Fresh yeast slurry

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dmaxweb

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I have some fresh yesterday US-05 slurry from a local craft brewery. Tomorrow I'm brewing 10 gallons of 1.069 IPA. I have always made 3 liter starters from liquid yeast and decanted before pitching. How much slurry do I need for a 3 liter starter? Or can I make a smaller starter?
 
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Having never used slurry before, I don't know what I need. How much slurry do I need without making a starter? I have 4 jars each with about 5oz well settled slurry.
 
Having never used slurry before, I don't know what I need. How much slurry do I need without making a starer?

What's the batch size and OG of the beer?
 
Pint jars
 

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See post #1

Oops. Yeah, you did already say. Assuming a slurry with "average" density and "average" non-yeast componts, a desired pitch rate of 750K cells/ml/°P, and 10 gallons of 1.069 wort, BrewCipher recommends 237 ml of slurry (about a cup).
 
[...] BrewCipher recommends 237 ml of slurry (about a cup).
If that's a pint jar in post #5, pitch 2 of those, that would be about 8 oz (~240ml) total then.
How many jars did you get?

Was that harvested from a low/medium gravity (1.045-1.060) Porter or Stout, and not much bigger?
 
Oops. Yeah, you did already say. Assuming a slurry with "average" density and "average" non-yeast componts, a desired pitch rate of 750K cells/ml/°P, and 10 gallons of 1.069 wort, BrewCipher recommends 237 ml of slurry (about a cup).
Based on my picture in post #5, there looks to be about 5 oz dense and some active on top. Do you think
If that's a pint jar in post #5, pitch 2 of those, that would be about 8 oz (~240ml) total then.
How many jars did you get?

Was that harvested from a low/medium gravity (1.045-1.060) Porter or Stout, and not much bigger?
Yes those are pint jars from a stout. Since I'm making an IPA, should I decant and just use the dense? They use US-05 for all their ales except a few specialities. I got 4 jars but I can get all I want. I'll just get quarts next time.
 
there looks to be about 5 oz dense and some active on top. Do you think
Yes, about 5 oz (~150 ml) compacted slurry on the bottom, with frothy active yeast on top, 1 oz max, I'd say.

You can't decant the jar in the state it is. If you do, you'd lose the super healthy frothy yeast on top. Generally, only decant (mostly) clear supernatant, above a settled out cake, but never the (good) yeast on top.

If you let the jar sit in the fridge for a few days, the frothy yeast will have also settled out. Then you could pour off the stout on top. But it's much better to pitch live, non-dormant yeast. I'd seriously doubt the 2-4 oz of stout will taint your 10 gallons of IPA noticeably in any way.

I see some dark specks, but can't tell how much trub (and dead yeast) is mixed in with the yeast in the bottom layer. I doubt it's more than 10-20%.
 
The frothy yeast at the top is the best part. I would not try to decant. If you were brewing something really light like a low-gravity cream ale, you might not want the residual stout getting in there. In an IPA, I really don't think it will matter at all.

If you really want to make a starter, scoop all the foam off the top and use that, and save the rest of the jar for a later batch. (that low-gravity cream ale might be a reason to do this)
 
Yes, about 5 oz (~150 ml) compacted slurry on the bottom, with frothy active yeast on top, 1 oz max, I'd say.

You can't decant the jar in the state it is. If you do, you'd lose the super healthy frothy yeast on top. Generally, only decant (mostly) clear supernatant, above a settled out cake, but never the (good) yeast on top.

If you let the jar sit in the fridge for a few days, the frothy yeast will have also settled out. Then you could pour off the stout on top. But it's much better to pitch live, non-dormant yeast. I'd seriously doubt the 2-4 oz of stout will taint your 10 gallons of IPA noticeably in any way.

I see some dark specks, but can't tell how much trub (and dead yeast) is mixed in with the yeast in the bottom layer. I doubt it's more than 10-20%.
I also have two 4 oz jars that I picked up 2 days ago when I was thinking I was just going to make a starter. They have settled out to about 2 oz compacted slurry. I can decant and pitch one of these in addition to the full contents of one pint jar if that would be better.

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I also have two 4 oz jars that I picked up 2 days ago when I was thinking I was just going to make a starter. They have settled out to about 1.5 compacted slurry. If you think I need more slurry, I can decant and pitch one of these in addition to the full contents of one pint jar.
As @VikeMan said before, you may not need to pitch more than what's in that foamy pint-size jar, without decanting that is:
Assuming a slurry with "average" density and "average" non-yeast componts, a desired pitch rate of 750K cells/ml/°P, and 10 gallons of 1.069 wort, BrewCipher recommends 237 ml of slurry (about a cup).
237ml / 30ml/oz = ~8 fl. oz of slurry.

The pint jar in the picture you posted may well contain 8 oz of slurry once the foam had settled out. That amount should be plenty for the job. as others have said.
Coming straight from a brewery, it should be good, active yeast, with relatively low amounts of trub, yes!
No need to pitch more than that in 10-11 gallons of a 1.069 wort.

Just as important as the right pitch rate, the chilled wort needs to be oxygenated (or very thoroughly aerated, at minimum) before pitching the yeast. And if the yeast was stored in the fridge (as is recommended), make sure to bring it to room temps before pitching. ;)
 
As @VikeMan said before, you may not need to pitch more than what's in that foamy pint-size jar, without decanting that is:

237ml / 30ml/oz = ~8 fl. oz of slurry.

The pint jar in the picture you posted may well contain 8 oz of slurry once the foam had settled out. That amount should be plenty for the job. as others have said.
Coming straight from a brewery, it should be good, active yeast, with relatively low amounts of trub, yes!
No need to pitch more than that in 10-11 gallons of a 1.069 wort.

Just as important as the right pitch rate, the chilled wort needs to be oxygenated (or very thoroughly aerated, at minimum) before pitching the yeast. And if the yeast was stored in the fridge (as is recommended), make sure to bring it to room temps before pitching. ;)
After 24 hours it's out of the fridge and will be pitching in about 4 hours. Looks good to me.

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That looks nice n fresh. Rambo looking for a jungle. Pitch it! Pitch it!
 
From your first and last pic, it looks like typical settling, so you have about 3 oz of dense slurry. Just about right for a FIVE gallon batch. When your TEN gallons wort is chilled and treated with plenty of pure oxygen, pitch TWO jars. Temperature matched to wort. -
I usually harvest two quart jars of fairly thin slurry from the bottom of my 12 gallon boil-and-early-ferment vessel when I transfer almost fully fermented beer to two cornies. The quart jars settle to about half full of dense slurry. One jar is plenty for my next 10-12 gallon batch (I can leave the spotty trub that’s on the bottom)
Better to OVER-pitch than under. But there’s a lot more to the subject!
Listen to the professionals and do the math. This pic is the FIFTH page on the subject from the Chris White and Zainasheff YEAST book.
 

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With yeast like that there is no maths. Pitch it at will, step back and enjoy the show 😃
 
The IPA is on it's way.:)

10.75 gallons wort chilled to 68°F
O.G.1.070 (target 1.069 @ 83.5% efficiency)
Fermentation 68°F
Pitched one pint yeast slurry
Active fermentation 6hr50m
I'm putting on a blow off tube for overnight. I don't want to wake up to "zealous" fermentation mess.
 
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The IPA is on it's way.:)

10.75 gallons wort chilled to 68°F
O.G.1.070 (target 1.069 @ 83.5% efficiency)
Fermentation 68°F
Pitched one pint yeast slurry
Active fermentation 6hr50m
I'm putting on a blow off tube for overnight. I don't want to wake up to "zealous" fermentation mess.
S.G.=1.049 @ 36 hrs. fermentation. Target dry hop @ 1.022 and finish at 1.016
 
The IPA is down to 1.040 in 3.5 days. I'm still getting a bubble in the airlock every 2 seconds.
 
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Picked up some more fresh yeast slurry today. Williamsburg is a relatively small town but it's a college town and a tourist town. Other than Anheuser Busch, we have 4 craft breweries, a distillery, and a meadery. These are RVA 131 (Fullers) freshly harvested today. Looks like a stout, porter, mild, and a bitter coming up.
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The IPA is down to 1.040 in 3.5 days. I'm still getting a bubble in the airlock every 2 seconds.
The IPA is in the secondary on the dry hops and I kept the slurry from the primary. The slurry has settled out as shown in the gallon jug. I have an 11 gallon 1.054 amber ale on deck. Since there is still some activity in the jug and it smells great, I don't think i should decant. I'm thinking about swirling the jug and pitching. Is this too much for 11 gallons?

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The IPA is in the secondary on the dry hops and I kept the slurry from the primary.
I thought someone had mentioned before not to do secondaries... :rolleyes:

Tomorrow I'm brewing 10 gallons of 1.069 IPA
Now that slurry came from your 1.069 beer.^ It's considered high gravity, not the most ideal for repitching. But it's probably fine to use (I have proof of that), so roll with it.

Looks like a sufficient amount to pitch, yes.
Indeed, don't decant.
 
I thought someone had mentioned before not to do secondaries... :rolleyes:
I've gone back to using them. It gives me a chance to rack the beer off the trub while it's still kinda active and can better process the oxygen it picks up, then I bottle directly from the "secondary" fermenter. If I try to bottle from the first ("primary") fermenter, I get way too much crap in the bottles. If I use a bottling bucket, I'm exposing the beer to oxygen a lot closer to the end when it's more vulnerable -- but maybe that doesn't matter because of the priming sugar. I use a bucket for the primary, which makes it easy to use ice bottles for cooling.

What I *really* don't want to do is rack the beer twice; from a primary to a secondary, and then again to a bottling bucket.
 
I've gone back to using them. It gives me a chance to rack the beer off the trub while it's still kinda active and can better process the oxygen it picks up, then I bottle directly from the "secondary" fermenter. If I try to bottle from the first ("primary") fermenter, I get way too much crap in the bottles. If I use a bottling bucket, I'm exposing the beer to oxygen a lot closer to the end when it's more vulnerable -- but maybe that doesn't matter because of the priming sugar. I use a bucket for the primary, which makes it easy to use ice bottles for cooling.

What I *really* don't want to do is rack the beer twice; from a primary to a secondary, and then again to a bottling bucket.
My fermenters have rotating racking arms. I flush the secondary with CO2 and add whole leaf dry hops. Then it's a closed transfer into the secondary pushing CO2 until I start to pick up yeast/trub in the racking arm. At that point I swirl the primary and push the slurry into a gallon jug. I keg into CO2 flushed corneys. No bottling, no O2 exposure.
 
Picked up some more fresh yeast slurry today. Williamsburg is a relatively small town but it's a college town and a tourist town. Other than Anheuser Busch, we have 4 craft breweries, a distillery, and a meadery. These are RVA 131 (Fullers) freshly harvested today. Looks like a stout, porter, mild, and a bitter coming up.
View attachment 781730
Looks beautiful.
I have heard that yeast can survive for a long long time if it sits on a beer like that.
 

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