Moonshae

Recipes 

I'd like to use a yeast cake, but keep it for a few weeks before actually putting it to use. I've had a little trouble with collected yeast after a brew, so I'm hesitant to just put some of the slurry in a sanitized bottle. I was thinking that once I rack the beer off the trub, I could leave just enough to keep the cake moist, replace the airlock, and stick the whole carboy in the fridge for 2-3 weeks, then bring it out a few hours before I need it to let it warm up a bit, just like a vial of liquid yeast.

Am I way off base with this, or should it work just as well as saving some of the slurry in a bottle in the fridge?

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"You never can tell with bees." --Winnie the Pooh

In kegs: Shae's Braggot; English Cider; Doppelbock; Semi-Sweet Mead, Raspberry Cider, Apfelwein, Belgian Golden Strong Ale
In Bottles: Raspberry-Vanilla Melometh; Cherry Melomel; Vanilla Metheglin; For Heaven's Sake;
In Secondary: Traditional Mead (basswood); Traditional Mead (honeysuckle); carrot cake mead; Pirate Ale; Ginger Beet Ale; American IPA, pumpkin ale
In Primary: Berliner Weisse
Up Next: Oud Bruin

Yooper

Recipes 

That should work. I think Orfy mentioned he did just that not too long ago.

Have you considered washing the yeast and keeping it indefinitely?

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Broken Leg Brewery
Giving beer a leg to stand on since 2006

Moonshae

Recipes 

I have, but I don't repeat use of the same yeasts often enough, I think. I'm still in the variety phase, brewing all kinds of different things and looking for favorites. Once I settle down and start sticking to a few favorites, I might go that route.

__________________
"You never can tell with bees." --Winnie the Pooh

In kegs: Shae's Braggot; English Cider; Doppelbock; Semi-Sweet Mead, Raspberry Cider, Apfelwein, Belgian Golden Strong Ale
In Bottles: Raspberry-Vanilla Melometh; Cherry Melomel; Vanilla Metheglin; For Heaven's Sake;
In Secondary: Traditional Mead (basswood); Traditional Mead (honeysuckle); carrot cake mead; Pirate Ale; Ginger Beet Ale; American IPA, pumpkin ale
In Primary: Berliner Weisse
Up Next: Oud Bruin

p4ck37p1mp

Recipes 

I just left 4 carboys from a batch of IRA in my garage with airlocks on them for a few weeks with no problems, just pitched a brown ale on them. No signs of any infections so far.

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'Insert Name Here' Brew Club (North Atlanta Metro Area)

-- "Unix is user friendly. However, it isn't idiot friendly."

balto charlie

Recipes 

I have never stored the entire cake for extended time but have saved trub from the cake in sterilized mason jars for many months in the fridge. Basically this is the same process. I will use a starter if I leave the yeast in the fridge for more than a few weeks. I usually get 4-6 batches from 1 yeast culture. Charlie

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Drinking bock, Pils, Oatmeal stout, Arrogant Bastard yeast 07
Conditioning: Oktoberfest, Arrogant Bastard(2 batches)yeast 02 , Pils
Secondary Lagunitas IPA(2 different batches 02 and 01 yeasts)
Primary no sparge mild
On Deck: Dogfish Raison D'etre, gluten free IPA, Russian Imperial Stout/porter(partigyle)

SirFizzle

Recipes 

About how many months can I expect to get out of recycled trub as stated above?
Have a 1/3 bottle of wheat smack pack saved in the fridge from primary back in April. Tried to kick it off in the bottle with a starter yesterday but no gas has bubbled through the airlock yet. I just drained the liquid, added starter, shook it up, and stuck an airlock on top.

Some notes: 70 deg, no stir plate and I'm using apple cider to start it for two reasons...1) I'm making hard cider 2) No DME on hand.

I'm thinking the cider is a bad starter food, since apple juice doesn't foam up like malt based worts will.