Pitching a whole yeast cake?

[MisterOJ]

I've been reading up on barleywines and I think I'd like to try one at some point in the next month or two, but I have yeast questions.

I get that since they are so high in alcohol, you need to pitch a lot of yeast at the beginning of fermentation. A couple of things I have read suggest using a 1-gallon starter. I think I grasp how to make a starter, though I've never done it.

I've also read that you can just pitch the whole yeast cake from a previous batch of beer. This seems easier, but can it be a yeast cake from just any beer? I assume it can't be from a batch where you dry-hopped in the primary, right? Or would that not matter much? And is it something you'd need to do like really soon? Within a day or two after bottling the batch whose yeast you're pitching? Or within a few hours of bottling?

 

[Jebu1788]

You bet you need to pitch a lot of yeast. Aerate the snot out of it too after the boil.

As far as pitching slurry, you should be fine so long as you keep things sanitary. But using an entire yeast cake, while not unheard of (some pitch directly onto it!), is not the best amount of yeast to use. Check out this website:

Mrmalty.com

And if you're interested in saving yeast and making starters in the future, look at this instructional for washing yeast:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/

 

[Calder]

If you store the cake in sanitary jars (like Mason jars), it will keep for quite a while in the fridge.

You can save (and re-use) yeast after dry hopping; but you are just adding more crap to the beer. I like to rack to secondary before dry hopping so that I can get relatively clean yeast.

You can wash the yeast and use Mr.Malty if you want, or I would suggest an easier, less precise method:

- Harvest yeast, store in mason jars.
- Use about a quarter of the cake for beer of the same gravity.
- Use about a half the cake for a beer of 2X the gravity of the first beer.
- If the slurry is used withing a month just straight pitch (no starter). Assumes the original beer did not have any problems.
- It is not necessary to wash the yeast.

 

[amazinglarry]

Pitching a whole yeast cake is fine as long as it's:
only a few weeks old (unrefrigerated)
not exposed to a high degree of heat since it was used last
it wasn't from a high gravity beer
you didn't dry hop (just because some of the hop flavor will carry through, otherwise its not a big deal).

Also, make sure the yeast cake is from a yeast strain you want to use in your barley wine.

 

[Jwood]

while i agree that you can store slurry in sanitized mason jars, i don't agree that you can just pitch direct slurry anytime within a month. I believe it is only after about a week or so before the viability of stored slurry starts to drop enough to have an effect. If you aren't using the slurry within a week, i'd make a big enough starter or step up a starter to your desired amount.

Again, Mrmalty.com will tell you what you need.

 

[Calder]

while i agree that you can store slurry in sanitized mason jars, i don't agree that you can just pitch direct slurry anytime within a month. I believe it is only after about a week or so before the viability of stored slurry starts to drop enough to have an effect. If you aren't using the slurry within a week, i'd make a big enough starter or step up a starter to your desired amount.

I used to think that, but after making countless starters and realizing the yeast still had high viability, I've been just straight pitching slurry if it's less than a month. I generally wash it when I pitch rather than when I harvest.

I've used Mr. Malty several times, and I think it is just a guessing game when using it for slurry. And I don't agree with their yeast viability calculations; When you harvest it from a beer (where it could have been sitting for a while, maybe a month, at room temperature and under high pressure), it's about 95%. Keep it for another month at more ideal conditions (fridge and low pressure), and it's viability drops to 50% .... another month and it's down to 10%. These numbers don't make sense to me, and do not agree with my experience.