Results are in for the third xBmt looking at reusing un-rinsed yeast slurry harvested from a prior batch, only this time the slurry wasn’t propagated in a starter. Would pitching this sloppy old slurry directly have any impact on the finished beer?
Haven’t read it yet, but I guess no!
Now I’ll go see what the real answer is!
Wow! That seems like a long lag time for me too! And to think that slurry was months old…
I’ve seen lag times like that with similarly pitching old slurries.
It freaks me out to the point where I have pitched fresh yeast of the same strain into the fermenter and sworn off pitching old slurries with no starter.
Based on this, maybe I should reconsider. Or at least not get so worried about lag times.
But I doubt I will do either.
Aaaaaaaaand you were right!
Nearly 5 months old to be precise. I’d been saving it for this xBmt.
I think as long as sanitation is good, the beer will be okay.
I’ve pitched 5 month old slurries, too, without restarting. Glad to hear we got the same results!
BTW, I think people are FAR too hung up on lag tine!
Agreed! I couldn’t tell you what the lag time is on my beers. I just pitch and walk away for a few days/weeks. I’ve never once said “that tastes like it had a long lag time”.
Absofreekinlutely!
very interesting!
A couple of days, sure, but 5 days? I’d be pitching more yeast after 3 days, at least, I think.
I generally don’t like to pitch slurry if it’s more than 4 weeks old, at which point I’ll make a 1L starter 24 hours before brewing to wake it up again and pitch the whole thing.
I always like reading about experiments that confirm what I have been practicing for the last 20 years. 
Perhaps. But as far as hang ups go, I’m OK with this one.
Maybe I’ll relax a little. But more likely, I’ll just build a starter.
You and me both!
And I admit that I almost always do, too, with slurry older than maybe a month or so. But when I don’t, I don’t stress about it.
If this weren’t an xBmt, I think I’d probably have pitched a fresh pack by then as well. Now, though, I’m compelled to agree with Denny-- us homebrewers are likely a bit too hung up on lag time, among many other things.
I gave up on caring much about lag times a long time ago - just seemed to not matter much. I never put a correlation together on using old yeast, but it makes perfect sense. What I have found to be interesting is how little yeast slurry is needed when you are repitching directly from a first generation re-pitch and how quickly that gets started. I find that to be shorter than when using a starter, though I have not measured it specifically - just my impression.