Recycling Apfelwein yeast slurry

[Cistercian]

The great thing about Apfelwein is that it leaves a clean yeast slurry without any trub.

I recently bottled my Apfelwein and then racked a Christmas winter warmer on top of the Apfelwein slurry (Nottingham). The Christmas ale took off and finished fermentation in just over 24 hours.

I didn't do any yeast washing. I just racked right on top of the slurry in the carboy. The result was a nice, clean, and face ferment. And I didn't have to sanitize a carboy.

So don't let that Apfelwein slurry go to waste. Rack a beer onto it when you're finished.

 

[bob1852]

Rack a beer onto it when you're finished.

Or get another batch of Apfelwein going:rockin:

 

[caughtablaze]

never done this before but i think it would save a lot of time, how many batches of apfelwein could be made from the same slurry?

 

[Cistercian]

I suppose that you could recycle Apfelwein slurries several times.

 

[Edcculus]

At less than a dollar per package of champagne, I usually just dump it.

 

[JKHomebrew]

I just poted another post on this and then found this

I am bottling a batch of IPA on Weds and was wondering how to use the slurry, is this the best way? Just rack right on top?

 

[Saccharomyces]

You can pitch on the cake as long as your beer is hoppier and stronger than the previous brew. Otherwise you will want to wash the yeast to separate out the trub before re-pitching.

 

[DeathBrewer]

You can pitch on the cake as long as your beer is hoppier and stronger than the previous brew. Otherwise you will want to wash the yeast to separate out the trub before re-pitching.

as a general rule, this is good practice. i really wouldn't want to pitch a beer on an apfelwein slurry, nottingham or no. it will definitely lend some flavor to the beer and that doesn't sound too pleasant to me. another apfelwein would probably be ok.

 

[Cistercian]

DB,

I agree about "Apfelwein influence" on the new beer, but I racked a high gravity Christmas Winter Warmer on top of it the Apfelwein slurry and thought that a little appleness might be nice (if it shows up at all in the taste).

 

[Evan!]

It's not so much about the "appleness" as it is about the dextrose and other simple sugars in the prisonhoochfelwein, which tend to "train" the yeast to prefer simple sugars over maltose, etc. I know, you said that it fermented out in 24 hours, which is fine, but I worry about the ester profile in such a beer.

 

[Cistercian]

I'll save a bottle of my current Christmas Winter Warmer and compare it to this new batch.

It's the same recipe so I'll be able to detect whether there the new one has an ester profile. I'll let you know.

 

[jonp9576]

so if i rack my apfelwein into a keg, i can just pour more juice in and have a second batch going right away?

 

[nealf]

yep... I wouldn't do that more than 3 or 4 times due to the possibility of yeast mutuation. Plus, Montrachet is really cheap.

 

[jonp9576]

yea, the only reason i am gonna do it is because super fresh is across the street for the juice, and my lhbs is a half hr. and probably closed

 

[Dr_Deathweed]

yep... I wouldn't do that more than 3 or 4 times due to the possibility of yeast mutuation. Plus, Montrachet is really cheap.

I used one packet of yeast probably close to 10 times over a year. Every other batch or so I would just pour our half the yeast/trub then make the new batch on top. The only reason I am not using it still now is cause I was full on apfelwein and didn't want to make any more