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Toonahfish

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OK, so, I've had Brewferm Abdij in the FV for a week exactly, and the fermentation is pretty much over. It's got down to 1.012, so it's basically finished.

Now, on the one hand it needs at least one more week to finish fermenting for sure, and on the other hand I'm anxious to get my next brew going. I have two demijohns with airlocks doing nothing. So can I transfer the Abdij into these demijohns, attach the air locks and let then finish off? Would I need to transfer a little of the trub into the demijohns too, or should I avoid that? Or could I transfer to the demijohns and get my next brew going on top of the trub? If it makes a difference, the next brew is going to be a coopers chocolate/vanilla stout.

Thoughts?
 
OK thanks. And what about the trub at the bottom of the FV? Can I pitch the new brew straight on top of it? Will I actually need to put in any more yeast?
 
OK thanks. And what about the trub at the bottom of the FV? Can I pitch the new brew straight on top of it? Will I actually need to put in any more yeast?
+1 with rodabod.

Pitch away. You won't need new yeast. It's pretty much as if you've just done a massive starter. There'll be loads of yeast in your trub. Keep your sanitary regime up to scratch and you can use the trub several times. Although in saying that, Maybe after your next pitch you can wash your trub and get extra life from it:thumb:
 
Lovely. I'll get the sorted perhaps midweek.

Sorry, Toonafish, if it sound like I am asking a lot of questions, but:

Is the yeast still in the fermenter? (- If so I would suggest moving it into a smaller vessel before the middle of next week)

Do you have the Coopers yeast with the stout kit? (If so, I would be inclined to add boiled and cooled water to the trub you have, and move to a smaller pet bottle - maybe 0.5 to 1L -with a lid. Keep this in the fridge until needed and use the kit yeast with the stout.) The Coopers yeast plus stout kit is a sure fire winner. Even with the hundreds of enhancements tried and reported on the Kits thread.
 
As stesmi says, there'll be loads of yeast in the trub. I wouldn't pitch the new b brew directly onto the trub in the bottom of the FV as you will want a clean and sanitised FV. Heres what I do to reuse some of the yeast cake/trub.

i) Boil and cool 2L of water. After you've racked your beer off the trub pour the 2L of water into the FV.
ii) Swill the 2L around in the FV to get as much of the trub off the bottom of the FV so there's none stuck there.
iii) Pour slurry into a 5L water bottle and leave over night
iv) The next morning the slurry will have seperated out with a 'layer' of old beer sitting above trub slurry -decant this off.
v) Pour some of the slurry into a largish jar - about 700ml will do. Dispose of the rest of the slurry in the 5L water bottle.
vi) put jar in fridge overnight.
vii) the next morning the slurry will have seprated out again into two layers - old beer on top and trub slurry on the bottom,
viii)decant off old beer

The slurry is now pitchable and you can keep it in the fridge for a maximum of two weeks. Any longer than this I would either throw it or rinse the yeast out and make a starter with the rinsed yeast
 
Many thanks for this, MyQul. This is what I would do if I were less slap-dash.

Mine goes something like this:

Remember to wash yeast a bit late in the racking stage
Run some cold water out the tap into the FV with remaining trub
Swish it around a bit, without "picking up the dead cells" i.e. until I can see some of the bottom of the FV
Look round for a sterilised 2L PET bottle, rinse frantically, put it in the sink and stick a clean-ish looking funnel in it whilst spraying it with the Star San sprayer - If I remember
Pick up FV with one hand, try to stop the PET bottle and funnel contraption from falling over with the other hand, whilst trying to "aim" the contents of the FV in the general direction of the funnel
Stop pouring when something bad happens
Screw on lid of 2L PET bottle and spray with Star San, to ensure maximum sanitation
Move to garage for a bit - until looking clear on the top section
Decant the middle bit into empty 250ml lemonade bottles when there is no rugby on the TV - sanitise funnel carefully - now it is too late
Leave in the fridge until start of next brew, then remove to warm to ambient temperature, shake until lots of the little beggars are floating
Do rest of brew then chuck in as many as seems necessary at the end
 
Sorry, Toonafish, if it sound like I am asking a lot of questions, but:

Is the yeast still in the fermenter? (- If so I would suggest moving it into a smaller vessel before the middle of next week)

Do you have the Coopers yeast with the stout kit? (If so, I would be inclined to add boiled and cooled water to the trub you have, and move to a smaller pet bottle - maybe 0.5 to 1L -with a lid. Keep this in the fridge until needed and use the kit yeast with the stout.) The Coopers yeast plus stout kit is a sure fire winner. Even with the hundreds of enhancements tried and reported on the Kits thread.

Hi Slid, I haven't transferred the beer from the FV yet, so yes, the yeast is still in the FV, along with the beer and the trub. Given that kits come with yeast, is there much point in keeping the old yeast?
 
Hi Slid, I haven't transferred the beer from the FV yet, so yes, the yeast is still in the FV, along with the beer and the trub. Given that kits come with yeast, is there much point in keeping the old yeast?

All the above advice is sound. If you like experimenting with yeast then by all means use your Abdij yeast to make your stout, either pitching straight to it or washing your yeast first. One thing I'd say though. If your brewferm brew is infected in anyway then your new brew will also be infected (in all probability) if you use your old yeast. :sick:
 
I don't think it's infected. I had another cheeky little taste when I tested the SG this evening and it tastes glorious. If it tastes this good now, I can't wait to see what it's like in 6 months! I'm seriously considering getting another Abdij going once the stout is all bottled up...
 
But also, what is the point of keeping yeast given that these kits come with yeast? I can understand keeping it if I go AG, but I'm not at that stage yet, I'm too new to the homebrewing process. Thoughts?
 
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