Yeast life and aging

[Lbarouf]

Providing that I start the fermentation in ideal conditions. If I were to keep feeding the yeast when activity is decreasing, could I feed it with fermentable sugars indefinitely ? How about priming sugar?

Also, how does the yeast affect the taste when aging? Say I keep a fermenting vessel with the wort and traub for say 1 year. Would I be best to rack into another vessel to age without traub? If so, how can I save the lees ?

So far my only aging experiences have been to rack into a cask, and wait.

 

[RPh_Guy]

If I were to keep feeding the yeast when activity is decreasing, could I feed it with fermentable sugars indefinitely ? How about priming sugar?

Umm, yes you can keep yeast alive by feeding it.
Beer yeast should be fed wort, not simple sugar.

Also, how does the yeast affect the taste when aging? Say I keep a fermenting vessel with the wort and traub for say 1 year.

Autolysis imparts umami flavor. It varies by strain and other conditions. Sometimes nutty, meaty, egg whites, soy sauce, etc.

If so, how can I save the lees ?

If you want to save a culture that long you should use a storage method like freezing/ cold storage, slants, or isotonic saline.

Cheers

 

[bracconiere]

wouldn't alcohol tolerance be a factor for this?

 

[RPh_Guy]

wouldn't alcohol tolerance be a factor for this?

Yes. ABV should be maintained by proper dilution of added fermentables, if maintaining a liquid culture.

 

[bracconiere]

Yes. ABV should be maintained by proper dilution of added fermentables, if maintaining a liquid culture.

just thought i'd mention it, since i didn't see it said....

 

[Lbarouf]

Thank you. I will experiment with small batches.