adding yeast sludge from bottom of fermentation barrel to new batch of beer

[JoeWebDesigner]

Hi I brewed up a 5 gallon batch of Stout from a single can kit.
In the initial fermentation bucket was a ton of live yeast sludge at the bottom.

I think a little of it may have got in to the fermentation pressure barrel.
If there is some in there, is it a good idea to add it to the mix when I made a new batch of beer?

This time im using a different kit with a different yeast etc...
Joe

 

[cswis86]

What is a fermentation pressure barrel? Is that your airlock or blowoff tube? I would not re-use any yeast that came in contact with anything outside of your fermenter.

 

[JoeWebDesigner]

Is is like a keg, but is for secondary fermentation.

 

[JoeWebDesigner]

A little of the yeast sludge got through in to this sterilised secondary keg

 

[cswis86]

So it's a closed system? If so it's ok to use again for another batch of beer.

 

[brewkinger]

Is is like a keg, but is for secondary fermentation.

A little of the yeast sludge got through in to this sterilised secondary keg

I am still a little confused. There is minimal yeast sludge (which could very well be a combination of yeast and trub from the previous batch) that made it into your SECONDARY VESSEL?

You are wondering if it is OK to keep that sludge in your vessel, brew a new batch of beer and put it directly into that secondary vessel to ferment?

 

[JoeWebDesigner]

I am still a little confused. There is minimal yeast sludge (which could very well be a combination of yeast and trub from the previous batch) that made it into your SECONDARY VESSEL?

You are wondering if it is OK to keep that sludge in your vessel, brew a new batch of beer and put it directly into that secondary vessel to ferment?

Not quite, last time was my first ever time brewing beer.
There was no previous batch prior ro this, I started with a brand new fermentation bucket which I sterilised, and a Pressure Keg (borrowed) which I also sterilised.

The initial fermentation took 2 weeks in the bucket.
Then I added sugar to the sterilised pressure keg and syphoned the beer in to it, however at one point the filter slipped off and I think a little of the yeast sludge from the bottom got through in to the keg.

Given that I added so much sugar to the keg If any got through I suspect it will have grown in the bottom.

I am now nearing the bottom of the keg and this started a new batch in the fermentation bucket.
If when I get to the bottom of the keg it turns out that there is some yeast sludge in there, can I add it to the fermentation bucket and will it improve the fermentation and flavour of the new beer?

 

[brewkinger]

Dont bother.

For a couple of reasons:
1) you could infect the new batch
2) if successful, you could cause odd flavors in the new beer, especially if the 1st beer was a stout and the 2nd beer was way different (like a lighter colored ipa or pale ale)

That make sense?

 

[JoeWebDesigner]

Dont bother.

For a couple of reasons:
1) you could infect the new batch
2) if successful, you could cause odd flavors in the new beer, especially if the 1st beer was a stout and the 2nd beer was way different (like a lighter colored ipa or pale ale)

That make sense?

It does, they are actually both black stouts, but they are different brands.
I read somewhere about saving the sludge and using it for the next batch and I read another thread about using it to kick start the process early in the fermentation process which is what I was thinking of...

 

[brewkinger]

It does, they are actually both black stouts, but they are different brands.
I read somewhere about saving the sludge and using it for the next batch and I read another thread about using it to kick start the process early in the fermentation process which is what I was thinking of...

And what you read is exactly what you could do.
I do it all the time.
If you were gonna do it, the first bucket is the place to do it.
Transfer into your pressure keg thingy and then dump a new batch of beer on top of the junk in the bottom of the first bucket. As long as they are similar beers or you are going from a lighter beer to a darker / hoppier beer.

 

[eric19312]

It's your first batch and so long as your next batch comes with sufficient new yeast I would not bother with the old yeasts. Once you have your techniques down, start moving away from kits, and are generally making good tasting uncontaminated beer (i.e. you have mastered acceptable level of sanitary practice) then you can feel free harvest and reuse yeast.

This is a way to keep batch cost down and you can learn a lot about the other ingredients in your beer by sticking with same yeast batch to batch. But always judge the quality of the batch you are harvesting from and don't reuse yeast if the batch seemed to have issues that might be related to the quality of the yeast or sanitation of the batch. Also I would not reuse the entire leftover yeast cake (nicer word than sludge but I mean same thing). About a half cup of very fresh yeast cake is great for a 5 gallon batch. You can use more if the new beer is going to be high alcohol and if making a giant boozy barley wine or russian imperial stout you could go ahead and use the whole cake...but for a 4-6% beer half a cup is plenty.

 

[brewkinger]

It's your first batch and so long as your next batch comes with sufficient new yeast I would not bother with the old yeasts. Once you have your techniques down, start moving away from kits, and are generally making good tasting uncontaminated beer (i.e. you have mastered acceptable level of sanitary practice) then you can feel free harvest and reuse yeast.

This is a way to keep batch cost down and you can learn a lot about the other ingredients in your beer by sticking with same yeast batch to batch. But always judge the quality of the batch you are harvesting from and don't reuse yeast if the batch seemed to have issues that might be related to the quality of the yeast or sanitation of the batch. Also I would not reuse the entire leftover yeast cake (nicer word than sludge but I mean same thing). About a half cup of very fresh yeast cake is great for a 5 gallon batch. You can use more if the new beer is going to be high alcohol and if making a giant boozy barley wine or russian imperial stout you could go ahead and use the whole cake...but for a 4-6% beer half a cup is plenty.

I was waiting until I got to work to add to my previous post because it was done on my phone and it was painfully time consuming to do it like that.
Exactly what @eric19312 said.

 

[coonmanx]

This is a way to keep batch cost down and you can learn a lot about the other ingredients in your beer by sticking with same yeast batch to batch. But always judge the quality of the batch you are harvesting from and don't reuse yeast if the batch seemed to have issues that might be related to the quality of the yeast or sanitation of the batch. Also I would not reuse the entire leftover yeast cake (nicer word than sludge but I mean same thing). About a half cup of very fresh yeast cake is great for a 5 gallon batch. You can use more if the new beer is going to be high alcohol and if making a giant boozy barley wine or russian imperial stout you could go ahead and use the whole cake...but for a 4-6% beer half a cup is plenty.

I have only ever done this one time before and it can work properly if done right. Yeah, don't just throw a new batch on top of the old sludge. Harvest a bit of it from primary in a clean and sanitized container and then add it to a new batch. I think I used a sanitized spoon to simply scoop a bit of it up. I believe when I did it I brewed either the same day or the very next day so the yeast was still very fresh. Stored it sealed in the fridge until I brewed.

 

[danimal92sport]

Isn’t racking on to a yeast cake from a previous brew an accepted and common home brew practice? Never done it, but thought it was a thing?

Dan

 

[coonmanx]

Isn’t racking on to a yeast cake from a previous brew an accepted and common home brew practice? Never done it, but thought it was a thing?

Dan

But then you have all of that sludge already there and it will be added to by the new batch. Not sure why anyone would do this. Also there will still be some of the old beer in that yeast so flavors would have to be similar.

 

[danimal92sport]

I spend a lot of time in Don Osborn’s home brew log on his website and if I’m interpreting his notes correctly, it seems like he does it quite a bit. I’d try it this weekend if I had the ingredients for my next brew ready, but I’ll have to harvest and wash and put in the fridge for a couple of weeks while I wait.

Dan

 

[NitrogenWidget]

But then you have all of that sludge already there and it will be added to by the new batch. Not sure why anyone would do this. Also there will still be some of the old beer in that yeast so flavors would have to be similar.

I did it last summer.
used two brew bucket's for 4 consecutive brews with s05 or notty. can't remember which.
I started with a blonde, pale ale, session IPA, and finally a 7% hoppy ipa.
I just planned to brew on the days I was transferring to kegs.

I stopped after the IPA because the sludge in the bucket got thick enough to affect head space.
Also it was reclaimed yeast from the fall and was probably on generation 8 at that point.
I got $$$ worth.
made great beer though.

on the other hand I did take some Notty I had harvested from a porter and tossed it into a pale ale because I only had kolsch and wheat yeast.
It was my regular fuggle smash and honestly i couldn't detect any discernible difference in the final product.
but we are talking 11 gals of pale ale with half a canning jar of slurry thrown in.
I doubt there is enough to make a difference.