Can the yeast cake go in the compost bin?

[Coastalbrew]

So I bottled a batch of @Yooper's hoppy amber ale today, and as I'm dumping the yeast cake down the drain a question popped into my head: Can this go in the compost bin?

I've been composting my grains for a while now, but never thought about dumping the yeast cake in too. Does anyone have any experience with this?

Cheers!

 

[myndflyte]

Don't see why not. It's all natural stuff.

 

[AJinJacksonville]

I routinely dump both into the compost bin and give it a spin. Haven't seen any negatives associated with it. Plants love it months down the road either way.

 

[Yooper]

I save some yeast from most batches and use it later- but if I have some I'm not going to use in the near future, mine goes in the compost.

 

[AJinJacksonville]

^ I do what Yooper does unless it's one of those expensive liquid yeasts. Then I save it. Forgot to point that out. Haha

 

[Coastalbrew]

Thanks everyone! That's what I thought, but wanted to get some more data before dumping it in. Regrettably, I don't get to brew often enough to make saving the yeast practical. Maybe some day.

BTW @Yooper, my first attempt at your hoppy amber is coming out very nicely. Can't wait to try it in a couple of weeks when it is carbonated. Thanks for sharing your recipe!

Cheers!

 

[Qhrumphf]

I wonder if a yeast cake isn't enough living matter to disrupt the biome of a compost bin.

I know in large quantities it's enough to disrupt the organisms of water treatment plants (problem for large commercial breweries, not homebrewers).

And in rare cases, can turn humans into alcohol factories (auto-brewery syndrome)

 

[myndflyte]

I wonder if a yeast cake isn't enough living matter to disrupt the biome of a compost bin.

I could see that maybe if the compost pile was pretty small but I would guess that with a large enough pile, the yeast cake is small enough to not disrupt it.