Sludge in the bottom of the FV...

[Tim84]

So I ended up transferring my first ever home brew from FV to keg tonight (Wherry)

My question is about the leftover thick layer of sludge in FV one:

- I presume I'm right that I don't want this in my Keg?

- Does it have a use/can it be put to use? Is it e.g. yeast that can be revived with a bit of TLC?

Thanks :thumb:

 

[joe1002]

1) yes you are right.
2) have a read of this:http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=4406 :thumb:

 

[Tim84]

Thanks Joe, yeast harvesting looks fairly straightforward if I had planned ahead and not asked at 11pm having just done the transfer between FV's!

I'm picking up a Young's Harvest Bitter from Tesco (sadly not at £2.75) in the week to re-fill FV1 so I'll get myself prepared to harvest the yeast from this batch instead.

 

[bobsbeer]

If you are making kits there is not much to be gained by reusing the yeast. They all come with a pack of yeast. Were you to substitute the yeast with a better or special one, then yes it's worth harvesting and reusing. But you may as well use a fresh packet of yeast from the kit rather than messing about with washing. Also you reduce the chance of infection.

 

[Fil]

Think I read somewhere about boiling rinsed yeast slurry down to make home made marmite :)

 

[NickW]

Think I read somewhere about boiling rinsed yeast slurry down to make home made marmite :)

Got a link? What a great idea

 

[jonnymorris]

It's good for the garden apparently.

 

[Tim84]

I did kind of wonder what the value of harvesting my cheap kit supplied yeast would be!

I will put this batch on the garden for good measure, may harvest the next lot anyway just for the fun of it though.

I imagine it'll take me a while to progress to AG as I've only just brewed my first ever kit!

 

[LeithR]

If you are willing to harvest the slurry from your next brew then make sure its a good quality yeast from Danstar or Wyeast or one of he known good producers of quality yeast.

They are worth investing in.

You can harvest them very easily and I'm finding that rinsing is not necessary, I have tried rinsing but I'm now finding that leaving the yeast under a blanket of beer is better for the yeast than is rinsing, especially in the domestic situation. I'm sure that in laboratory conditions rinsing works well and is probably better for regaining viable yeast.

On re-use this approach seems to produce for me more lively yeast to be pitched into a starter for the new brew than rinsed yeast.

What to do - After taking your brew off the yeast cake for bottling swirl the yeast cake and the remaining beer to get it off the bottom of your FV and put it into a Bottle large enough to take at least 200mL of it - if you have larger bottles then great! give it a good swirl in the bottle and stick it in the Fridge over night. In the morning - hopefully you will see 3 distinct layers, the first on top is the fermented beer, second is the re-usable yeast and 3rd is the Trub from the previous brew. To reuse - in one pour get rid of the spend beer (top layer) then pour the second layer into a container where you can make a starter (a glass Pyrex conical is ideal) then get rid of the third layer of trub.

You now have a viable yeast to use as a starter for your next brew.

You can actually keep the yeast cake and spent beer in the fridge for a couple of weeks before you need to use it.

 

[kentmark]

Thats sounds pretty straightforward might give that a go!

 

[IPA]

So I ended up transferring my first ever home brew from FV to keg tonight (Wherry)

My question is about the leftover thick layer of sludge in FV one:

- I presume I'm right that I don't want this in my Keg?

- Does it have a use/can it be put to use? Is it e.g. yeast that can be revived with a bit of TLC?

Thanks :thumb:

Here are a couple of suggestions.
You can eat it as it is rich in vitamin B. In fact in the 1960's Whitbread had a yeast dispatch department which would send out, free of charge, tubs of yeast to people with skin conditions such as acne.
You can throw it in the boiler with your next brew as a yeast nutrient. Apparently Fullers do, or did do this, with London Pride.

 

[rpt]

You can eat it as it is rich in vitamin B.

Marmite. The only good thing to come out of the Carling brewery in Burton on Trent.

 

[graysalchemy]

Think I read somewhere about boiling rinsed yeast slurry down to make home made marmite :)

Got a link? What a great idea

Hereyou go.

Bit of a faff takes about a week on the stove so probably not really worth it. I did think about it after making Mancunian sauce (aka worcestershire ) but thought better of it. :lol:

 

[Tim84]

Some good ideas and advice coming out here - Marmite is probably a bit too involved though! Not sure I fancy eating the sludge raw either, not too appealing!

If I harvested the yeast then put it into the next brew long with the packet of yeast too then will that achieve anything, or is too much yeast a bad thing?

 

[graysalchemy]

If I harvested the yeast then put it into the next brew long with the packet of yeast too then will that achieve anything, or is too much yeast a bad thing?

You will probably have two different strains of yeast unless you are using the same kit, so I wouldn't. In any case pitching a whole yeast cake on its own isn't a good idea either you may get an over active fermentation. Take heed from one who speaks from experience. :whistle: :whistle:

 

[rpt]

Oh no - not that photo again.

Pitching a whole yeast cake is probably over pitching which can lead to off flavours. I've done it once and it was a success though.

 

[zgoda]

I'm doing this all the time, collect all yeast from one brew and use everything in another, 2 or 3 days later. No rinsing, no washing (well, most of the time), reuse 3-4 times then dump and start with fresh yeast.

 

[taxidiver]

I'm doing this all the time, collect all yeast from one brew and use everything in another.

I always used to do this (I only make kit brews) but I found that after the second or third use the (PET) bottles would have streaks down the inside as the brew settled and I used to have to give them a few raps with my knuckes to dislodge it and encourage it to settle. I now only ever use the supplied yeast fresh every time.

It means I can drink it sooner.

Regards
Geoff

 

[zgoda]

Yeast mutates with every generation, I'm rather comfortable with the direction in which yeast mutates in my brewery. Usually it's to lower flocculation and higher attenuation.