settling yeast after removal from FV

[sbradt]

Does anyone have any insights on how best to get yeast to settle out of the yeast/beer slurry that you pull off of the bottom of fermenters. We tried collecting some of our slurry in a 55 gallon drum to see if it would settle out so that we could pull the supernatant beer off of the top and then more easily compost the somewhat more concentrated yeast. Even with our highly flocculant English Ale yeast, it didn't really settle. We tried agitating it to help knock remnant CO2 out of suspension and also tried adding a couple of pounds of DE to see if that encouraged it at all. This was all done at room temperature, currently about 80° F. If this kind of settling isn't a practical option, what other suggestions are there for yeast/beer separation on a small scale (35 Bbl brewhouse).

Thanks,

[Fred Scheer]

HI Steve:

Before you go into finding a solution for your seperation problem,
I would do the following:

* take samples of your slurry and measure the temperature and pH.
You will see that both, temperature and pH are high.
As you know, you have lots of by-products and yeast autolysis products in the slurry.

I assume you pitch ~ 25 gallons of yeast (35 BBL KO), and you will have in the cone of your Fermenter ~ 100 gallons after primary fermentation is completed.
Of that 100 gallon, maybe 40 gallon is beer, unfiltered, warm, high pH, etc.
Is that worth your time and money (as Craft Brewer) to clean it up?

Cheers my Friend

Fred

[Ted Briggs]

Fred i think you missed the point- he wants to compost- not get extra beer.
I havent done this but i would think you want to kill the yeast, and the best way other than chemicaly, which wouldnt be good for a compoast pile, is heat. Boiling it would kill the yeast and drive off co2 also. Not shure what kind of equipment you might use though.

[Valleybrew]

55 Gal drum with holes drilled in bottom, line it with a big cheesecloth or hopbag. Elevate the drum in a receiving tray to collect the runnings. Pour in slurry and let it drain through "filter", you should have a bag of spent yeast/trub left in bag and a tray of beer which can be diluted and dumped.