Cold pitching yeast

[headmaster]

That's probably a product of the amount of yeast being pitched as much as not letting it warm up first .

 

I had thought that too, but I have pushed some of these beyond one month, and to where mr malty suggests using the same large amount of compacted yeast to start a lager using the age of closer to 50 days, and they have still taken off very well. So from my experience, the yeast seem to love a warm wakeup! Shocking them the other way, going from say 20 plus to a cold lager wort I've never tried and have read may not be a good idea. I've always acclimatised my yeast in those cases in the same brew fridge I have the lager wort.

 

Although if you read the latest brulosphy exbeeriment on warm lager ferments, it seems cold fermenting lager is not required! Fascinating results there..

[ben 10]

I'll let you know what happens.

 

It;s going already.

The yeast has been in the fridge since 8/12.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Yeah I've read that latest Brulosophy temp exbeeriment thing, still not enough to make me warm ferment lagers though. However, with using his quick lager method they are at FG in about 8-10 days anyway, which is plenty quick enough for me.

 

I cold pitched a jar of 2001 yeast into an 800mL starter yesterday and it was up and running in a few hours. Will turn the stir plate off later tonight. Next test will be cold pitching into an actual batch of wort.

[Otto Von Blotto]

OK so I lied, the next test was actually pitching some US-05 that had been in the fridge for a little over a month into a 2.2 litre starter, last night. Took the yeast out of the fridge, poured off the clear 'beer' leaving enough to mix the yeast up, then pitched it straight into the starter. It was showing signs of fermentation about 3 hours later, and was fully into the swing of things when I got up this morning (about 10 hours after pitching).

 

So, NOW the next test will be cold pitching this starter into my Cascadian pale ale on Monday, after chilling it for a couple of days.

 

Seems to have worked pretty well on the two starters at least.

[ben 10]

Mine finished yesterday I think (or the day before) - tastes as it usually does.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Cool. That's a positive sign then. I don't know whether this batch I'll be trying it on will taste the same or not because I've never brewed it before.

 

I will try it on a couple of regular recipes though, probably the red ale and the pilsner because well, they are my only regular recipes at the moment actually.

[Beerlust]

Thanks for the info on the cold pitch Ben.

 

I've got some rinsed CCA yeast I'll try this out with soon. I do need to test the viability of the yeast though, so will be pitching it into a starter.

 

It's handy to know we can do this without be fearful of problems with the brew.

 

Good stuff.

 

Lusty.

[ben 10]

Thanks for the info on the cold pitch Ben.

 

And considering the yeast had been in the fridge for 2 months I am well happy.

I will bottle it in about 3 or 4 days and then we'll see.

 

If it is a win it works for my lazy ass method of reusing yeast.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Well my first attempt at cold pitching yeast into a proper batch has gone so far so good. The yeast (US-05) was pitched into 25.5L of 1.046 wort yesterday around 10/10.30am. It had no signs of activity by the time I was home again around 6.30pm, but some time between then and now it has kicked into gear and there is quite a large krausen on it, probably about 2 inches thick. It's being fermented between 17.7 and 18C, although I don't know how accurate that is... gonna have to use a thicker layer of foam over the probe in future I think because the tape I now have isn't as good as the stuff I was using previously.

 

Anyway, I look forward to tasting an SG sample next Wednesday to see (sort of) how it all went.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

[ben 10]

Cold pitched reused Belgian Wit yeast into the white IPA this morning.

Going now.

[ben 10]

Early taste of my first cold pitch beer - tastes exactly like I'd expect the yeast to taste.

No difference at all. So from a scientifically valid trial of one go, this method is fine.

[headmaster]

More evidence, pitched 300ml compacted harvested 3rd gen US05 3 weeks since harvest at 2.5°C into a 27°C guinness clone wort OG1060 on friday evening, programmed fridge for 16°C. Was 18c 4 hours later. Saturday morning krausen was threatening to hit the roof of the coopers FV no kollar, 25 litres in. Had to back her off to 15°C to slow it down. Tonight tuesday night it's 1012 and close to finished.

 

So that's a 25°C instant warmup shock to the yeast and it showed no adverse reaction at all. Admittedly the dosage may be a tad high here. But have done before and seems to make great beer.

 

[Otto Von Blotto]

My pale ale that I cold pitched has well, I think finished, down to 1.008 in 6 days, although from the krausen diminishing on day four and completely collapsed back into the beer on day 5, it was probably done yesterday (day 5). I had a taste of it, and it tasted pretty much how I'd expect it to taste after 6 days in the FV, sitting in the low 20s and with the yeast not completely flocced out yet. I'll take another sample on Thursday, and have another taste, if it's still at 1.008 then I'll drop it to 0C and keg it next weekend.

 

So far, it's looking like another positive outcome for the cold pitching though. This one was pitched from 0C into 26C wort, although in saying that it probably had warmed up a few degrees as I took it out about 10 mins before I pitched it. Still, not like it would have warmed up to room temp or anything.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

[Beerlust]

Yep, no probs here either. My stored CCA yeast had been sitting in the fridge since early October last year so I did cold pitch it into a starter first to check viability. Beyond that, it's gone on to ferment out the brew I used it in with ease. Took a gravity reading a short while ago after 10 days & it's within a point of expected FG. Have just shoved it in the fridge to cold condition until Saturday, where I'll keg it.

 

I'd happily cold pitch yeast I know has good viability again.

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

[Otto Von Blotto]

I'll definitely be doing it again. Next batch is my Centennial/MO SMaSH ale which I'll use the US-05 on again. After that I've got another ESB to go in for the last use of the 1318 yeast. After that's done and kegged I might chuck in another pilsner and see how the 2001 yeast reacts to it, although obviously the temp difference won't be as large because I prefer to pitch these as close to fermentation temp (10C) as I can.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Another cold pitch yesterday into the Centennial/MO beer, US-05 again. Pitched about midday. No action by 8pm, but by 6am it had about 1 inch of krausen on top of it, so somewhere between 8 and 18 hours it kicked into gear and got going. Pretty happy with that! Got a couple of weeks to wait before trying a bottle of the Cascadian pale ale that was also done this way; the keg won't be going into the fridge until all the ones in there are emptied and hopefully by then I'll have 3 full ones ready to go straight in.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Just a little update on this subject.

 

I've been using this method on every brew since I first started this thread and have had success every single time. The lag times for ales have been reduced down to around 12-15 hours from around 20-24 hours previously when allowing starters to warm up for hours prior to pitching. I've only done one lager this way and there wasn't much difference there, although it appeared to reach FG sooner. However, fermentations have been healthy, FG's have all been reached and have had no weird or off flavours in the beers either. They've all turned out as expected.

 

So while there hasn't been any difference in the end product, or the fermentations themselves, I'm sticking with it now, as I do enjoy the reduced lag times at least in my ales. It's reassuring to pitch the yeast around lunchtime one day and see a healthy krausen at 6 the next morning (or even the night before if I stay up late enough)

 

I also use the method in my yeast starters. I usually pitch them before I head to bed and by the time I wake up ~7 hours later, they're up and going. I just pitched some harvested 2001 into a starter about half an hour ago, so it should be going by the morning.

 

Obviously this is only my experience and I don't have any empirical evidence to back it up, and I'm not suggesting at all that everybody should suddenly start doing this because it's the best thing since sliced bread, but feel free to have a go at it if you wish and see how it goes. That's all I did; if it didn't work as well I would have gone back to the old way, but for me at least, it worked better.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey

[Beerlust]

I've only done a handful of brews since we began speaking of this cold pitching, but I am now not only a fan, but an advocate of the practice.

 

There seems to be something very positive in terms of cell retention & positive yeast activity by doing this prior to pitching liquid volumes.

 

I will no longer be warming liquid yeast to ambient temperatures prior to pitching any more. Straight from the fridge, swirl, & pitch for me now.

 

It was an interesting discussion that uncovered this. My thanks to the initial gentleman involved.

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

 

 

[Otto Von Blotto]

I would certainly agree with you there mate. I am a fan and a convert of the practice myself too, I'm just not gonna go down the road of some bloggers with the mentality that "it works for me therefore it's best practice for everyone".

 

But that's basically what I do as well, leave it in the fridge until pitching time, decant "beer", swirl the remainder up and into the wort it goes. There must be something positive happening in there if my lag times are being reduced by 8-10 hours. Probably something to do with the yeast not using up the trehalose reserves it built up by being chilled, and being able to better protect itself against the osmotic pressure of the wort, as is explained in the opening post on this thread.

 

As expected too - that 2001 starter is up and running this morning. It's spinning a little fast to maintain a proper looking krausen but there is foam on top of it on one side of the flask, and I can see bubbles rising through it. It's definitely begun fermentation. The yeast was pitched about 8 hours ago now, but it would have been going before that. My guess would be about 6-7 hours.

[Beerlust]

There must be something positive happening in there if my lag times are being reduced by 8-10 hours. Probably something to do with the yeast not using up the trehalose reserves it built up by being chilled' date=' and being able to better protect itself against the osmotic pressure of the wort, as is explained in the opening post on this thread.[/quote']

+1

 

I admit I'm no chemistry major, but the conversation around the trehalose did strike a cord with me, & appears to have true practical merit. I too experienced noticeably shorter lag times after pitching.

 

A valuable lesson learned.

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

[Otto Von Blotto]

I'd agree there mate, certainly does appear that way. I'm definitely gonna keep doing it for both full size batches and my yeast starters.

 

I kept an eye on that starter this morning, even in the 40 mins or so while I was getting ready for work, the krausen had grown from foaming on one side to a nice ring of foam around the whole flask. When I got back around lunch for my shift break it had completely covered the top where it still is now. I'll leave it stirring until about lunch time tomorrow I think, when I'll switch off the stirrer until Saturday when I'll stir it all back up again to harvest some.

[ChristinaS1]

FWIW, I have used this method for my last two batches, both made with a portion of slurry from the previous batch. The slurry spent one night in the fridge and was then pitched cold. I can't speak to the flavour, as one is still fermenting, and the other is carbonating, but lag times were 12 hours in both cases. The yeast in question is the Coopers ale/lager blend. Cheers! -Christina.

 

PS Note, I won't re-pitch from the current batch as the ratio of ale to lager is probably drifting off course, and also because of the increasing risk of infection that comes with each round of re-pitching, using the sloppy slurry method.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Excellent, that's 3 of us now reporting reduced lag times with this method. As I mentioned, I didn't observe much difference in lag time with the 2001 Urquell lager yeast, but I have another batch of Bo Pils being brewed on Saturday and being pitched on Monday, so I'll take note again. For all ales I've done this way though, noticeably shorter lag times. It'd be interesting to see this tested on a proper scientific level.

[Jp1525229771]

So i decided to give this cold pitching yeast a try last night. Yeast is a house blend from collecting dregs from various brews. This was made into a small 1.5L starter, left to ferment for 24H, then cold crashed for 24H. The cold yeast slurry was pitched into a rather high gravity(og 1058) strawberry blond ale at 7:30pm last night. At 6:30am this morning i had a very healthy krausen and the airlock pumping out bubbles at a rapid rate. I must say i am very pleased with the low lag times this produces.

Now to wait it out to see the results.

 

 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Just cold pitched some 6th gen 2001 Urquell lager yeast into a 3.3L starter about two hours ago and there's already a ring of inch high foam around one half of the flask. I'll be interested to see how much this increases over the next hour or so before I go to bed.

 

The wort felt quite warm at pitching time, probably mid-high 20s although it will drop overnight. This probably explains the fast start. I have the stir plate set to 22C with the temp probe stuck to the side under some foam, I have found this works well to keep the starter warm enough overnight. I know it's a lager yeast, but I still prefer to keep it above 20C so it doesn't take forever to do its thing. Loving this heated stir plate over the cooler months!

 

I don't expect the yeast to start as quickly in the main wort though, because it will be pitched much lower and then brought down even further to 10C, unless I have room in the brew fridge to chill the cube first. I can fit the yeast flask in my keg fridge since there are only two in there currently, but I can't fit a cube and the flask in the ferment fridge at the same time unfortunately.

 

Cheers

 

Kelsey