JBK

Recipes 

So in Japan sake is very common (made with a lager yeast typically) and the Japanese use the yeast cake, which in their case is everything left after they filter all the sake goodness off. This leftover consists of all the rice particles and yeast. This leftover stuff is called sakekasu or sake-lees. A very common thing to do is to make pickles using this sakekasu by putting vegetables, like pickles or winter melon, in it and letting the yeast help to make naturally fermented pickles out of the vegetables. The pickles are commonly referred to as Kasuzuke.

Overview Here
Recipe Here
Wikipedia

I was wondering if anyone has ever tried this with their yeast cakes leftover after racking to the secondary or bottling? I am very into all things fermented, they are very healthy for you, or at least thats how I explain my beer hobby to myself

Leadgolem

Recipes 

Interesting idea. What none of those articles seems to have mentioned is that sake, and rice wine in general, almost always has acetobacter colonies in it. Perhaps not a huge number of them, but some. You also have a fairly sweet mass of unliquifed rice left. This seems to me to be fairly different then what is left over as trub in western fermentation.

Here's a good thread on the making of saki at home.

Those basic differences would seem to me to pose a bit of a problem for using a yeast cake the way you want to. If you decide to do this, I would recommend adding a small amount of sourdough starter to the yeast cake along with the vegetables. That will introduce the acetobacter that you are going to need for the actual pickling.

In any event, it would make a fascinating experiment. Please post back if you pursue the matter any further.

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JBK

Recipes 

Leadgolem, you are right, and also in addition to the acetobacter there is the aspergillus oryzae found in the koji, but nonetheless I would imagine that the yeast itself would possible be able to eat the sugars in the fruit or vegetables that one would pickle. I'll just have to try it out next time I brew.

oldstyle69

Recipes 

i have a friend that makes pickles from the lactic acid left over from making vinegar
pickles taste great.

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