Using Mr Malty

[mattybabsy]

once the starter has begun fermenting, do I want to keep swirling it?

 

[graysalchemy]

yes keep it agitated :thumb:

 

[mattybabsy]

what does malty mean by 'type of fermentation'? lager, ale or hybrid? is lager a bottom fermenting yeast, ale a top? what is a hybrid?

 

[graysalchemy]

Your belgian yeasts are all ale yeasts, and i think it would be fair to say you are pitching a yeast slurry. :thumb:

 

[mattybabsy]

thx- crikey that has me down at 400ml of yeast- is that 400 ml of white stuff once the bigger starter has all settled down and I can see the yeast at the bottom?

 

[graysalchemy]

Yes I would say so

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Im not being argumentive, but 400ml of yeast, surley that cant be right

 

[johnnyboy1965]

When I harvest a yeast I get 50ml max, to whch I add to 2li of wort at the SG of what beer Im going to be using it in. When this is fermenting rapidly I add it to my brew

 

[mattybabsy]

lol, yeah. not sure where that number came from tbh. Just reran it and it has 164 mls

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Im not saying MrMalty is wrong but that still looks like a lot of yeast (Imght be missing something here) but Ive looked at pis of other peoples yeast harvesting and mine is the same.

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Ive just measured out 164ml of water and that is a shitload of yeast

 

[theboytony]

Maybe try dropping aleman a pm and see if he will take a look at this he should be able to give you a definitive answer :thumb:

 

[graysalchemy]

As I said before when I did a barley wine last year at 1080 I used 2l of slurry not liquid

Pitching to much can be a problem as the yeast doesn't go through as much of a growth phase and it is during the growth phase that esters are produced so pitching to much may impact on the flavour but having said that I would preffer that to the off by products caused by stressed yeast :sick:

 

[johnnyboy1965]

For 2li of "slurry" I take it you used 2li of fully fermented wort

 

[graysalchemy]

No 2l of yeast cake from the bottom of a previous brew not wort/yeast mix

 

[johnnyboy1965]

The yeast cake contains more dead yest cells that viable....Why would you want to put this into your beer?

 

[graysalchemy]

Yeast is cannibalistic and dead yeast is a great source of nutrient for the yeast. Go to any commercial brewery and that is exactly what they do. As long as it is fresh it will be fine. Anyway I got 30L of a fantastic 9.5% barley wine. Proof surely is in the pudding. :lol:

 

[johnnyboy1965]

"Dead yeast is a great source of nutrient" Where did you get that from...source??? When yeast has done its job and split into another cell ad carry on splitting and breeding until all the sugars have been consumed

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Then it will go into a state of dormancy, when it will start splitting again when either O2 or more fermentable sugars are added

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Prevoius post "breeding" is not the right word