What to do with this leftover yeast?

I have some Belgian yeast left over from my last batch and I need some help thinking of something to make with it. I want something that would be light enough in flavor to showcase the yeast flavor. (This is so I can get a better idea of it.) Also I would like to make something that will not take a long time to ferment as I am running low on home brew. I was thinking something along the lines of a blond ale with the Belgian yeast. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Well...you could do something like a simple blonde ale, with a low hop profile if you want to see what characteristics the yeast imparts. Something like Biermuncher's centennial blonde, or even better, his Swmbo slayer.

What I would do is to split the batch into to 3 gallon water jugs, pitch the belgian in one and a clean ale yeast like us-o5 in the other half...then you would have a nice controlled experiment.

+1 Belgian Blonde, something like a Leffe but lower gravity.

And then of course afterwords, you wash and harvest the yeast you grew.

And if you've got any left over, bake some bread! If you've never baked bread with yeast slurry, I can tell you from experience it is Teh Awesum.

+10 XP if you use spent grain from the last mash.

Bob

Well it sounds like im going to be making a "Belgian Blonde" ale.
And of course I will be saving the yeast after. I might need to make it again if its good.

BobNQ3X said:

And if you've got any left over, bake some bread! If you've never baked bread with yeast slurry, I can tell you from experience it is Teh Awesum.

+10 XP if you use spent grain from the last mash.

Bob

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Bob that sounds like an awesome idea. I'd love to hear how to do it, as I don't really have an idea of how to make bread. Do you know about how much flour, spent grain, water, yeast, etc. to use?

I pretty much always make ciders off of yeast cakes. Made one off of Belgian wit yeast that had some wonderful spicy character to it.

explosivebeer said:

Bob that sounds like an awesome idea. I'd love to hear how to do it, as I don't really have an idea of how to make bread. Do you know about how much flour, spent grain, water, yeast, etc. to use?

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Pretty easy, actually. I use the recipe from 7 Bridges Organics website:
Quick Bread
1 T. Sucanat or unrefined sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c. yeast slurry
1 T. butter
1 cup lukewarm water
4 cup whole wheat flour
2 cup spent grains

Mix together sugar, salt, margarine, and grains until crumbly. Mix in lukewarm water. Add yeast. Start adding flour and mixing. Once the dough becomes too large or unwieldy to use mixing tools, start kneading on a floured surface.

The key to good bread is kneading - lots of kneading. My auntie, God rest her, taught me to bake bread. She used to tell me, "Bob, I never once raised my voice to my husband or my children. But we always had good, fresh bread." She used to beat the hell out of her bread. You do the math. The reason you knead is to set up the gluten strands in the wheat. That, in conjunction with the CO2 produced by the yeast, makes bread light and fluffy instead of a big lump (like Irish soda bread).

Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size. Because you're using slurry, this bread will rise like a rocket. Keep an eye on it.

The ingredient amounts will probably provide enough dough for two loaves. Shape into loaves and put into greased pans. Baste the tops with melted butter. Bake 450F for about a half hour.

You can omit the yeast and make a decent flatbread with spent grains, too, or use less yeast and make pizza crust.

Cheers!

Bob

Fantastic Bob! Thank you very much. I'll definitely be trying this in the near future.