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Chumley
Senior Member
Username: Chumley
Post Number: 5749
Registered: 02-2003
Posted From: 63.118.227.254
| | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2009 - 04:43 pm: | 
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I have a growler of WY1469 Tim Taylor yeast cake, stored under beer in the fridge, that is about 5 weeks old. I know technically I should make another starter and decant the revived yeast off the dead ones. But I have been think of a way to simplify this, using the British technique of "dropping" (described in Wheeler's and Protz's books).
My thoughts are to brew my 5 gallons of wort, add the whole yeast cake to the wort, ferment for 36-48 hours in a plastic bucket until I see krausen form, then rack the fermenting beer into a fresh primary. This would get the beer off the dead yeast and trub in a sufficient amount of time, but at the same time, transfer enough active yeast over to ferment the beer.
Any thoughts or comments? |
michael atkins
Advanced Member
Username: Mga
Post Number: 697
Registered: 11-2003
Posted From: 216.161.69.91
| | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2009 - 07:03 pm: |
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Chumley
I have no experience with the Tim Taylor yeast nor do I know anything about the concept of "Dropping". However, I have sometimes had a yeast cake under beer stored cold for 5 weeks or a little longer and have pitched it (without a starter)with success without any other heroic measures.
In fact in most of those cases I took a page out of your book and stored the cake under PBR! |
Richard Nye
Senior Member
Username: Yeasty_boy
Post Number: 2198
Registered: 01-2004
Posted From: 150.202.8.1
| | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2009 - 07:51 pm: |
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Chumley,
When the beer starts to ferment, the yeast cake and trub may raise off the bottom and mix with the beer making it impossible to separate from the beer. Just my thoughts. |
Paul Hayslett
Senior Member
Username: Paulhayslett
Post Number: 2042
Registered: 02-2002
Posted From: 71.234.46.245
| | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2009 - 08:32 pm: |
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If you try it and it works, let us know. I've thought about doing exactly that several times but been too chickens**t to follow through! (Actually, I want to pitch right into the kettle after chilling and rack off the next morning, because I'm lazy and that would save me from washing/sanitizing one vessel. But it's the same idea.)
I just used the Tim Taylor strain for the first time this past weekend. I was surprised at how it behaved. I opened the bucket to rouse the yeast on Wednesday and found that the krausen hadn't fallen. It was almost stiff; I kind of had to break through it to give the beer a stir. A true top-cropper, I guess. Did it behave this way for you? |
Chumley
Senior Member
Username: Chumley
Post Number: 5750
Registered: 02-2003
Posted From: 63.118.227.254
| | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2009 - 08:38 pm: |
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Yes, the Tim Taylor yeast has a unbelievable explosion of krausen that takes a long time to fall. A lot different than say Fullers yeast.
Richard, yes, those were my thoughts too, which is why I want to closely monitor the fermentation and be ready to rack right when I see it starting to get going, before it turns into the boiling soup that we are all familiar with.
Michael, thanks, good info. I have never used a yeast cake stored this long without sending it through a second starter cycle. I guess I will go for it. |
Hophead
Senior Member
Username: Hophead
Post Number: 2812
Registered: 03-2002
Posted From: 167.4.1.41
| | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2009 - 10:23 pm: |
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I have gone 8-10 weeks with an existing yeast cake. IMHO 5 weeks should be fine to pitch w/o any concerns, assuming the growler isn't FULL of yeast cake. That would be way too much. |
Jerrod Scott
New Member
Username: Jrod
Post Number: 25
Registered: 02-2008
Posted From: 71.33.106.173
| | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2009 - 10:55 pm: |
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**EDIT**Sorry--I misread your post. The first response doesn't apply. Wash it and pitch the right amount. It will work.
(Message edited by J-Rod on January 23, 2009) |
Dave Witt
Senior Member
Username: Davew
Post Number: 1241
Registered: 03-2003
Posted From: 68.57.245.38
| | Posted on Friday, January 23, 2009 - 11:06 pm: |
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Chumley,
I just brewed a BW with the Tim Taylor yeast about two weeks ago. It was a cake from a sweet stout that was racked a week earlier and had sat in primary for a month. That's 5 weeks after pitching the previous batch. It started right up. I noticed that about 3-4 hrs after pitching it in the BW, some foam patches began to develop on the surface of the beer. Don't wait to much longer than this to transfer or the trub material might get swept up with the fermentation. |
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