Cultivating yeast

[hypnoticmonkey]

This is mainly a wine-related topic but this forum group had 'Yeast' in the title.

CJJ Berry writes in his book that it's possible to re-use the yeast sediment at the bottom of a brew for future wines. With this in mind, is it possible to cultivate yeast from this sediment? I've collected some, put it in a sterile jar with sugar and water and it appears to be fermenting nicely and multiplying. Will it be useable?

 

[Dieseljockey]

H.M hi & welcome to the forum.

That's a big yes...I take it that the yeast comes from wine that you have made yourself.
Some of the guys use yeast from some live beers..like Chimay..Duvel.

Try this site Here it may help.

 

[hypnoticmonkey]

Thanks DJ!

Yeah, it's from wine. The stuff I've got cultivating at the moment is a white wine yeast that I used to make an apricot wine. I ended up transferring it to a DJ, adding nutrient and more sugar. Fermented it out, let it clear, racked off the clear liquid, topped it up with more water, nutrient and sugar and away I go again. The sediment level at the bottom is getting bigger and bigger, which I'm guessing is almost exclusively yeast?

If I carry on like this I may never need to buy some yeast again! Or will it get 'old' and less effective?

 

[Mephistopholes]

Unless you start acid washing then yes it will probably go bad. I reckon with decent sanitation 30 generations is pretty acheivable with out taking this precaution though. Not sure why you're putting sugar in each time its not really neccessary. just rack whatever youve got in the bottom of the DJ into a sterile jar and bob it in the fridge. normally good for a week or so. its best not to be pitching all the yeast every time time as you'll probably have collected too much. without knowing the recipe your using or indeed very much about winemaking i would struggle to work out just how much you should pitch.

 

[hypnoticmonkey]

Doesn't yeast reproduce by using up sugar? Therefore by adding sugar to the brew I'm actually growing more and more yeast each time?

Seems to be working anyway. I started with a very small amount of yeast, then the yeast sediment grew. It stopped once fermentation stopped so I syphoned off the clear liquid and added more sugar water and the sediment started growing again.

It's not really gonna grow on its own, is it?

 

[Mephistopholes]

It grew when it was fermenting the wine as well hence the reason there is more sediment in the bottom of the DJ than original yeast pitched. it grows when its fermemting and since this is what you were using it for it seems pointless to ferment out any other sugar when you already have more yeast post ferment than you need to pitch into a new batch.

 

[hypnoticmonkey]

Because I don't just want to cultivate enough to pitch in one batch. I'm trying to cultivate enough to last me a while, without having to wait till I've racked-off a DJ to get yeast for the next brew.

Also hoping to try my hand at marmite making, which will require quite a bit of yeast.

 

[Mephistopholes]

Just remember if you want it to "last a while" it will degrade eventually especially if its had a few life cycles. like i said a week in the fridge is normally as long as you should be keeping it.

the idea of making marmite is quite intresting though. I'd be quite intrested to see this as i generally harvest the yeast from my brew and then pitch it into my new one making sure i have to brew every week to keep the yeast sweet. it does mean that i always have leftover yeast though which inevitably goes down the sink. i would love tofind another use for it.