# Yeast farming Question (Photo Inside)



## scooterism (22/10/16)

This is my first go at doing this.

I had quite clear wort to start with and used WLP830.

The beer is a Pilsner w/ a simple grain bill.

After racking off my beer, I looked inside the FV and just saw a yeast cake, no trub.

Everything seemed normal, beer tasted fine, no funny smells.

The photo shows a couple of jars after sitting for 2-3 hrs, there is a liquid separation on top by no trub.

Is this normal?

I watched a bunch of YT videos and everyone seems to quite defined separation, trub/yeast/beer.

:unsure:


----------



## paulyman (22/10/16)

Hard to tell from the photo but it does appear that there may be a denser layer of yeast at the bottom with a large fluffier layer of trub above it?


----------



## menoetes (22/10/16)

Same thing happens to me often... I can suggest two ways to go forward.

You can wash it; boil some water, bottle it, cool it to the same temp as your yeast and then (after tipping off the spent wort) pour the clean water into the yeast jar, shake and settle again. Hopefully then it'll settle out properly.

Alternately you can just refrigerate what you have and just pitch the whole lot in. Essentially what you have there is a chunk of yeast cake after-all. If you tip off most of that wort first, it shouldn't effect the flavour of your next brew.


----------



## scooterism (22/10/16)

menoetes said:


> Same thing happens to me often... I can suggest two ways to go forward.
> 
> You can wash it; boil some water, bottle it, cool it to the same temp as your yeast and then (after tipping off the spent wort) pour the clean water into the yeast jar, shake and settle again. Hopefully then it'll settle out properly.
> 
> Alternately you can just refrigerate what you have and just pitch the whole lot in. Essentially what you have there is a chunk of yeast cake after-all. If you tip off most of that wort first, it shouldn't effect the flavour of your next brew.



I'll give it another wash, but if I were to pitch it, would I not need to make a starter?


----------



## SBOB (22/10/16)

scooterism said:


> I'll give it another wash, but if I were to pitch it, would I not need to make a starter?


nope... should be plenty of yeast in there.
Throw it in the fridge until you are ready, then on brew day bring it out and let it come up to pitching temp and pitch it in.


----------



## Yob (22/10/16)

It's way... Way... Way too thick.

Rule of thumb, 1/4 the volume of the flask with slurry.. Max.


----------



## Dan Pratt (22/10/16)

What size flask Yob?


----------



## scooterism (22/10/16)

Yob said:


> It's way... Way... Way too thick.
> 
> Rule of thumb, 1/4 the volume of the flask with slurry.. Max.


I can split into 2 smaller jars (smaller as in the photo)

But if I split, do I make a starter then?


----------



## Lyrebird_Cycles (22/10/16)

scooterism said:


> This is my first go at doing this.
> 
> I had quite clear wort to start with and used WLP830.
> 
> ...


Not sure what you are worried about. The absence of trub in the fermenter is desireable, after all that's the point of adding kettle finings and whirlpooling.

They look like jam jars, what's your best guess of the ratio of yeast cake volume to ferment volume?


----------



## scooterism (22/10/16)

Lyrebird_Cycles said:


> Not sure what you are worried about. The absence of trub in the fermenter is desireable, after all that's the point of adding kettle finings and whirlpooling.
> 
> They look like jam jars, what's your best guess of the ratio of yeast cake volume to ferment volume?


I have no idea.

23L batch
30L FV
1.5L starter
Collected around 1200-1300ml of cake.


----------



## TidalPete (22/10/16)

Adding boiled, cooled (to approx. slurry temp) water four to five times the volume of the yeast slurry in a tall, parallel-sided container works well.


----------



## Lyrebird_Cycles (22/10/16)

scooterism said:


> I have no idea.
> 
> 23L batch
> 30L FV
> ...


1.2 - 1.3 l of wet yeast cake from a 23 l of ferment is around 5.5%. That's a bit high, so it suggests that the yeast hasn't fullly settled.


----------



## Danscraftbeer (22/10/16)

I'm a learner too but a little more experienced on saving yeast. I find the most reliable for calculations of yeast cake is to let it settle.
Use vessels that you have in common to measure the settled yeast cake and consider it the Thick highest setting.
Check with the yeast calculators. Like http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html


----------



## scooterism (22/10/16)

Lyrebird_Cycles said:


> 1.2 - 1.3 l of wet yeast cake from a 23 l of ferment is around 5.5%. That's a bit high, so it suggests that the yeast hasn't fullly settled.



Could you explain what you mean by "the yeast hasn't fullly settled" please?

And just to add, this batch was on the ferment for 2 days shy of 3 weeks..


----------



## Danscraftbeer (22/10/16)

Just chilling the yeast in the fridge will settle the yeast properly over a day or 3 etc. Say 4 days in the fridge and its set. I take that as the thickest setting on Mr.Malty.

At glance over your yeast cultivation you may be over pitching.
That's less a problem than under pitching.

You don't need to make starters! B)


----------



## scooterism (22/10/16)

Danscraftbeer said:


> Just chilling the yeast in the fridge will settle the yeast properly over a day or 3 etc. Say 4 days in the fridge and its set. I take that as the thickest setting on Mr.Malty.
> 
> At glance over your yeast cultivation you may be over pitching.
> That's less a problem than under pitching.
> ...


Oh, that kind of settle, as in separate.. that's clearer.

Let it sit in the fridge it is.

Cheers.


----------



## Lyrebird_Cycles (22/10/16)

scooterism said:


> Could you explain what you mean by "the yeast hasn't fullly settled" please?
> 
> And just to add, this batch was on the ferment for 2 days shy of 3 weeks..


Typically the wet yeast is somewhere around 1% of the ferment volume when fully compacted.

The actual volume is highly dependent on how well the yeast flocculates etc etc but 5% is quite high so I'd expect even a fairly fluffy yeast still has a bit of settling to do.


----------

