OG reading when reusing yeast cake

[FisherWoodcraft]

I'm a partial boiler. I cool my partial boil and put it in the fermenter. I add top up water and take an OG to see if I need more water.

For my next brew I'll be pitching onto the cake of my current one. I can't take an OG after the wort is mixed with the yeast, right?

So will I have to top-up in my brewpot and take the OG there?

Thanks,

-Joe

 

[rsmith179]

I would recommend just tossing the wort into your primary and then taking the hydro reading in the primary. The yeast cake inside there will not affect your reading to the point of inaccuracy I don't think. Personally, I just think that you're better off cooling your wort, and then adding that and the top off water to the primary. Best of luck!

 

[babalu87]

I'm a partial boiler. I cool my partial boil and put it in the fermenter. I add top up water and take an OG to see if I need more water.

For my next brew I'll be pitching onto the cake of my current one. I can't take an OG after the wort is mixed with the yeast, right?

So will I have to top-up in my brewpot and take the OG there?

Thanks,

-Joe

I wouldnt recommend that.

Unless you are brewing a giant Barleywine using the whole cake is probably 4-6 times the amount of slurry you will need.

It will also be difficult to impossible to keep your fermentation temperatures in check.

 

[steelerguy]

Wash your slurry to remove the trub from the yeast. Then you can get a good OG reading and pitch the correct amount of yeast.

 

[conpewter]

Seems you are probably using steeping grains plus extract. I'd just calculate my OG based on how much extract I'm putting in (as steeping grains usually do not add much).

Also I've had plenty of success in controlling my fermentation temps when pitching on a yeast cake, I have a freezer with a temp controller on it, I just tape the probe to the side of the carboy and cover the probe with a few folded over layers of bubble wrap (that also gets taped to the carboy)

 

[steelerguy]

Also I've had plenty of success in controlling my fermentation temps when pitching on a yeast cake, I have a freezer with a temp controller on it, I just tape the probe to the side of the carboy and cover the probe with a few folded over layers of bubble wrap (that also gets taped to the carboy)

I don't think temp control is as much of a problem as transferring old trub and dead yeast. Also really easy to over pitch by a larger margin.

 

[FisherWoodcraft]

Seems you are probably using steeping grains plus extract. I'd just calculate my OG based on how much extract I'm putting in (as steeping grains usually do not add much).

Sorry, forgot to mention I'm doing partial mashes, so my mash efficiency does come into play. My last brew ended up being topped to less than 5 gallons to hit my target OG.

This is the first I've heard with folks not recommending pitching directly onto a cake. Interesting.

-Joe

 

[FisherWoodcraft]

Thanks for the replies, everyone. For some reason I never even considered putting the wort in a second fermenter and washing the yeast out of the first. The simplest solutions are sometimes the hardest to see

My plan is to wash the yeast, save a few jars and pitch one directly into my new wort. That should solve both my OG problem and the over pitching problem.

-Joe

 

[conpewter]

Good idea, that way you can save some of the yeast for later.

Pitching right onto the yeast cake won't normally be an issue, but it can be a problem with beers that are supposed to get a lot of their character from the yeast.

I don't normally pitch onto the cake, but I did so for the 999 BW and it really attenuated well 1.119 down to 1.020 (OG includes candi sugar added after fermentation was dying down)

 

[FisherWoodcraft]

Quick update: I washed the yeast from the ESB and directly pitched some of it into the porter. It took off like madd.

Thanks for the advice,

-Joe