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Author Topic: New Wort over an active yeast cake  (Read 10129 times)

Offline majorvices

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New Wort over an active yeast cake
« Reply #15 on: August 22, 2012, 05:56:33 am »
Update:
After a day of brewing in 100F heat, the wort ended flowing on top of the yeast at about 85F...it started bubbling as soon as it hit the yeast....then I transported it to a fermentation fridge across town....(this goes against all my brewing practices BTW)....plus it came out at a lower gravity than expected, about 1.040 (I was thinking I'd get at least 1.050!) - it was just a weird brew day altogether!

Guess what....this beer turned out superb...one of my best APA's ever....maybe it was the whole Citra dry hops, or that little bit of Gypsum I threw in, but I'm really happy with the results!  Hope I can repeat them....!

85 degrees?! Another good reason to run off, cool your wort to proper pitching temps and pitch a proper amount of yeast. How's your head retention on this batch? I recon if you got it cooled down quick enough you kept the fusels at a minimum but I still have to wonder that no matter how well the beer turned out if it could have even been better had you cooled your wort first to 70 degrees and pitched only a quarter of the slurry.
« Last Edit: August 22, 2012, 06:43:39 am by majorvices »

Offline michaeltrego

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Re: New Wort over an active yeast cake
« Reply #16 on: August 22, 2012, 07:23:58 am »
My own experience is that I far prefer the results from using only part of a yeast slurry over using the whole thing in most circumstances.  I split the slurry into 2 or 3 containers when I save it.  The only time I use the whole thing is when I make an extremely high OG beer, say over 1.090.

Denny - I haven't pitched on a cake before, but I plan to use a 1.057 ESB cake for a 1.100 Barleywine soon.  Based on other things I've read, I was thinking of only using half the cake to avoid overpitching and massive blowoff.  So do you think using the whole cake is the best plan?

Offline newrocset

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Re: New Wort over an active yeast cake
« Reply #17 on: August 22, 2012, 07:53:41 am »
85 degrees?! Another good reason to run off, cool your wort to proper pitching temps and pitch a proper amount of yeast. How's your head retention on this batch? I recon if you got it cooled down quick enough you kept the fusels at a minimum but I still have to wonder that no matter how well the beer turned out if it could have even been better had you cooled your wort first to 70 degrees and pitched only a quarter of the slurry.

Agreed!  I ran my water through a pre-chiller and then ran the wort through a plate chiller, and it still didn't cool it enough! 
Anyway, I miraculously did not get any fusels, nor any detectable esters, and head retention is nice - it's really a great beer!....it was probably 30 minutes by the time I got the ale cooled to 75 and probably another 12 before I got it to a fermentation temp of 62.  My guess is that the 2 week plus fermentation with such a high amount of active yeast cleaned up any off flavors.
Have a Kolsch and a smile!

Offline majorvices

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New Wort over an active yeast cake
« Reply #18 on: August 22, 2012, 08:27:59 am »
My own experience is that I far prefer the results from using only part of a yeast slurry over using the whole thing in most circumstances.  I split the slurry into 2 or 3 containers when I save it.  The only time I use the whole thing is when I make an extremely high OG beer, say over 1.090.

Denny - I haven't pitched on a cake before, but I plan to use a 1.057 ESB cake for a 1.100 Barleywine soon.  Based on other things I've read, I was thinking of only using half the cake to avoid overpitching and massive blowoff.  So do you think using the whole cake is the best plan?

Go to www.mrmalty.com. Use the calculator to get an idea how much yeast you need. Harvest slurry in mason jars and dump the amount you need into fermenter. But half the slurry is probably about right. You would not need the entire slurry.

Offline michaeltrego

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Re: New Wort over an active yeast cake
« Reply #19 on: August 22, 2012, 09:04:52 am »
Go to www.mrmalty.com. Use the calculator to get an idea how much yeast you need. Harvest slurry in mason jars and dump the amount you need into fermenter. But half the slurry is probably about right. You would not need the entire slurry.

Thanks Keith - I had figured about 1/3 to 1/2 the cake based on Mr. Malty and Yeastcalc recommendations.

Offline denny

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Re: New Wort over an active yeast cake
« Reply #20 on: August 22, 2012, 09:39:32 am »
My own experience is that I far prefer the results from using only part of a yeast slurry over using the whole thing in most circumstances.  I split the slurry into 2 or 3 containers when I save it.  The only time I use the whole thing is when I make an extremely high OG beer, say over 1.090.

Denny - I haven't pitched on a cake before, but I plan to use a 1.057 ESB cake for a 1.100 Barleywine soon.  Based on other things I've read, I was thinking of only using half the cake to avoid overpitching and massive blowoff.  So do you think using the whole cake is the best plan?

In this case, yeah, I'd use the whole thing.  One of the few times I do it that way.

ETA:  I could be wrong....;)
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Offline michaeltrego

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Re: New Wort over an active yeast cake
« Reply #21 on: August 22, 2012, 09:52:47 am »
My own experience is that I far prefer the results from using only part of a yeast slurry over using the whole thing in most circumstances.  I split the slurry into 2 or 3 containers when I save it.  The only time I use the whole thing is when I make an extremely high OG beer, say over 1.090.

Denny - I haven't pitched on a cake before, but I plan to use a 1.057 ESB cake for a 1.100 Barleywine soon.  Based on other things I've read, I was thinking of only using half the cake to avoid overpitching and massive blowoff.  So do you think using the whole cake is the best plan?

In this case, yeah, I'd use the whole thing.  One of the few times I do it that way.

ETA:  I could be wrong....;)

OK - thanks, I'll give it a shot!