Using a Yeast Cake

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Rendomike

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Hi all,

I recently brewed a bitter for my in-laws who are coming to visit, OG of 1.057 fermented with S-04. I wanted to use the yeast cake for a Citra IPA which should be about 1.075. The bitter has cold crashed longer than I expected and will be sitting in my fridge @ 38 degrees for well over a week before I'm able to transfer it. Is the yeast cake still usable? If so, would simply warming it up back to room temperature suffice?

Thanks and cheers!
Mike
 
I agree it will be fine, but I would allow it to warm up. You don't want to thermally shock your yeast.

When you're ready to brew the Citra IPA (got a recipe to share?), rack the Bitter (to the keg, bottling bucket, whatever), add some room-temperature distilled water to the yeast cake, swirl it up, pour it into a 1 gallon jug or a flask or whatever, and set it aside to settle and warm up while you brew. When you're ready to pitch, just pitch the liquid part and leave the trub behind in the jug/flask.
 
kombat said:
I agree it will be fine, but I would allow it to warm up. You don't want to thermally shock your yeast.

When you're ready to brew the Citra IPA (got a recipe to share?), rack the Bitter (to the keg, bottling bucket, whatever), add some room-temperature distilled water to the yeast cake, swirl it up, pour it into a 1 gallon jug or a flask or whatever, and set it aside to settle and warm up while you brew. When you're ready to pitch, just pitch the liquid part and leave the trub behind in the jug/flask.
Click to expand...


Agree with this except for the part about just pitching the liquid and leaving the trub behind. At this stage, most of the living yeast cells are mixed up in the solid layer. not the liquid on the top.

I think the OP is talking about tossing new wort onto an existing cake that's still in the bucket at a cooler temp. In that situation, you'll want to simply leave a thin layer of the bitter atop the yeast cake and let it warm while you brew the IPA. Personally, I wouldn't use an entire cake on a 1.075 beer. About 40% or so should be plenty. The rest you can harvest or simply discard.
 
Thanks Kombat and Big Floyd! The recipe is just a slightly modified version of the ZD clone found in the recipe section. Couple months ago I brewed it with what I had on hand and I really like how it turned out. No carafoam or carapils, but instead using crystal 40.

Based off your input, I will probably not pour directly on the yeast cake, warm it up in 1 gal carboy, use about half to ferment the Citra IPA, and probably throw out the rest. Again, appreciate the advice.
 
BigFloyd said:
Agree with this except for the part about just pitching the liquid and leaving the trub behind. At this stage, most of the living yeast cells are mixed up in the solid layer. not the liquid on the top.
Click to expand...

That's why I said to "swirl it up," to get those yeast cells back into the liquid solution. Then with a short settling period (less than an hour), most of the material that settles back out will be trub, as the yeast won't settle that quickly.

Any yeast that settles back out within an hour will be highly-flocculant, low-attenuating yeast anyway.
 

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