Hi folks!
We bottled our second lot of brew today - Coopers Vintage Ale - just after lunch.
When we got to the bottom of the barrel we found that the gunk was starting to fill up the stubbies - we filled up six stubbies, just because- and looked extremely cloudy, to the point it looked like sand in the water, but real thick.
What do you guys call that stuff and what do you normally do with it?
Last time I just threw it out but this time we kind of bottled a bit of it!
Scott

That my friend is the yeast cake It's made up of trub and yeast. I usually just toss mine in the compost or the yard can. If you want you can wash the yeast out and have your own yeast for pitching. Also I've heard of it being used in brewers bread. The one time I tried adding it though the bread was really dense, and didn't taste so hot. I wouldn't worry to much about a little bit getting in the bottles. Usually though you should stop siphoning when the remaining wort gets cloudy.

Ahhh! Thanks for that. Next time we will throw it in the garden and let the worms deal with it.
We are not into baking bread, so we will let the bakers keep their quid.
Cheers!
Scott

Apparently some of the fellows here leave it on the bottom of the fermenter and start a new brew straight away on top of it instead of pitching new yeast. Finings will help to stop it from getting into the bottles, and when it does get into the bottles finings and a week in a really cold fridge will help stop it pouring into the glass with the beer. Once I had two inches of that stuff in the bottom of the bottle and didn't notice untill I went to rinse it out.

The one thing I can tell you is that my garden loves it lol.

I'm actually going to try and turn it into vegemite after my next brew is done.

When you brew, use a muslin bag to put the hops into so that after the boil you can throw the hops into the trash can. They are deadly to dogs as boiled hops causes malignant hypothermia. The rest of the trub can be used in the garden or baking. I keep the grain in the tun, by freezing it, until I make bread or soup and then I add the grain to the bread or soup. I would not use the yeast from the bottom of the barrel to make bread. The grain does do wonders for soups. Yeast is cheap enough, I do not save mine but I am getting an interest in making my own yeast, so I may start? I agree with the others that you may be able to save your brew by letting it sit for several weeks, then bottle as usual.

I sometimes rack new cooled wort on top of it a couple times to reuse it. It saves a couple bucks and is really good if you want a higher gravity brew. Do a 5% or so on the first and then you have a ton of yeast for a 8 to 10% batch.
A little yeast is good for you. It contains alot of vitamin D!! Gives you less of a hangover too!!

how long will it stay good? Do you have to reuse it as soon as you pull a batch off or can it sit for a week or two?