I have been reusing the yeast slurry from the last 2 batches of my house APA with US-05 yeast. I use a stainless steel 7 gallon brew bucket as a fermenter, and so far I have had good success with my 5 gallon batches.
My question is; should I scoop up the yeast slurry after each fermentation for storage and then clean the fermenter, and then pitch the slurry into the next batch of wort? Or should I just let the old slurry sit in the bottom of the fermenter in my cool fermentation chamber until my next batch in a week or two, and then pour the new 7 gallons of wort on top of the old slurry without cleaning the sides of the fermenter first? There is the standard amount of krausen stuck to the sides of the fermenter so I don't know if that is bad practice or not to pour new wort in a week-old "dirty" fermenter?
The slurry does sit under a small layer of APA beer inside the sealed stainless steel brew bucket at about 45 degrees f.
My question is; should I scoop up the yeast slurry after each fermentation for storage and then clean the fermenter, and then pitch the slurry into the next batch of wort? Or should I just let the old slurry sit in the bottom of the fermenter in my cool fermentation chamber until my next batch in a week or two, and then pour the new 7 gallons of wort on top of the old slurry without cleaning the sides of the fermenter first? There is the standard amount of krausen stuck to the sides of the fermenter so I don't know if that is bad practice or not to pour new wort in a week-old "dirty" fermenter?
The slurry does sit under a small layer of APA beer inside the sealed stainless steel brew bucket at about 45 degrees f.