Reusing The Trub?

[MattSta]

Hey everyone, this is my first post as i am fairly new to the world of brewing.

I was wondering if i could lay a new brew down on the trub left after i rack my current brew into a secondary? Is this a bad idea, and if not, any tips for doing this?

Cheers and beers,

Squeak.

 

[Whistlingjack]

Welcome, Squeak

I've done it a few times with no problems. The ferment starts quicker.

It's even better if you have a good yeast strain going, but only start ales with ale trubs and lagers with lager trubs.

 

[MattSta]

Thats good news, i'm using Saflager S23. And it's definately lager season!

 

[MHB]

Squeak
Welcome to AHB

I am sure you didnt sit down to work out a question that has no definitive answer but you have succeeded.

This is something you like all of are going to come across often. In some cases there are things that are just plane wrong, however there are often lots of right answers to the same question, the hard part is finding the answers that work best for you.

To take the question you have posed.
It can be beneficial to pitch onto the yeast cake from a previous brew. You have an extraordinarily large number of yeast cells ready to go to work on your fresh wort.

If you kept doing this with brew after brew, you will fall flat on your face. One of many things will go wrong, inevitably you will get an infection, the yeast population will build up to the point where it starts to change the flavour of the beer etc.

If you are brewing a very heavy beer, an Imperial Stout, a Barley Wine or the like it is an advantage to have a mega population of yeast. The method you have asked about is a great way to get that population.

So the answer is it can be a good idea but it isnt always a good idea.

Welcome to the wonderful world of brewing.

MHB

 

[mika]

I've never done it before but read a bit on the subject. As I understand you don't want to just throw it in and away you go, you want to take the trub out of the fermenter and rinse it in distilled water, a series of decantations and away you go. This goes a long way to getting rid of yeast that has died, and unfermentabe sugars, flavours, colourings and the such.
And as MHB has mentioned, over a series of brews the yeast undergoes mutation, so the result may not be consistent.

Good luck :chug:

 

[MattSta]

Any methods for this anyone can share??

 

[Whistlingjack]

Have a look at this page, Squeak

http://hbd.org/carboy/yeast_washing.htm

I just threw the wort on to the trub and it went well. But I'm not a scientist. Just lucky it seems.

 

[Stuster]

I have done this a number of times, but as MHB suggests, the whole cake can be too much yeast for most beers. For a simple approach, just sanitise a bottle or large jar of some sort, something around a litre should do, as well as a scoop of some sort such as a jug or a glass. Once you have moved your beer to secondary, make sure almost all the beer is drained from on top of the yeast cake. Swirl the fermenter around a bit, then scoop out the yeast and pour into your bottle/jar. Take about half the yeast cake and close up the bottle/jar.

Clean out the fermenter, sanitise it and make up your wort as normal. Then once the temperature is right for pitching, just pour in the yeast.

For a longer, but slightly better, process have a look at Chiller's excellent post, airlocked at the top of the Common Forum, or just click here