Accidentally threw out yeast during trub-dump: am I doomed?

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muppix

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Thought I'd try a Bure Gold kit in my new Fermzilla, mainly so that I could get the hang of pressure fermenting and oxygen-free dry hop / transfers with this vessel before introducing more variables in the shape of one my own recipes. The kit recommended adding the included hops on day 4, but my fermentation was moving along faster as Ive been at 10 PSI / 19 ℃ since day two, and with SG already at 1.015 on day three I decided to throw out the accumulated trub from the collection jar and then use the cleaned, oxygen-purged jar for dry hopping. Fool. Turns out that what I thought was trub was actually yeast, more than the whole jar, with just a tiny amount of actual crud left in the very bottom.

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Once the collection jar was off (with a good portion of the contents covering my knees and the brewery floor) there was no way I could safely reintroduce that lot, so I went and cleaned the jar to prepare it for purging and dry hopping. Once it was reattached and the butterfly valve opened the jar rapidly filled with brew and also with about 1.5" of yeast which had settled on top of the butterfly valve.

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I left it alone and pressure started to build up again, though quite a bit more slowly than it did before. Now I'm a bit confused. I thought that once the yeast starts to settle on the bottom it's effectively finished what it was doing, but the stuff I chucked out yesterday looked OK, and the remains that are in there now are very much active, with little bits becoming detached and floating up to the surface before dropping down again. Before I dumped the trub there was a small amount of foam on top of the vessel, directly above the trial jar:

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To me it looks as though it's the yeast that's sitting in the trial jar which is producing the CO2. I wanted to dry hop at that point as the Krausen had receded at a rate which made me wonder how much more the yeast had to give, a thought that was backed up by the SG. I'm fairly sure that this was the right time to dry-hop, but I couldn't do that using a collection jar full of gunk, so it had to go.

Long story short: have I ruined it? Should I do something different next time? Rigging up an alternative means of dry-hopping is a possibility, and I've seen several options, but that depends on how badly (if at all) I have affected the brew by dumping that yeast / trub.
 
Nope yeast settling out does not mean its dead (or finished.)

Your brew might be a bit slow to finish but i think will be ok.
 
Thanks @johncrobinson and @Zephyr259 that's reassuring. Out of interest, what's the difference between the yeast that's working in suspension and that which has settled on the bottom?

Going forward I want to use my Fermzilla's collection jar to dry-hop, but in doing so I'll either have to dump what's in there or reintroduce it to the brew, unless I dry-hop so early that nothing has yet built up in the bottom. That last option doesn't sound too appealing, since I like a strong hoppy taste in my beer and want to limit hop exposure to 48 hours before packaging, tops.
 
As far as I was aware it's the yeast in suspension which are active, the cells which flocculate and settle are no longer doing much. This also makes sense given that if they're sitting in a thick layer then most of them aren't seeing any wort so can't really be working on the sugars. It's also why less flocculant strains tend to be higher attenuators, they stay in suspension longer so ferment more thoroughly but that also depends on their ability to ferment complex sugars.
 
As far as I was aware it's the yeast in suspension which are active, the cells which flocculate and settle are no longer doing much.

That mirrors my understanding too, cheers. So assuming that all the active yeast is still working away in suspension, I should be OK to dump anything that's settled in the bottom, at any given time, right?
 
Good to hear @AXW123, thanks. Since there are no detriments to clearing out whatever’s settled towards the end of the brew, can I do it several times, or is there no need? I’ll be cold-crashing before kegging (dedicated fridge being delivered tomorrow - yipee) and since I use a floating dip tube there may be no need, but it’s good to know these things.
 
I wouldn't fuss with it multiple times. I have been using a conical for the past 2 years and I just dump it after cold crash and before bottling so I can stir in the priming sugar without raising too much sediment.
 
I wouldn't fuss with it multiple times. I have been using a conical for the past 2 years and I just dump it after cold crash and before bottling so I can stir in the priming sugar without raising too much sediment.
Yes agreed. Also the dump valve on my old plastic conical is more than a bit crotchety. Once ended up with the whole lot on the kitchen worktops! I will get a better stainless steel one at some point. 🤣
 
Yes agreed. Also the dump valve on my old plastic conical is more than a bit crotchety. Once ended up with the whole lot on the kitchen worktops! I will get a better stainless steel one at some point. 🤣
Oh dear... Well I can recommend the brew builder ones, I got mine with butterfly valves and it's great. Only flaw is that the volume markings are about about 5L out.
 
Yes - they look very good. I have a FastFerment 10l and the fittings are plastic s***.
 

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