Yeast - R.i.p.

[Dunawan]

Attempting to ferment an irish stout and my yeast is dead. Before pitching a fresh pack, should I rack the stout off of the dead yeast cake and clean my primary (6.5gal carboy) or should I just pitch it in with the dead yeast?

 

[jd3]

maybe you should elaborate as to how it is "dead". What was your recipe, og, current gravity, temp, etc.

 

[Dunawan]

OG: 1.052
72 hours later...
1.052

68Degrees
extract kit:http://www.grapeandgranary.com/ggrecpdf/GG02.pdf

 

[passedpawn]

Pitch more yeast. Don't rack, just get some new yeast in there.

 

[LakewoodBrew]

there shouldn't be any cake to rack off of if the yeast was dead when you pitched.

 

[Dunawan]

there shouldn't be any cake to rack off of if the yeast was dead when you pitched.

Well where else would the yeast have went? It all settled to the bottom, and didnt do much else at all.

 

[LakewoodBrew]

the amount of yeast you pitched initially would have been so small that at most it would just leave a film on the bottom of the carboy.

When referring to a yeast cake most people are talking about half an inch of compacted yeast.

 

[Dunawan]

the amount of yeast you pitched initially would have been so small that at most it would just leave a film on the bottom of the carboy.

When referring to a yeast cake most people are talking about half an inch of compacted yeast.

Well, I am seeing what appears to be a good inch or more of sediment. Perhaps some bits of grain escaped my steeping bag and settled out?

 

[LakewoodBrew]

unless the sediment is a compact mass of creamy off-white color material it's probably just break material (proteins) from the boil. post a pic, we can tell you what's in there.

 

[Dunawan]

unless the sediment is a compact mass of creamy off-white color material it's probably just break material (proteins) from the boil. post a pic, we can tell you what's in there.

Ahhh, cool cool. Yeah, you're right. I would post a picture if I had a halfway decent camera but my phone is my only resource which wouldnt give a good enough picture anyhow. But its cool cause I trust ya

 

[LakewoodBrew]

If you want to get an idea of what yeast looks like check out some of the yeast washing threads, they usually have pretty good pics that show what it's all about.

I am however pretty surprised you got dead yeast. Make sure you have a pitching temp closer to 71-72 degrees and toss in some more of the same yeast strain that came with the kit. given that the web page doesn't tell you what it is, you may need to ask the shop. otherwise i would recommend a high floc dry ale strain like Whitelabs WLP007 dry english ale.

 

[LakewoodBrew]

oh, and try to do it soon... at this point any infection that may have gotten in there has a tremendous head start over the yeast..

 

[Dunawan]

Yeah this is actually my second batch, Ive racked off of a yeast cake before. I was just under the impression that these proteins and the cake were one in the same. It was Nottingham ale yeast that came with the kit.

 

[samc]

Nottingham had a few bad batches of yeast due to packaging malfunctions, sounds like you got one of them. RIP

 

[passedpawn]

I survived the Notty Scare of 2010. Had an ugly incident of my own, then moved on to Fermentis. Once bitten twice shy.

 

[Dunawan]

Nottingham had a few bad batches of yeast due to packaging malfunctions, sounds like you got one of them. RIP

Oh wow...how unfortunate. :/