I did a 10 gal batch of pale ale yesterday split into two pails. I had a cake of WLP007 in the fridge. It had been there about 5 days so it had really settled into a hard cake and I dumped off the remaining beer. Being the idiot I am, I tried to pour half of it into each fermenter but instead, I brick of WLP007 went splashing into one bucket and there was about a teaspoon of yeast left in the container (probably about as much as in the original tube minus the liquid). So, it got dropped into the other.
I am tempted to leave them as is but what do you think would happen. I can’t do anything for the over pitched but I can top crop some over to the under pitched if necessary.
I had a similar circumstance happen to me. I put a blow off tube on the overpitched fermenter and attached it to the underpitched one. Both beers came out great.
I like this idea. It’s top cropping without any of the work. And odds are, with the huge pitch on the first half, it will be spewing yeast over within a day or two.
Yeah, blowing off from the overpitch to the underpitch is a great idea. On the other hand, I would be tempted to let it ride for experimental purposes.
Ok. I will let it ride.
First report is that the overpitched is bubbling frantically with a huge krausen 24 hours after pitching. The under pitched still looks like wort with a few bubbles.
Nothing earth shattering there.
OG on this was 1.058 by the way so it’s not a huge beer anyway.
After about 36-38 hours, the over-pitched beer has actually started to slow down dramatically. I think it could be on the way to done but I’ve gotta pull a hydrometer sample to see.
The under-pitched is actively working and I’m not gonna top crop cause it is going strong but it is probably way behind. Again, the hydrometer will have to tell the tale.
I’ve gotta keg some beer tonight so when I have things sanitized I’ll pull some samples but I figured an observation was probably due.
How did you release the pressure? I’m picturing a blowoff tube from one grommet to another. If that is the only outlet for each, how did you account for the change in pressure going in to the underpitched batch? Or am I missing something obvious? Happens to me sometimes… ???
[quote]How did you release the pressure? I’m picturing a blowoff tube from one grommet to another. If that is the only outlet for each, how did you account for the change in pressure going in to the underpitched batch? Or am I missing something obvious? Happens to me sometimes… ???
[/quote]
Carboy caps would work, methinks. Airlock in one hole and a tube in the other?
i would think this would work well from one bucket to another as the pressure would not likely be as much a concern in terms of breaking a carboy. the active ferment would have the higher pressure and discharge to the lower pressure system.
If I were going to do it, I would just put the hose in the top of the carboy and cover it all with foil. It’s not gonna be on there for long, you don’t want to over pitch the receiving carboy either. I’d say an hour would be more than enough.
For a bucket I wouldn’t do this. You’d be better to top crop and be done with it in 5 minutes.
[quote]Conversely, overpitching ages the culture – fewer daughters, over time, leaves you with a lot of battle-weary scarred cells with inflexible membranes that are no longer at their best. And not as many young, scar-free new cells.
[/quote]
If there are fewer daughters because the yeast aren’t dividing as much, then the mothers will have fewer scars - the scars come from budding which is why they are called bud scars. He is really talking about two different kinds of yeast aging, chronological and replicative.
There will be just as many scar free cells when you over pitch vs. under pitch - half. 1/4 will have 1 scar, 1/8 will have 2 scars, 1/16 will have 3 scars, etc.
His point is still fair though - older cells don’t perform as well.
