I have a six week old, homebrew sized pitch of yeast from a local brewery that didn’t get used as quickly as I had planned. I can get a fresh pitch to use for my next batch, so is there any benefit from adding the old yeast to the boil as a nutrient?
Yes, dead yeast is a pretty good nutrient. Since they used to be alive, the cells contain micronutrients that living cells need. I don’t think you need much - like a spoonful would be fine. You can actually buy dead yeast as a nutrient - “Yeast Hulls”.
Your yeast might still be good if it’s only 6 weeks old.
+1. You are probably still fine to pitch…
One of my books (Dave Line?) says Fullers would pitch a bucket of yeast into the boil. They have something around 300 barrels for their system today, which is newer than the book I have. The bucket size was not specified either.
I’ve tossed dry yeast that aged out into the boil. I figured it was some nutrient and couldn’t hurt. Don’t know if it helped, but it didn’t affect the taste adversely, so what the heck
Can go either way. I’m sure it’s still good, or you can throw it into a boil.