What to do... use a yeast cake?

[Algernon]

I have a brew in my fv which I pitched last weekend and has dropped to FG now of 1.010 for a couple of days.
I also have a half pressure barrel of wort which I was just going to ferment in the PB. It occurred to me that I could learn about using yeast cakes and take the finished beer out of the FV and use that yeast I have left over. I could, of course, keep it simple, and just pitch some yeast into my wort now it is cool, and do what I have done in the past.
How does one use a yeast cake, what are the advantages and disadvantages and would any of you bother?

 

[phettebs]

I do it all the time. When I first started doing it, I just pitched the new wort directly onto the old cake. That wasn't ideal for a couple reasons. 1) I was WAY over pitching 2) There was a lot of other **** in there than just yeast. There was some hop debris and cold break pulled in from the BK as well.

Now, I wash it and split the yeast into separate glass jars that go into the fridge. If I brew quickly enough I will just pitch that directly into the next batch. If I take a few months, I'll use it to make a starter.

NOTE: I only do this for liquid yeast. Dried yeast is cheap enough that I just pitch a new sachet.

 

[Algernon]

Thanks Phettebs :thumb:
So for this fairly ordinary OG 1.056 brew I am probably better off punting a new sachet of Wilko's finest into it and dumping the trub/yeast from the old one.
If, however, I wanted to brew some kind of high OG imperial beer then I might want to look up yeast-washing to re-use a hossing great lump of yeast for a traumatic high OG brew? Would the washed yeast need to be acclimatised to the harsh OG of a new imperial brew, or would it simply conquer it by weight of numbers? I imagine if lots of the yeasties died in the process that might make some funny flavours, not to mention perhaps hastening the evolution of the yeast into something less ideal for my brew? Lots of newbie speculation there - again.

 

[phettebs]

Here's what I do for a really high gravity beer:

I brew a normal (1.050 or less) beer and I take great care to transfer cleanly from the brew kettle to the FV. When it's done fermenting. I'll rack the new beer off leaving the cake behind. I'll scoop up about half of it and wash/save it in jars and leave the other half in the FV. Then, I will rack the new high gravity beer directly onto the half cake left in the FV. I've done that multiple times over the past 6 years of brewing and never had a problem.

A few caveats:

* Start with a small beer to begin with. The yeast will be tired from a high gravity beer so don't try to reuse that yeast!
* The starter beer should be fairly neutral. Don't make a hop bomb and then try to reuse that yeast cake without washing it.
* I tend to use lighter coloured beers for the starter beer. I don't typically brew a stout or porter as my starter beer because the resulting cake will be dark too.

Hope that helps,
Baz

 

[hairybiker]

I don't wash (the yeast that is ). I tend to brew similar brews all the time (IPA types) so will either just drop onto the trub from the previous brew if it was available, or scoop out about 150ml into a sanitised capped container. This will then be pitched on the next brew and kept in the fridge for the 1-2 weeks between brews.

I have had no issues with this over the past year. Now

NOTE: I only do this for liquid yeast. Dried yeast is cheap enough that I just pitch a new sachet.

For me a sachet is ~20% of the cost of the brew. So I make a sachet do 4 brews, reducing the cost to 5%.
1st split the sachet to 2x6g
brew beer 1 with first sachet
brew beer 2 with trub/salvaged yeast
repeat for 2nd sachet.
:drink:
But then again I have ZERO income and need to make my available beer money go as far as possible. :sulk:
I try to make do with as much as possible and reuse as much as possible.

Now many new brewers will be saying but 12g is the MIN for a 5gal batch, but for MANY MANY years when I started brewing (late 70's) a 5g sachet was what was recommended and supplied and used by most brewers, it wasn't until quite recently that the 12g sachet became the standard.

 

[phettebs]

Well said HB. My hope is that if a few of us explain what we do and what works for us, the OP can start to find what works for him and can build his own process.

 

[hairybiker]

I don't know how much a sachet of S04 is in the US, but for me it it ~£2/$3.

Brewing is all about making beer, and beer just wants to be made : It doesn't matter if you brew in an old dustbin (been done apparently ) or the latest shiny kit from where ever.
As long as the result is beer and you are happy with it, then that's the way to go.

I have been AG brewing for about 20 years now, I started with biab. Then got a mash tun, then a few years ago made a hlt. But the beer is still much the same :grin:

 

[phettebs]

That's about the same price I pay here which is about half the cost of liquid yeast. I don't often use dry yeast anymore except to brew American beers. But I tend to mostly brew Belgian/UK beers. I just prefer the results I get with liquid. But it is pricey so I do reuse it.

I mash in a beat up old red 48qt coolbox. I heat my strike and sparge water in a dented up aluminum turkey frying pot. Nothing fancy in my setup but I'm very happy with the beer I brew.

Baz

 

[Algernon]

BIAB brewer here. All your yeasty advice is much appreciated. The beer I was thinking of pitching onto the cake has just been sent downstairs with a pack of dry yeast for its dinner. It is possible that when it is finished I will be brewing an imperial stout experiment for Christmas so I will look into dropping that onto the cake. Most of my brews at the moment are fairly cheap efforts, as I am stil learning what I can and can't get away with.
My main problem looks like it might be an excess of kits in my stock. I bought loads from the wilko half price sale and then promptly got a 70L stock pot and went all grain. Oops.
Happily I have just discovered that there is a local amateur brewers club meeting tomorrow spo I shall be popping along there to see what I can learn.
Thanks again for the advice about yeasts - I do like this forum - people are generally so helpful :