Wyeast 3944 Carbonating yeast storage in the fridge.

[Remos112]

Something weird happened to me lately and I am wondering if anybody has experienced something simillar. So basically I made a big starter of with this yeast and it fermented like crazy. Let it sit for another week and then decanted into a big mason jar. The plan was to brew with half of it a few days later, but I had to postpone an extra week. Not only was the mason jar very hazy for at least a weak, but imagine the surprise I had when I opened up the lid. It was carbonated, and a yeast was foaming over immediately.

How is this possible, even if there where fermentables left in the mix is this yeast capable of fermenting at fridge temperatures @4C? Or am I missing something here.

Would love to hear your thoughts.

 

[dmtaylor]

Most yeast can ferment at 4 C. Just very slowly. I've successfully fermented ciders to completion in my refrigerator. As we all know, if you leave any juice in the refrigerator long enough, or milk or anything else with sugar for that matter, it will eventually ferment. Also, when yeast gets really hungry, it will resort to cannibalism and eat itself!