How long is a yeast cake viable?

[Fortuneteller]

Racked my beer to secondary a few days ago with the intentions of washing my yeast that night. I got side tracked and now it's 3 days later. Trub and all were sealed back in bucket with an airlock and have stayed within 65-70 degrees. Is this yeast still viable for reuse?

TIA

Matt

 

[DubBrew]

I don't see why not. Are you planning to pitch on top of it? I would wash it and when you use it again make a starter to ensure it is good to go.

 

[CS223]

I left my primary corney in the keezer with the yeast cake for two weeks then pitched on it and it was churning within a couple of hours. You're GTG.

 

[Fortuneteller]

I'm going to wash it for later use. I was mainly concerned with the fact that the cake, while enclosed with an airlock was sitting at the bottom of my empty fermenting bucket exposed to the air inside of the bucket for an extended amount of time. Yeast is my least understood variable and I normally play as safe as I can.

 

[Fortuneteller]

I left my primary corney in the keezer with the yeast cake for two weeks then pitched on it and it was churning within a couple of hours. You're GTG.

That's good to hear. Thanks for the input.

 

[DubBrew]

Make sure when you make your starter to smell and taste the spent wort. If it smells ok and tastes ok (uninfected) then you are good to go. I doubt there are any issues at all especially since you had an airlock on it and there was probably a little extra beer floating around providing some preservative value.