My first time using a yeast cake

You have been a great help. One question: I have cups of clean looking slurry in the fridge in steilized canning jars. Do I need to warm the slurry to pitching temperate (room temp for an English Bitter) or just pitch it cold (est. 35 degrees) as is?

???

Thanks for investing the time for so many of us newbies.

Mark

You want your yeast to be as close to the wort temperature as possible to avoid thermal shock. I have heard within 5F is OK, I usually shoot for within about 2F. It is probably less of a problem going from cold yeast into warm wort then the other way but I would still avoid stressing them out.

GT

+1. +/- 5 degrees F is best. You can pitch cold yeast into relatively warm wort, but it will stress the little beasties.

Bob

Ok, newbie home brewer here. I've read this whole post, but I'm still confused as to the "proper" (at least according to NQ3X) technique to re-use yeast. I'm currently brewing a Dunkelweizen and plan to follow it up with... (drum roll, please) a Dunkelweizen. I really like this style and want to do exactly the same batch next time. I used a $7 Wyeast slap pack (#3068) to start this batch, and would love to get the same yeast at no cost for my next batch. So, assuming I don't simply pitch my next batch's wort on top of the yeast cake, how do I go about re-using the yeast? Also, I'm assuming that the best case scenario for re-using yeast is doing the same batch type back-to-back, right?

Thanks for the help!

MBM30075 said:

Ok, newbie home brewer here. I've read this whole post, but I'm still confused as to the "proper" (at least according to NQ3X) technique to re-use yeast. I'm currently brewing a Dunkelweizen and plan to follow it up with... (drum roll, please) a Dunkelweizen. I really like this style and want to do exactly the same batch next time. I used a $7 Wyeast slap pack (#3068) to start this batch, and would love to get the same yeast at no cost for my next batch. So, assuming I don't simply pitch my next batch's wort on top of the yeast cake, how do I go about re-using the yeast? Also, I'm assuming that the best case scenario for re-using yeast is doing the same batch type back-to-back, right?

Thanks for the help!

Click to expand...

People are discussing various degrees of technology here, it seems Im a noob myself, so feel free to disregard what I say. My opinion based on what I have read in the past in this forum is that most people here would say Same beer, same hops, just dump your new wort on the previous yeast cake. It might not be absolutely perfec practice, but people here do it all the time with good results.

Tried this last night after listening to jamil's american barley wine episode where he talked about reusing a cake to kick off a big barley wine.

I made a scaled down version of his, with an OG north of 1.1 (Didn't know you could dissolve 9 lbs of DME and a pound of corn sugar in 3 or so gallons of water)

This was intended to go on a Pacman yeast cake from an IPA that had been sitting for about 2 weeks in the primary. Once i transferred the IPA into a carboy, I then used a sterile fine SS mesh and poured the yeast slurry into a sterile container. This caught a lot of the larger gunk sitting at the bottom.

Once the barley wine was finished, I added about 2-2.5 cups of the slurry mix, which btw looked very uniform in color and texture, back to the new wort. I did clean out the primary bucket to get rid of all the previous gunk. This was about 9PM last night.

Initial activity started to show up about 10:30 PM, and by this morning, the thing was raging.

Even if it's not the best, it should be interesting experiment. I was okay with it going on the IPA cake because I used quite a bit of warrior and cascade (and a little amarillo) hops in the beer in an attempt to help combat the sweetness (and a pound of corn sugar to dry it out more).

MBM30075 said:

Ok, newbie home brewer here. I've read this whole post, but I'm still confused as to the "proper" (at least according to NQ3X) technique to re-use yeast. I'm currently brewing a Dunkelweizen and plan to follow it up with... (drum roll, please) a Dunkelweizen. I really like this style and want to do exactly the same batch next time. I used a $7 Wyeast slap pack (#3068) to start this batch, and would love to get the same yeast at no cost for my next batch. So, assuming I don't simply pitch my next batch's wort on top of the yeast cake, how do I go about re-using the yeast? Also, I'm assuming that the best case scenario for re-using yeast is doing the same batch type back-to-back, right?

Thanks for the help!

Click to expand...

Sure thing. Have a look at the short article I wrote in the HBT Wiki on yeast pitching. That'll give you the background on exactly why I say what I say, as well as help you calculate how much slurry to pitch.

Harvesting slurry is as easy as anything. All you need is:

- a few glass jam or Mason jars with lids
- a stainless-steel scoop (a tablespoon from your kitchen drawer is good enough)
- sanitizer

Clean and sanitize all equipment. Carefully scoop slurry from your fermenter into the jars. Fill 2/3 of the jar with slurry. Affix lid. Place in fridge. Use within a week or so.

That's it!

(Oh, and clean your fermenter. )

Cheers!

Bob

Let me try this one last time :

According to what you've written (and pointed me to), I should do the following to correctly re-use my yeast:

1. Rack my current batch of Dunkel to the bottling bucket
2. My Dunkel batches are supposed to start at about 1.052-1.056, so that's 13 or 14 degrees Plato.
3. If a 12 Plato brew requires 227 mL of slurry, then I need between 8.23 oz. (227 mL / 12 Degrees Plato * 13 Degrees Plato / 30 mL per ounce) and 8.87 oz. (227 mL / 12 Degrees Plato * 14 Degrees Plato / 30 mL per ounce) of slurry.
4. If I sanitize my glass measuring cup and stainless steel measuring spoon (is plastic OK, too?), then I can harvest to a little bit above the 1 cup line.
5. Assuming my wort for my next batch is pretty much ready (i.e., cooling in ice bath) when I'm racking the first batch to the bottling bucket, how long can I leave the harvested slurry out without having to worry about contamination? Should I sanitize a bucket filter and cover it with that? Do I have time to clean and sanitize my fermenting bucket in the meantime?

Does the harvested slurry get pitched on top of the wort just like I would pitch the Wyeast slap pack?

Am I missing anything else, or do I have the concept down pretty well?

MBM30075 said:

Let me try this one last time :

According to what you've written (and pointed me to), I should do the following to correctly re-use my yeast:

1. Rack my current batch of Dunkel to the bottling bucket
2. My Dunkel batches are supposed to start at about 1.052-1.056, so that's 13 or 14 degrees Plato.
3. If a 12 Plato brew requires 227 mL of slurry, then I need between 8.23 oz. (227 mL / 12 Degrees Plato * 13 Degrees Plato / 30 mL per ounce) and 8.87 oz. (227 mL / 12 Degrees Plato * 14 Degrees Plato / 30 mL per ounce) of slurry.
4. If I sanitize my glass measuring cup and stainless steel measuring spoon (is plastic OK, too?), then I can harvest to a little bit above the 1 cup line.
5. Assuming my wort for my next batch is pretty much ready (i.e., cooling in ice bath) when I'm racking the first batch to the bottling bucket, how long can I leave the harvested slurry out without having to worry about contamination? Should I sanitize a bucket filter and cover it with that? Do I have time to clean and sanitize my fermenting bucket in the meantime?

Does the harvested slurry get pitched on top of the wort just like I would pitch the Wyeast slap pack?

Am I missing anything else, or do I have the concept down pretty well?

Click to expand...

You have the concept nailed.

Harvest slightly more than you have calculated as 'necessary', just in case, and save it in a sealed, sanitary container in the fridge. You never know. In fact, you can harvest quite a lot and have a go at the process described in the Yeast Washing sticky. Even if it doesn't work out, you've got the yeast you want in your second batch of Dunkleweizen, and can have another go when that beer is finished, applying the lessons learnt this time round.

You shouldn't leave it uncovered. Cover the container until you're ready to pitch, and pitch just as though you were pitching a fresh smack-pack. Covering the glass measuring cup can be as simple as a piece of sanitized aluminum foil or plastic wrap. You're using it within minutes, so you don't need to seal it tightly; you just need to keep airborne nasties from falling in.

And yes, clean that nasty-looking fermenter. I know, technically it's clean, but fermenters fouled with gunk make me cringe.

Cheers!

Bob

Well, this teaches me a little something about something. Excellent things to learn, Ive been meaning to start washing yeast, and now I know what to do if I have a slurry cake. Thanks for all the great info Bob!

If I wanted to keep some on hand, how many 8 1/2 ounce "batches" of yeast could I harvest? How long do they keep? I saw you say "use within a week." Is there any way to extend their life?

Thanks!

To extend life, consider following the excellent advice in the Yeast Washing sticky.

Harvested slurry loses approximately 25% viability every seven days. The 8 oz you harvest today is worth 6 oz a week from now, and 4 oz in a fortnight. You dig?

Cheers,

Bob

Newb here - this thread makes for interesting reading.

Moved the latest brew (a Hall & Woodhouse "Badger Best Bitter", England) to secondary today, and in a moment of weakness decided to cook up another brew (unhopped liquid extract + sprayed malt + crystal + flaked barley + hops, hoping for a Shepherd Neame "Spitfire", England, like product).

Well, the temptation to pitch straight onto the yeast cake left from the last brew was too great...

I learn by doing, if it goes wrong I don't do it again, and try a different way.

So 2 hours later - the primary is going crazy!! A more ferocious fermentation than any past brew, but a lot, lot, faster.

My question to the learned majority:

What happens next?!

Those sound like tasty brews! I'll be by in a few weeks for a pint.

Pitching on the cake doesn't change the process at all. Once it is done fermenting you bottle or keg a usual.

I too fell victim to temptation this weekend. This is the first time I've pitched onto a yeast cake, I couldn't justify not using all that sweet Pacman yeast.


My only concern is the yeast cake was from a Brutal Bitter clone (6oz hops) and I pitched a Porter on it. So hopefully it doesn't turn out too hoppy.

NQ3X said:

pitch the slurry directly into the fresh wort. It's a lot easier than building up a starter!...

100% true! Overpitching is disaster in pale lager beers and English and Belgian ales, not so much in Bock or Imperial Stout...In the second, overpitching prevents the secretion of the esters so crucial to Belgian and English ales.

Bob

Click to expand...

if you oxygenate the new wort, won't SOME of the yeasts propagate and give you the esters for the Belgian ales?

Thanks!