What's the layer of sludge at the bottom?

Dumb question, I know- Not so much on my beer batches.....but my more with my, um.....higher gravity brews, I get a good 1+ solid inch deep layer of medium brown creamy peanut butter on the bottom (almost exactly the consistency of peanut butter). What is that? Is that what Vegemite is made from?

Your fermentor? That's trub, or yeast and hot and cold break materials.

yup,,, yeast proteins hops,,, all that good stuff

The technical term that you'll see used here on HBT and elsewhere is "yeast sediment." As was already stated, it's mostly a mixture of live and dead yeast with undissolved solids from the fermentation process.

Is there anything you can do with this stuff? or, is it just to be washed with the bucket?

You can look at the yeast washing sticky and wash the trub to seperate and harvest the yeast from everything else.

yup wash and reuse yeast,,, funny kramer from big bear, kosmo kramer from upland ca.... i got my ferm fridge from arrowbear a couple weeks ago.... nice to meet ya local buddy

Wash the yeast and compost the rest of the sludge. I'd bet your plants would love it!

kosmokramer said:

yup wash and reuse yeast,,, funny kramer from big bear, kosmo kramer from upland ca.... i got my ferm fridge from arrowbear a couple weeks ago.... nice to meet ya local buddy

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Hmmmm, should I google "wash" and reuse the yeast? this time, I dumped it.....but figured I shouldn't, because it's 23% super-turbo yeast.

Upland eh? I used to live just off Euclid, a little below Baseline. If one must live in SoCal (and I think nobody should)....I think Big Bear is the place to be.

Stuff at the bottom? Darned good for bread making (provided you "wash" it)

Bwahahaa, I love Father Ted and Father Jack! Best show ever!
Drink!

kramer said:

...... If one must live in SoCal (and I think nobody should)....I think Big Bear is the place to be.

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LOL.

It took me a minute to understand why you said that no one should live in SoCa, even though you do. I've been trying to convince people to leave for years.. I LOVE Big Bear. We almost bought a cabin up there before the economy took a dump.

That reminds me.. It's been a couple of months. I need to take the kids up there for the day.


E

"She just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich".

Hope it's not vegemite at the bottom. I've tried that stuff, it is gross. The Aussie's love it though.

kramer said:

Not so much on my beer batches.....but my more with my, um.....higher gravity brews

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???

I wonder how well "washing" a new batch of yeast from the old works when the wort was 20% ethanol in the first place?

Probably not well. You ideally want to wash yeast that is still mostly alive and hasn't been stressed or starved. That's why when making beer at least, we usually wash yeast from the primary, bot the secondary.

That makes sense. I could, even when making something a little "stronger" , swap from one fermenter to another before it gets above 10%, and wash the yeast. That way, one could save on yeast. Good thought!

kramer said:

Hmmmm, should I google "wash" and reuse the yeast? this time, I dumped it.....but figured I shouldn't, because it's 23% super-turbo yeast.

Upland eh? I used to live just off Euclid, a little below Baseline. If one must live in SoCal (and I think nobody should)....I think Big Bear is the place to be.

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im off euclid and foothill, the mountains are nice but not for me,,, ive lived all ove the states and planted myself back in socal

kosmokramer said:

im off euclid and foothill, the mountains are nice but not for me,,, ive lived all ove the states and planted myself back in socal

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you lived outside SoCal and came back?? What did you miss...the trash, or the graffiti, or the crime, or the traffic, or the insane regulations on business (which makes it so you can't really be in one), or the taxes (sales alone being 10%)...or....did I mention the traffice, crime, trash and graffiti?? Sounds to me like you may have some family?

rofl.... definitely family. i miss texas hunting