Too Much Yeast!

[jgriffin]

I don't know what i am doing differnet lately, apart from maybe spending more time aerating my wort and starters. But i'm getting ridiculous amounts of yeast left in the bottom of my fermenter.
So much that it's actually rising above the level of my tap, so that when i rack i invariably end up with a huge hunk of yeast coming through at the beginning (and if i'm not carefull) the end.

Now i know that it's hard to overpitch yeast, but maybe i'm getting close? I'm only doing 1 - 1.5 L of starter.

Do other people get yeast cakes so large? Is this normal and i've only ever had under performing yeast previously?

 

[Green Iguana]

Are u sure it's all yeast...might be heaps of trub.

Are u using a highly flocculant yeast?
Is your cold break bigger than before?
Or are getting excess trub into the fermenter?

I also use 1-1.5lt starters,but don't get that much in the bottom of the fermenter......

cheers

 

[Gout]

when the fermenter is almost empty, can you see the remaining yeast is above the tap? eg the Cake level is on average above the tap level.

I say this because the first bit from my brews have yeast, but this is yeast that has droped out and landed on the tap outlet, the yeast cake remains well bellow the tap. To have yeast over the tap level would be Lt's of slurry and well i cant see how that would happen, fermentation would be so quick and controling the temp it gives off would be hard

 

[jgriffin]

Yeah it's above the tap. You can see a big U where it gets sucked in while racking. It's quite easy to fill the entire racking tube with nothing but yeast.

Only happened on my last 3-4 brews, and i use wet towels to control the temp. We're talking about 3-4L of yeast cake.

Now i think about it, i have been adding the entire cold break, and just racking off to prevent off flavours. Maybe i need to cut that back to rpevent the yeast getting too many nutrients.

 

[Jovial_Monk]

Maybe try running the wort out the first fermenter into a second one the day after pitching (with splashing/aeration.) This will boost the yeast and leave break/trub in the first fermenter

and wet towels do very little re controlling temp unless there is a fan on the towel full bore all the time. Look for a beerfridge

Jovial Monk

 

[Kai]

If I leave my fermenter outside a wet towel takes the shine off it by a couple degrees.

 

[dreamboat]

I agree with JM on this one, after a day in the first fermenter, rack/pour/splash your brew into a second fermenter, leaving behind any break which has dropped out and the first hit of the yeast cake. I will then generally rack again around a week later for an ale, this time without any splashing.

dreamboat