Yeast Ghost
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It's just dead and dried yeast...more commonly sold as "Servomyces" or just plain ol' "yeast nutrient". Yeast cannibalize the stuff to acquire micronutrients necessary for growth.
nsean said:
Chucking a packet of yeast into your boil would be a rough approximate.
I'm not sure what the bulk barn is, but if you are talking about using bakers yeast then, yes, as far as I know that should work in a pinch. Your LHBS really should carry yeast nutrient, though. It's cheap, small, and stores relatively well. Consider pestering them to order a box.
Yes...or that bread yeast in you cupboard.
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If your LHBS doesn't sell yeast nutrient, I'd find another LHBS...
I think it was you that talked about using yeast ghosts to help a stuck fermentation. How exactly is this done? Just boil some yeast, and add it to the fermenter? Would adding a few simple sugars be beneficial as well?
Thanks!
IMO, the term "stuck fermentation" is a bit of a myth. Most stuck fermentations are caused by poor mash technique, and there's no good cure for that. High gravity beers are an exception.
Yeast are necro-cannibals, they will eat their dead. If you add yeast hulls to the mix, the idea is they will wake up to devour the dead yeast, and in turn also hopefully grab any fermentable sugars still floating around as well.
In this case it was all DME, and it only fermented from 1.052 to 1.030, even after repitching 14g of dry yeast there has only been a 4ish point drop.
Thanks. I think this will be last last attempt of getting this beer finished. If not I am just going to have a slightly sweet, very weak IPA.
As far-fetched as it may seem, perhaps the DME was derived from poorly mashed grain? I don't know. Just seems to me that if there is fermentable sugar, and yeast, the yeast will consume sais sugars until they are gone.
klyph
Well-Known Member
Are you using a refractometer by chance?
Actually, I am starting to believe it was a bad batch of DME. I made a starter on Monday, it activated quickly, but barely dropped in gravity. What really sucks in this case is the face that I bought enough DME for two batches.
I will be calling the HBS that I got the DME from, to see if there were any complaints.
I would add sudden temperature swings and gross yeast abuse as exemptions, but otherwise broadly agree with passedpawn's suggestion that stuck fermentations aren't actually stuck but just finished. In all the batches I have made and seen, I can think of very few instances of stopped fermentations starting back up again. Let us know what you hear from the HBS. What brand was the DME? How much yeast did you pitch? What kind of temp control do you have?
If you want to check the DME, do a forced fermentation test: make a liter of 1.040 wort and inoculate it with a high count of dry yeast. Keep it nice and warm (80ºF+, ideally) and see how far down it ferments. If you end up with the same low attenuation that you are seeing in your wort, it's a problem with the DME. If you get much better attenuation, it's something else in your process.
For now, you could always make a batch of very dry beer and blend it with this batch if you are looking to salvage what you've got.
The brand was United Canadian Malt. First time I pitched 1 vial of WLP-001, with a starter, although the starter didn't take off too quickly, but did start up. Second time I pitched 2 packs of Coopers Ale.
No temp control, but apartment is usually low 70's, and I haven't had problems before.
No temp control, but apartment is usually low 70's, and I haven't had problems before.
Hmm...not familiar with that brand, being south of the border. For your future peace of mind, a forced ferment test might be in order.
Amalyse Enzymes will restart the fermentation, but might result in over-attenuation. 2 teaspoons per carboy will work.
If you add enzymes, wait 3 weeks until bottling. You've been warned.
I'd only use enzymes if I was certain the beer was going to be undrinkable. Malfet's idea of blending is a better one.
If you add enzymes, wait 3 weeks until bottling. You've been warned.
I'd only use enzymes if I was certain the beer was going to be undrinkable. Malfet's idea of blending is a better one.
I'm not sure which stuck ferm. thread you read so I don't know exactly the context of how yeast ghost was used. In cell biology terms, a "ghost" refers to a lysed (split open) cell such that all of the cellular components leak out leaving the ghost (shell) of a cell. One of the most common ghost cells in research are blood cells. Put them in distilled water and water will rush in and burst the cells. The researcher can then use a centrifuge to collect the ghosts for further analysis. One can also sonicate cells to lyse them.
I would suspect that yeast ghosts then are the fragments of their cell wall and membrane. This would be a good source of essential fatty acids for the yeast to use during reproduction (like the adding olive oil idea). I suspect these ghosts are a byproduct during the production of Yeast Extract that is used in research as a common media ingredient for growing bacteria. They lyse the cells and collect the soluble stuff that contains all of the amino acids, sugars and other goodies and separate that from the cell wall and membrane fraction (byproduct). These goodies are then dried down and packaged. It actually looks and behaves a lot like DME when handling it
I would suspect that yeast ghosts then are the fragments of their cell wall and membrane. This would be a good source of essential fatty acids for the yeast to use during reproduction (like the adding olive oil idea). I suspect these ghosts are a byproduct during the production of Yeast Extract that is used in research as a common media ingredient for growing bacteria. They lyse the cells and collect the soluble stuff that contains all of the amino acids, sugars and other goodies and separate that from the cell wall and membrane fraction (byproduct). These goodies are then dried down and packaged. It actually looks and behaves a lot like DME when handling it
