reusing yeast

[justin27]

After I rack out of my secondary can I dump the yeast from the bottom in to a new batch in my primarry ?

[Fast_Eddy]

Yes.

Alternately some people just rack the new wort directly on top of the previous secondary yeast cake.

[Bruno_78]

I have done the latter of the two suggestions, and it worked out great. It was a very vigorous and fast fermentation.

[HarkJohnny]

a couple ?s

would this need to be the same beer type from batch to batch to reuse the yeast? i.e. IPA to IPA, stout to stout??

and being an extract brewer would I still use the yeast from the kits along with the yeast trub?

[Bruno_78]

Here's my suggestion.

Stick with similar styles. For instance, I started with an ipa, then went with an ESB, and I'm considering doing a pale ale with the same yeast next. I would look at wyeast's website, they have a technique to wash and reuse the yeast outlined there. I would not use the yeast from the kits at all.

[BrewDog]

Everything I've heard about doing this is to stick within style, but step up in flavor and body. So, as an example, pitch store-bought yeast into a mild or ordinary bitter pale ale, then repitch that into an ESB, and then repitch that into an IPA.
You don't want to go down in body and flavor, you want to go up.

HTH-

[brewmonkey]

All that washing the yeast is going to do is kill off (hopefully) any bacteria or other organisms that have grown in the culture.

As for re-using a strain. General rule is that you do not want to go from a darker to lighter or from a high gravity to anything, high gravoty being 1.060. With the high gravity is a viability issue more then anything else. Sticking with style to style is fine as well but remember that is not all you are limited to.

If you are going to repitch it rather then go on top of it the best time to harvest yeast (for an ale) is when the beer is at high krausen. Simply sani up a jar and something to skim the yeast off the top of the beer and repitch that.

[stronk]

Can you pitch onto the primary yeast cake, or will this give you faster autolysis in your second brew?

[brewmonkey]

Originally posted by stronk
Can you pitch onto the primary yeast cake, or will this give you faster autolysis in your second brew?

You can go in on top of another batch once without much fear of autolysis, just be mindful of the gravity and rack as soon as possible to get it off the yeast. If you have the ability to harvest though it is the suggested method. I am not a fan of plastic primaries, but this is an area where it has a decided advantage over carboy's.

[MARK123]

When possible I do 3 or 4 similiar batche's off one batch of yeast. I have had no problems so far. On the third and fourth batches I've had bubbles within an hour and a half!

[brewmonkey]

Originally posted by MARK123
When possible I do 3 or 4 similiar batche's off one batch of yeast. I have had no problems so far. On the third and fourth batches I've had bubbles within an hour and a half!

Are you going in on top of another batch or are you harvesting and re-pitching.

I have taken yeast upwards of 10 generations without issue, but that was harvesting from the middle of the crop and being selective about it.

Going in on top is fine for one batch but after that you have a lot of issues you will be dealing with. Sani will be a major issue, overpitching will cause problems and you very well may end up with a bacteria problem.

I would highly discourage going in on top of another batch more then the one time. While re-using yeast several times is fine, you must have the ability to harvest it, visually inspect it/taste it and re-pitch it.

For those who are laughing about the taste. Believe it or not you will be able to tell the difference between good and bad yeast. Color is another thing to look for as well as the consistancy of the yeast. It should be white to tannish, contain as little krausen as possible, have the consistancy of a thick custard or yogurt and the taste should be somewhat of tangy without meaty or mettalic flavors. While tasting is not a completely foolproof method it does work.

[MARK123]

Every time I cook my next batch. When I go to chill, I go to second with my one in primary, I leave about 2 inches above the yeast line and dump my chilled one on top. Then agitate the hell out of it. Taste fine to me. I have had them 4 months in the bottle with no problems.

[PCaravan]

I re-use yeast a lot. My techniques are not as good as some profess as necessary but my sanitation is good and overall it works for me. You'll just have to try for yourself to see what works for you but this is the rules to my process:

When I first buy yeast (always liquid and never dry because dry is no sanitary enough to be reused) I use it on one of my smaller beers. I generally make strong beers in the neighborhood of 1.070 to 1.080 so a smaller beer for me is something like 1.055 to 1.065. This allows me me to use two tubes without a starter (I hate making a starter because it involves advance planning and I often have to leave town on short notice). The small beer that gets the liquid yeast stays in the fermenter for one week. The I rack, scoop out about 1/2 a bottle of yeast per 5 gallons (topping up with beer) and cap and place in the fridge. I then emediatly place another one of my more normal strong brew on top of what's left in the primary for its primary fermentation. I save the bottle for the next time I plan to use that yeast and is effectively already a starter for the the next time I plan on making a strong brew. And in that case, I will again scoup out enough to fill 1/2 bottle per 5 gallons.

One word of caution... be ready to attach a blow-off tube as the fermentation can be almost explosive!!! You wont believe it if you've never done it.

Also of note, I brew ten gallon batches and ferment in two 5 gallon fermenters. I keep the yeast separate and plan on replacing the strain when there is a significant separation in flavor between the two fermenters. Haven't had to do that yet but I haven't reused yeast 5 times yet... much less ten times as brewmonkey mentioned.

By the way, I generally poor off most of the beer left in the bottle before pitching to get rid of the color and flavor of the preceding beer as much as possible but some is necessary to keep the yeast loose enought to pour. I haven't noticed any carry over from batch to bach yet.

[brewmonkey]

much less ten times as brewmonkey mentioned

Remember that my using a yeast up to 10 generations was done under optimal conditions in a brewery. I would never advise that many gens at home unless you have the ability to sterilize and maintain that environment for the time you will be harvesting as well as a storage area that is free of dairy products and will hold a temp down around 33-34F.

[PCaravan]

Yeah, I thought as much. I'm not expecting to be able to get that high based on what I do. I'll be happy to get to 5 or 6. That makes my liquid yeast as cheap as dry yeast. $5/tube of white labs here versus $1/packet dry yeast here. So far I'm up to 3 full batches with one yeast and actually since I scooped some of the yeast out from the first batch for storage and then pitched on the rest, the yeast is only 2 generation old at this point. The other culture of yeast I use is at 2 brews and 1 generation old at this point. As for the storage, the yeast is kept in sanitized beer bottles and capped and stored in my fridge that's dedicated to beer. I don't know the temp but I'm sure it's not that low but good enough for me.

[O2 Mash]

Originally posted by PCaravan
(I hate making a starter because it involves advance planning and I often have to leave town on short notice

I agree with you on this. I use the canning method for starters. I is pretty quick and painless, and I can make enough starters in one session to last me a few years. Boil 1.5 gallons of water and add 1 lb. of DME. Pour the wort into twelve sanitized 1 pint canning jars, add the lid, and boil the full canning jars for 30 minutes to sterilize.

A day or two before my brew day, I dump the pint jar (or two) into my yeast starter container with the yeast strain and away it goes. This way, you don't have to boil a small batch of wort every time you want a starter.

Actually, I now have two cases of quart jars that I use. 24 yeast starters goes a long way.