Yeast Slurry - Cell Count

[Smashin]

I'm planning on saving my yeast cake from my Belgium double (6.5%) it is a 1214 yeast. My question regards the cell count of the cake, i know it varies somewhat depending on how compact it is, so basing it roughly on just the cake as found at the bottom of the fermenter after sitting ~2weeks after fermentation finished. How much cake would you pitch into a typical 20l batch or in other words how much cake = 1 smack pack.

cheers
smashin

 

[Sunshine_Brewer]

I'm planning on saving my yeast cake from my Belgium double (6.5%) it is a 1214 yeast. My question regards the cell count of the cake, i know it varies somewhat depending on how compact it is, so basing it roughly on just the cake as found at the bottom of the fermenter after sitting ~2weeks after fermentation finished. How much cake would you pitch into a typical 20l batch or in other words how much cake = 1 smack pack.

cheers
smashin

try this calculator smashin

http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

 

[Steve]

Smashin

After you bottle/keg. Pour a bit of water in the fermenter and swirl up the cake. Get yourself a 1.5-2 litre glass container (V8 Juice Bottle from Woolies). Sterilize the bottle and lid in a pot of boiling water. Let it cool and pour in the slurry from the fermenter. You will get 4-5 brews worth out of it. Store it in the fridge. A couple of days before brew day take it out of the fridge and let it get up to room temp. You may need to vent it a couple of times. Then chuck the whole lot in your next brew. Then the cycle begins. Easy as. You only need a cups worth of slurry from the fermenter but why waste it all.
Cheers
Steve

 

[Bribie G]

Perhaps the best regarded home brew guru in the UK at the moment is Graham Wheeler, author of CAMRA's Brew Your own UK Real Ale, he's on a couple of UK forums similar to ours and he has a method of building a yeast bank that's so straightforward and easy it whacks you between the eyes.

When he's bottling, he bottles the last couple with a bit more slurry in them but basically they are just part of the beer batch. He primes them as normal, of course. If the beer turns out sound then the couple are put aside into the 'yeast stash' and in due course if he wants a particular yeast for a brew he cultures one up just like we do with Coopers. It has the added advantage that you drink the beer on the day so can double check that all's well. If you don't want to accummulate masses of extra 'breeding' bottles just on spec then just a stubby would work fine.

I did that with my recent batch of thirteen dollar Ringwood - gave the fermenter a bit of a swirl for the last couple of bottles to muddy things up a bit - and have them earmarked as 'breeding' beer (with about 2 cm sediment but nice and clear in the body) and I've put them in the fridge for future brews. If you bottle out of secondary, so much the better as that's still the same yeast but presumably will have less hop shyte etc in it.

 

[pdilley]

Love all the ideas and I do have about 11 2litre bottles left over from cider making; plastic juice bottles but cleaned.

With collecting from the secondary, thats how higher alcohol tolerant yeast was isolated
as you are selectively favoring yeast that can hang around the longest.

Will have to give these methods a go. With all these bottles could even put them all into use by washing them through water dilution and separation techniques.

Cheers,
Brewer Pete

 

[Smashin]

Great stuff guys,
ask a question, go for a ride through the mountains and all this when i get back, many thanks guys.

So it sound like about a cup of the thickest cake from the fermenter. Top ideas on storage and handling too... :icon_cheers:

 

[mika]

I've heard ~3/4 of a cup will give you enough for a standard pitch. So if you're fermenting something bigger then yeah, a cup sounds about right. You way want to go thru the whole yeast washing thing too, helps a bit.
Love that 1214 yeast.