount to confirm strong activity.

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

47 minutes ago, Captain 3 Droids said:

Do the test, if all ok then hydrate your other yeast packet and pitch. When you lift the lid look for bubble activity, krausen amount to confirm strong activity.

Test is done, didn't taste too bad. Not the sour taste I was expecting but didn't have a lot of sweetness either which was surprising.

I'm preparing the yeast now, it's doing the 14 minute re-hydration before I will pitch.

[Captain 3 Droids]

6 minutes ago, Wazza_wantsbeer said:

I'm preparing the yeast now, it's doing the 14 minute re-hydration before I will pitch.

Let us know what you see under the lid. Thanks

[Wazza_wantsbeer]

Okay pitched the second packet of yeast after following the hydrating instructions. 35C water, wait 15 minutes, stir, wait 5 minutes and pitch.

There were definite signs of a krausen above the wort line, dried and crusty stuck to the sides of the Droid. There were some bubbles on the surface but the krausen foam I saw yesterday was gone.

The yeast looked very active as I pitched it so there is still hope I guess.

Honestly, I just want this to either fail quick or show that it is working and then I'll be patient and hope it finishes before Sunday morning, if not, will have to put it into Storage mode whilst we are on our holiday.

It's funny that I've got my wife quite interested in this whole thing after she helped me with the BIAB on Monday. She's asking questions and is keen to try another BIAB once we get back from the holiday.

I'll get onto Brewfather and see what I can come up with in terms of a recipe. 41 Pints of Beer who are up in North Rocks, about a 25 minute drive from here with Tolls or 35 without, are very good in terms of ordering the grains you want and getting them milled.

So rather than winging it as I did on Monday, I'm going to do this properly and get some grains and still use the BrewArt ingredients such as E5 and X2. Or am I better off using a Tin such as Coopers Pale Ale Tin?

Also next time, I'm going back to the Verdant yeast as the taste straight out of the fermenter for my Brothers Birthday Beer was amazing.