Winter brewing

Winter is only a couple months away this is my first winter brewing I was just wondering what other do with the yeast cake in the Carboy usually I just clean it out side In the rocks but with snow going to be on the ground not really up or that. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

I don't have that problem in the winter but see how it could be a bit of a problem. I wouldn't dump it down the toilet, did that once and it clogged very badly. Would it be out of the question to store the cakes in some sort of container and dispose of once the snow melts?

That's what I was thinking as well just put in a extra pale for the winter... Good to know about the toilet I was going to try that now I won't be lol

Fastjake1234 said:

That's what I was thinking as well just put in a extra pale for the winter... Good to know about the toilet I was going to try that now I won't be lol

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Don't take it as gospel about the toilet though. That one was dry hopped with leaf hops so that probably helped plug it

I knew there had to be leaf hops involved with that. I've dumped straight up yeast cake down the drain (sadly) numerous times with no problems.

Another solution is to be like all the panzies around here that boycott brewing for a few months until the weather is better. The only difference is their boycott occurs in the summertime.

i got two oz of whole hops down the kitchen sink....... after much garbage disposal resetting and over heating.

I have never had a problem with clogging the toilet with the yeast cake. I do it a lot. and you can wash your carboy in the bathtub.

I flush mine also. No leaf hops, only pellet....since I have septic, the yeast is actually good for the system.

Tinga said:

i got two oz of whole hops down the kitchen sink....... after much garbage disposal resetting and over heating.

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Done that, what a pain.

I just add some water to my carboy, swirl it around, and dump it in the garbage disposal.

Dump it on your compost pile

I almost always dump down the kitchen sink with the garbage disposal.

I have a utility sink in the basement where I brew with the sink drain connecting to one of my floor drains. I've never had a clog, even with a substantial amount of whole hops going down the drain.

Soperbrew said:

Another solution is to be like all the panzies around here that boycott brewing for a few months until the weather is better. The only difference is their boycott occurs in the summertime.

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What did you call me?

It is not because of the weather, there is just too much going on in the summer. Water skiiing, backpacking, golfing, yard work, house repair, fly fishing, hiking, dog training, barbecues, etc....

In the winter it is dark at 4PM and there is three feet of snow so weekends are for snow shoeing and cross country skiing, week nights are for brewing.

I just poor the yeast down the drain, the trub in the brew pot I dump in the utility area of my yard. I dumped the trub on my lawn one winter, bad idea had dead spots in grass next spring.

and you can wash your carboy in the bathtub.

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Kramer: "Oh, yeah, and I use it all the time. Yeah, I made this whole meal in
there."
Elaine: "This food was in the shower with you?"
Kramer: "Mm-hmm. I prepared it as I bathed."

Its not the cleaning that concerns me, its the ice rink I'm going to make on the front lawn running my CFC to chill my beer mid winter that has me questioning my methods.

I no longer use that tiny 7 gal kettle anymore, so picking up my BK and dropping it in the snow is not an option anymore.

get a hose adapter to run your cfc off the kitchen faucet?!

Brek81 said:

get a hose adapter to run your cfc off the kitchen faucet?!

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Its not the source of the water that is the problem, its the gals of water coming out of the cfc that needs to go somewhere....

Might just have to run a second hose back into the house.

Edit: brewing in doors is not an option, best I can do is inside the garage with the door open.

do you live near a storm sewer drain by any chance?

You could recirculate your cooling water like some on here have done. I'd Imagine a cooler, filled with water and ice and submersible pump to pump water through the CFC and return it back to the cooler. Would probably work great in your climate you could always add snow to the cooler. Should minimize the mess.

I dump mine (when not washing it) down the kitchen sink and I have never had a problem. If there are hops in it, I'll dump it in the toilet. Even whole hops haven't clogged my toilet.

I'm gonna be that guy and say, "Why don't you save and reuse the yeast?"

Dan said:

I don't have that problem in the winter but see how it could be a bit of a problem. I wouldn't dump it down the toilet, did that once and it clogged very badly. Would it be out of the question to store the cakes in some sort of container and dispose of once the snow melts?

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I flush it down every time, never had a problem at all.

bwomp313 said:

I'm gonna be that guy and say, "Why don't you save and reuse the yeast?"

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Good God....three pages and FINALLY someone says this!

I like to think of the cash I save harvesting yeast as being put towards more ingredients for the next batch!

Skarekrough said:

Good God....three pages and FINALLY someone says this!

I like to think of the cash I save harvesting yeast as being put towards more ingredients for the next batch!

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True, but if you live and brew in a small space like I do it's not easy to do. Cleaning stuff is a pain as it is, plus I don't have fridge/freezer space for yeast anyways.

I tried it for a bit and I'm just too limited, it's pushing it a bit doing full boil AG here as it is. Eventually I'll do it, but for now it's worth an extra couple bucks to ensure my yeast is pure and healthy

I was waiting for someone to go 'zomg reuse!'... you don't want to reuse the whole cake so you'll still have to dump a sizable cake anyways.

bovineblitz said:

True, but if you live and brew in a small space like I do it's not easy to do. Cleaning stuff is a pain as it is, plus I don't have fridge/freezer space for yeast anyways.

I tried it for a bit and I'm just too limited, it's pushing it a bit doing full boil AG here as it is. Eventually I'll do it, but for now it's worth an extra couple bucks to ensure my yeast is pure and healthy

I was waiting for someone to go 'zomg reuse!'... you don't want to reuse the whole cake so you'll still have to dump a sizable cake anyways.

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No, I can see both sides of it. Having lived in an apartment for quite awhile I know where that can come from.

I started recycling yeast a few months ago and have had great luck with it. It has been another complication with planning my batches but the good part is that it means I tend to be more focused with what I do which yields more and better results and having that excess gives it all more time to age.

If you have the resources to do it then I would certainly suggest it. But if you don't....eh...what can ya do?

Tinga said:

do you live near a storm sewer drain by any chance?

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Fastjake1234 said:

Winter is only a couple months away this is my first winter brewing I was just wondering what other do with the yeast cake in the Carboy usually I just clean it out side In the rocks but with snow going to be on the ground not really up or that. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Click to expand...

If I don't harvest the yeast, I usually just put water in the carboy and swirl it until most of the gunk is off the bottom and then dump it outside, very quickly cause it's f'n cold. Then if there is a little yeast/trub left in the carboy, it's definitely not enough to cause any drain problems. I do the rest in the kitchen.