Just moved a Dead Ringer to secondary today. Decided to dump the yeast cake into a sanitized mason jar. Filled it to the brim, screwed the lid on tight and stuck it in the fridge.
What can I do with this yeast cake moving forward? Do I need to make a starter out of it or can I dump it right into a new batch?
first off loosen the lid or you will have yeast ALL over your frig :shock: i always leave mine about 1 inch from the top because the yeast will still ferment some. if you are going to brew in the next 2 weeks just decant off the beer and use the yeast.
Good to know! Just loosened the lid. I don’t wanna dump some out for fear of contaminating.
The yeast cake is a US-05. Our next batch will be the Irish Red, which calls for Nottingham Ale Yeast…with the US -05 work for that instead?
What if we don’t use it in two week?
i usually just put tin foil over the top of the jar,nothing bad is going to crawl up the side of the jar and into it. i have never used nottingham yeast so i can’t say what the characteristics of that yeast is. yea it will work but may not have the same flavor profile as 05.
if you don’t use the yeast in a couple weeks its always good to make a starter so you will have enough viable yeast.
So if I don’t use it in two weeks, then I just boil up 2000ml of water with a cup of DME and add the yeast to it to get it going again? How much of the mason jar can I add to the starter? Is there such a thing as too much yeast?
you don’t want to add the whole jar. once it settles out take maybe a teaspoon or 2 of the light tan center, that is the yeast, and use that.
Mr Malty has a repitching from slurry tab. If the slurry is more than a month old I would build a starter. At a month old your slurry will be @ roughly 60% viability and after that you should take into account for a 25% per month viability loss.
If used in two weeks, a third to half of the original full slurry will be fine (third for ales and half for lagers). If a lot of the slurry was left behind, then just dump most of what you have in the wort after decanting the spent beer off the top.
:cheers:
