Yeast Slurry

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

How do you know your slurry is bad? I opened the one I plan to use (S-33) tomorrow and there was no odor and nothing swimming on top of the beer I left in it. It is 6 months old though.

 

[GFHomebrew]

How do you know your slurry is bad? I opened the one I plan to use (S-33) tomorrow and there was no odor and nothing swimming on top of the beer I left in it. It is 6 months old though.

Make a starter and taste the supernatant if it tastes ok your good to go

 

[Mark Farrall]

I'd make a starter with it and as long as the start is active (after a bit of a lag phase) it will probably be alright. My favourite blend sits in the fridge six months between batches.

For really old slurries you may start to notice a thin layer of black/dark brown on the top. That's the autolysis starting. If it's a a commercial pitch yeast dump it. If it's a blend you love and can't buy try using a syringe to remove most of that layer and then make the starter.

I've done it for one of my saison/brett blends that I don't know how I'd recreate. Most of the autolysis yeast go out in the syringe and the few that survive provide food for the starter. Though if the starter had that over the top umami flavour from autolysis it would have gone down the sink.

 

[Ward Chillington]

Brown and peanut buttery = think twice

 

[soccerdad]

I save a lot more yeast than I ever use. If it's under a year old I inspect it with my eyes and nose * and make a starter. If it's over a year I toss it.

* The following is NOT the eye and nose test. I do not make a paste to apply to my eyeballs, nor do I make a short line with a razor blade and snort it. I just carefully visually inspect and smell it.

 

[Donoroto]

* The following is NOT the eye and nose test. I do not make a paste to apply to my eyeballs, nor do I make a short line with a razor blade and snort it. I just carefully visually inspect and smell it.

Awww, where's the fun in that?

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

Well I didn't make the porter this weekend so I didn't use the S33 slurry. I did however used a Verdant IPA slurry between to two 2.5 gallon batches and it is chewing through very fast. One starting gravity was 1.083 on Saturday and this morning it was 1.033. The other was 1.066 and this morning it was 1.023.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Well I didn't make the porter this weekend so I didn't use the S33 slurry. I did however used a Verdant IPA slurry between to two 2.5 gallon batches and it is chewing through very fast. One starting gravity was 1.083 on Saturday and this morning it was 1.033. The other was 1.066 and this morning it was 1.023.

Some gravity on them beers mate.
S-33 IS one of them yeasts I recently found that doesn't ferment Maltotrious good if going for a full bodied light ABV beer.

 

[Herm brews]

I used a slurry yesterday for my latest batch of Herm’s Amber Ale. The slurry was harvested from the previous batch of the same beer, which was bottled on Sunday June 13, so relatively fresh. That batch was brewed on Sunday May 23, and fermented with a fresh packet of US-05. For my 2.5 gallon batch yesterday, I pitched about 200 ml of that slurry, certainly an overpitch. It took a little while to get going, but now it is cranking.
@BOB357 gave good advice regarding harvesting yeast. After emptying a fermenter, just swirl up the beer and trub left at the bottom, and pour that into a sanitized jar, then refrigerate until needed. The beer provides a fine cap for the yeast residing in the trub. This no fuss method has served me well, so far.

 

[Ward Chillington]

Hey @Herm_brews check out Brulosophy #182 on yeast harvesting for some more good reuse tips. Bob's method is a winner...just gotta figure out the pitch rates...after my bottling last night, it's gonna be 1/3 qt to 5 gal for me, over pitch be dammed!

 

[Herm brews]

Hey @Herm_brews check out Brulosophy #182 on yeast harvesting for some more good reuse tips. Bob's method is a winner...just gotta figure out the pitch rates...after my bottling last night, it's gonna be 1/3 qt to 5 gal for me, over pitch be dammed!

When not at work or battling an invasion of ants, I will be sure to check that out.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Hey @Herm_brews check out Brulosophy #182 on yeast harvesting for some more good reuse tips. Bob's method is a winner...just gotta figure out the pitch rates...after my bottling last night, it's gonna be 1/3 qt to 5 gal for me, over pitch be dammed!

I work on 50% viability on slurry meaning 200ml =~100billion cell count on fresh fairly clean harvest.