Stuck fermentaion/ yeast washing question

[cage333]

So it looks like I have stuck fermentation (cough, cough- under pitched with no starter). I currently live overseas and it takes weeks to get supplies in. I transferred over to secondary and washed the yeast cake from the primary. It has only been sitting a night. A decent layer of yeast has collected in the bottom of three masons jars it was distributed in.

Here is the question. I get that in MOST cases you would want to wait for days for the yeast to collect and do your best to remove all trub/ beer off of the cake. For my purposes, I was hoping to collect, then make a starter then re-pitch on the same unfinished beer. Thoughts on the wait time?

 

[statseeker]

I would have just left it alone. How do you know you're fermentation is stuck? Have you taken gravity readings for 3 days straight? Have they been consistent?

 

[IslandLizard]

+1^

I hope you understand that what you've done is counteractive. Taking the beer off the yeast cake leaves it with very little yeast, only what is suspended in the beer. That leftover yeast is unable to grow more as it is. Instead you should have roused that cake a few times, by gently swirling it back into suspension, and perhaps raising the temperature a bit.

First you need to make sure the beer isn't already done by taking a gravity reading. Airlock activity is not a good indicator of the status of the beer.

But not all is lost. If it isn't done is needs to be "resurrected."
Can you make a starter from at least one of the saved jars? To be sure, you should step that starter up at least once, or better twice to increase the cell count drastically. Then when the last step reaches high krausen, the point where it has maximum foam and is very active, you can pitch it into your "stuck" beer. Then hopefully the alcohol present won't kill too many yeast cells off and resume fermentation.

Lastly, keep your sanitation in check. Tinkering with beer increases the risk of introducing infections, as well as oxidation from air in the headspace.

 

[cage333]

I would have just left it alone. How do you know you're fermentation is stuck? Have you taken gravity readings for 3 days straight? Have they been consistent?

Correct, multiple gravity readings over a few days with no change.

 

[Culbetron]

You do not want to take the wort off of the yeast until it's done fermenting. In fact you are much better off not ever transferring to a secondary.

You can try to undo the mistake by adding the yeast that you removed back into the fermenting wort. It's doesn't matter what trub is in there, it's all from the same beer anyway. Just put it back in.

 

[cage333]

+1^

I hope you understand that what you've done is counteractive. Taking the beer off the yeast cake leaves it with very little yeast, only what is suspended in the beer. That leftover yeast is unable to grow more as it is. Instead you should have roused that cake a few times, by gently swirling it back into suspension, and perhaps raising the temperature a bit.

First you need to make sure the beer isn't already done by taking a gravity reading. Airlock activity is not a good indicator of the status of the beer.

But not all is lost. If it isn't done is needs to be "resurrected."
Can you make a starter from at least one of the saved jars? To be sure, you should step that starter up at least once, or better twice to increase the cell count drastically. Then when the last step reaches high krausen, the point where it has maximum foam and is very active, you can pitch it into your "stuck" beer. Then hopefully the alcohol present won't kill too many yeast cells off and resume fermentation.

Lastly, keep your sanitation in check. Tinkering with beer increases the risk of introducing infections, as well as oxidation from air in the headspace.

I hope you realize that moving to the secondary was for the purpose of harvesting and re-pitching. Removing it from the yeast cake means no yeast..really. Huh learned something new (sarcasm). I don’t have the ability purchase to more yeast in a timely manner. Multiple gravity readings over a period of time with no change have led to the conclusion of a "stuck" fermentation.

The real question was on harvesting this yeast, making a starter, and re-pitching into the same beer. Once again, it is understood that the purpose of washing is for the reuse while a providing a sample free of cross contaminate of trub/ beer into the new wort. Since this is going in to the same beer, what is the opinion on the wait time on allowing it to fall out and create a starter?

 

[statseeker]

At this point you've already made alcoholic beer. All you're gonna do is pitch more yeast into an oxygen depleted environment. Maybe you'll get 2 more gravity points out of all this effort. Maybe. Swirl it in primary. It'll be less risk for you. Time table is pretty irrelevant at this point if you have already racked off the cake.

 

[IslandLizard]

I hope you realize that moving to the secondary was for the purpose of harvesting and re-pitching. Removing it from the yeast cake means no yeast..really. Huh learned something new (sarcasm). I don’t have the ability purchase to more yeast in a timely manner. Multiple gravity readings over a period of time with no change have led to the conclusion of a "stuck" fermentation.

The real question was on harvesting this yeast, making a starter, and re-pitching into the same beer. Once again, it is understood that the purpose of washing is for the reuse while a providing a sample free of cross contaminate of trub/ beer into the new wort. Since this is going in to the same beer, what is the opinion on the wait time on allowing it to fall out and create a starter?

No need to wait. Grow that starter now, from trub and all. If you use one jar, you'll have 2 left for the next brews. It will take 2-4 days, or longer) to grow an adequate amount, depending on how many viable cells you harvested.

BTW what is your FG right now and what was the OG and the yeast you used? Depending on your recipe and brewing methods, there maybe no fermentables left. Many extract brews have "stalled out" at around 1.022.

 

[hellawaits77]

Ok, the "damage" is done. Don't listen to the negative comments, there's nothing you can do to change it now. Your beer right now isn't going to ferment much, if at all, with no yeast. I'd clean and pitch the yeast into the secondary ASAP.

 

[PRE66_6TART]

I think his goal was to make a starter so he could repitch at high krausen. I don't know if that will work but you might as well try it. As far as your question about washing, you don't need to. In fact, it's better not to. I never wash my yeast. I think it's counter-productive.

 

[cage333]

No need to wait. Grow that starter now, from trub and all. If you use one jar, you'll have 2 left for the next brews. It will take 2-4 days, or longer) to grow an adequate amount, depending on how many viable cells you harvested.

BTW what is your FG right now and what was the OG and the yeast you used? Depending on your recipe and brewing methods, there maybe no fermentables left. Many extract brews have "stalled out" at around 1.022.

Awesome. I only all grain. It went into the fermenter at 1.064 and is currently sitting a 1.027. Thanks for the info. I will follow up on the results.