Pitched a sloppy slurry 4 days ago

[North_of_60]

I made a very light SMaSH, 3.5% using Nottingham yeast and saved the slurry. When I ran the boiled wort through a CFC I let it drain into my fermenter through a 200 micron filter shown below:


After 2 weeks in the fermenter I transferred it to a keg and left 1/2” of beer behind. I swereled the bucket around until all the trub and beer were mixed together and then poured it into 4 pint Masson jars. I put them in the refrigerator and left them for about a month. Is that all yeast that in the jars? All four jars look the same. I expected to see some trub in the bottom and yeast on top.


Four days ago when I brewed a Chocolate Porter, I took one pint out of the fridge to warm up while I was mashing and brewing. I poured off most of the beer and shook the rest up and put it in a sanitized 32 oz measuring cup. Once my boil was complete and the wort cooled I added about a cup and a half of wort to the yeast and let it set for an hour or so and then pitch the entire contents into the fermenter. 3 hours later it was percolating away and kept on for the next three days. Today, day 4, it’s almost through. I have no idea what my pitch rate was. Did I over pitch? I doubt that I under pitched because the airlock was perking away steady for three days.

This is the first time I have harvested and repitched yeast. I’m surprised at how simple it was to do. I would appreciate any advice to improve my technique in the future.

 

[Riverevir]

I’ve taken to doing it too. I have had success for about 6 batches now- my fermentation’s are a little aggressive where I’ve switched to blow offs with 1g of headspace but I have been happy with the results. I won’t claim it’s perfect but it’s something I have grown to trust *shrug*

I think it’s a mix of yeast and trub but I simply shake and pitch the same size jar. Let me know how it tastes

 

[rhys333]

You did over-pitch, but it's fine. You probably needed a 1/2 cup of that slurry at most, and you usually want to see the first signs of activity at about 18-24 hours. That lag generally means the yeast is reproducing new cells to help with fermentation and keep the strain strong. I like to estimate slurry at 1.5B cells/ml of slurry, with about 15% cell death per month of cold storage. If it's stored for more than a few months, it seems to stabilize, perhaps at about 50% of the original cell count and remains that way for a long time.

As an example, I brewed an amber ale recently, using Ringwood slurry that was 1 year and 1 month old. I put about 150ml of slurry into a small 1L starter and let it ferment out. When I pitched that sucker a few days later it kicked off in 12 hours and fermented out in no time at all.

 

[North_of_60]

So when you pitch a slurry, do you just pitch as is, or do you make a starter?

 

[rhys333]

So when you pitch a slurry, do you just pitch as is, or do you make a starter?

If it's a few weeks old, I just pitch it. If it's a couple months or more, I'll make a small starter.

 

[North_of_60]

It has been 7 days since I pitched the slurry, the airlock is still burping about once every 2 minutes or less. I decided to check the FG, it came in at 1.011, projected was 1.012. The OG was projected to be 1.056 but came in at 1.058. I'm happy with the numbers, I'm just curious as to why the airlock is still active.

When I opened the bucket there was no krausen on top. With the exception of a few bubbles it was clear. There is a thin transparent film on top that I think is from the 100% cocoa powder.

Should I cold crash this thing to keep the beer from getting too dry? If so, for how long should I cold crash it before I keg it?

 

[rhys333]

Oops. Replied to the wrong thread