Windsor Ale Yeast Gone Nuts

[Uncle Fester]

All,
I tossed an ale onto a yeastbed of Windsor Ale yeast.

Bloody thing has gone mental, and looks as if it has fermented out in 12 hours :blink:

(1048-1011) (The hydrometer sample is so full od Co2 that I won't have an accurate reading for a while yet)

Ambient temp in my brew room is 18 degrees, and it held the fermenter at about 21

Is this unusual for this yeast when wort is dumped on a re-used yeast cake?


Fester

 

[domonsura]

I'd say that it's to be expected from a whole yeast cake, I've used it twice, and it was a fairly vigorous sucker a bit like Nottingham. The ferment was over in what seemed to be 3 days at 18 degrees, so if you pitched onto an entire healthy yeast cake, maybe it is pretty much finished? Are you sure your thermometer is true and what does the wort taste like?

 

[Uncle Fester]

I'd say that it's to be expected from a whole yeast cake, I've used it twice, and it was a fairly vigorous sucker a bit like Nottingham. The ferment was over in what seemed to be 3 days at 18 degrees, so if you pitched onto an entire healthy yeast cake, maybe it is pretty much finished? Are you sure your thermometer is true and what does the wort taste like?

Wort tastes Bewdiful! Gotta love that Amarillo hop!

Hydrometer settled @ 1012. Going away for the weekend, so I intend leaving it alone until Sunday night, when I will pop it into the Ridgy-Didge to CC for a week or so.

Festa.

 

[Brewer_010]

I pitched a brew onto a yeast cake of US-56 and the ferment was pretty much all over by 3 days. I was amazed at the speed of it too, I had my brewing esky keeping 16 degrees and it still went off that quick.

Next time I think I will just spoon out a few hundred mL's of the slurry instead...

 

[Uncle Fester]

I pitched a brew onto a yeast cake of US-56 and the ferment was pretty much all over by 3 days. I was amazed at the speed of it too, I had my brewing esky keeping 16 degrees and it still went off that quick.

Next time I think I will just spoon out a few hundred mL's of the slurry instead...

Does a quick ferment detract from the final product (apart from the exothermic quality of the ferment that had the fermenter 4 degrees above ambient?)

I would have thought it was simply a race by the huge numbers of yeast cells for the limited amount of fermentables?


Fess.

 

[MSR]

I am very new to brewing and did not know you could do this. What is the process? Do you have to mix up your brew in a seperate container, then pour onto the yeast cake?

 

[Brewer_010]

Does a quick ferment detract from the final product (apart from the exothermic quality of the ferment that had the fermenter 4 degrees above ambient?)

I would have thought it was simply a race by the huge numbers of yeast cells for the limited amount of fermentables?
Fess.

Fess
I believe a really fast one can increase the amount of esters and fusel alcohols (if warm enough), however in a well hopped ale you might not notice the extra esters. I certainly didn't in mine...I couldn't tell whether the fruitiness present was from my hops or the yeast, but it was still tasty
Not sure if you'd want to do this with a lager though :unsure: ...
Cheers

 

[Stuster]

I am very new to brewing and did not know you could do this. What is the process? Do you have to mix up your brew in a seperate container, then pour onto the yeast cake?

Bottle (or transfer) your beer from the fermenter.
Pour off any extra beer that might be left.
Swirl the slurry (yeast sediment) around enough to get it the yeast off the bottom of the fermenter.
With a sanitised jar, scoop up a jar full of yeast and put the lid on.
Clean out the fermenter with water and a soft cloth.
Sanitise the fermenter.
Make up your brew as normal (kit or whatever).
Shake up the fermenter to aerate the wort (pre-beer).
Pour in yeast from jar.
Put on lid and airlock.
Sit down with beer and wait for the bubbling. :beer:

 

[MSR]

Thanks Stuster, will give it a try.

MSR.

 

[brettprevans]

Bottle (or transfer) your beer from the fermenter.
Pour off any extra beer that might be left.
Swirl the slurry (yeast sediment) around enough to get it the yeast off the bottom of the fermenter.
With a sanitised jar, scoop up a jar full of yeast and put the lid on.
Clean out the fermenter with water and a soft cloth.
Sanitise the fermenter.
Make up your brew as normal (kit or whatever).
Shake up the fermenter to aerate the wort (pre-beer).
Pour in yeast from jar.
Put on lid and airlock.
Sit down with beer and wait for the bubbling. :beer:

I thought you chucked in the yeast that came with the kit as well (if its good yeast that is)???

Cause I was going to use the yeast cake from my current stout ive got brewing in my next batch, which is a Guinness clone (using Muntons Gold yeast).

thoughts?

 

[KoNG]

no need, and defeats the purpose really...there is MORE than enough yeast in the cake for the next brew, you would just be over pitching then.

 

[brettprevans]

no need, and defeats the purpose really...there is MORE than enough yeast in the cake for the next brew, you would just be over pitching then.

cool so theres enough in the cake. leads me to the question of whether i should use the cake or the new yeast. I figure that since theres so much talk about using cakes that it would be the way to go. esp if you are using top quality cultered yeast. Im not. Im justing Safale, muntons etc.

 

[Stuster]

Give it a go. Those yeast want to live.

 

[DJR]

way to go. esp if you are using top quality cultered yeast. Im not. Im justing Safale, muntons etc.

It still helps with big beers - culturing yeast is another story altogether. Even using Safale is a step above using most kit yeasts. For big beers, the alternative is to pitch A LOT of dry yeast, or just re-use the cake and have no problems with esters/off flavours from underpitching. I know which one i'd be doing. Plus as a bonus you get to drink the lower gravity batch that you do first.

 

[mikeBt]

Sounds like throwing another wort onto a used yeast cake could be a good thing if you are in a hurry. I have a Belgian Ale ready to come off a Whitelabs WLP400 Wit yeast and was thinking of brewing up a spare can of cascade Spicy Ghost Draught and 500grams of malt. I was just going to syphon off the beer and put the mixed (in separate fermenter) wort straight on top of the yeast. There should be no problem with sanitation as long as I am very careful and don't expose the fermenter's inside to infection.

What do you think the beer would taste like with this yeast combination. Is there anything else I should do or not do??? I am trying to achieve a good, quick swilling beer.

Cheers

 

[KoNG]

BB,
i do that quite often (dump onto the cake in the original fermenter), although you may find that you have too much yeast in the cake for fermenting wort of similar gravity. So you could rack off some of the yeast (maybe keep it for a following brew) and then dump your new wort on whats left in the fermenter.

using 500g of malt on top of the tin/goo, will leave you with a lower gravity wort remember.
you could also try using wheat DME if you can get your hands on it, to go with the yeast.

out
KoNG

 

[mikeBt]

Thanks KoNG, I will do what you suggest. I just wanted to get rid of the goo as I am moving to extract and all grain over the next couple of months and want some swillers for my son's mates who continue to visit on a regular basis and raid my bar fridge. So drop the yeast bed back, say 50% should work ok.

Cheers mate