Reuse yeast

[taylorj29]

For my first AG brew I bought some Gervian English ale yeast which I've reused for the last couple of brews. I'm trying to clean it with boiled water each time but I think I'm getting carryover flavours.

Is there a way of cleaning the yeast so as not to carry anything from the previous brew over?

 

[pittsy]

hi , i'm told it's not worth doing for a dried yeast , you should try a liquid yeast and make up a 8 pint starter with boiled cooled water and add 500g of dme (light) then when done pop in fridge over night , then decant spent wort and add boiled cooled water again then mix up well then put into 8 to 12 small bottles and you now have 8 to 12 yeasts each ready for a new starter to be made for your brew and store the rest in fridge for months if needed , better beer and cheaper yeast :thumb:

 

[graysalchemy]

In my opinion it is worth re using packet yeast. I do all the time. One thing however is not to reuse a yeast from a dark ale on a pale ale also don't reuse a yeast from a strong beer. I have never had a problem of flavour being carried over though.

 

[Cyclops]

Do you find the yeast any better when it has done a few brews?

 

[Mark1964]

We re use yeast 6 times then throw it as it gets weaker after half a dozen times. We use yeast from fullers bottled beers the brew we are doing at the moment is using the yeast for the 3rd time now . We split the yeast and freeze it then just make a starter out of it a few days before brewing

 

[The Goatreich]

We re use yeast 6 times then throw it as it gets weaker after half a dozen times. We use yeast from fullers bottled beers the brew we are doing at the moment is using the yeast for the 3rd time now . We split the yeast and freeze it then just make a starter out of it a few days before brewing

This kind of thing is my next project, I love the idea of reusing yeast, but I get confused with the whole process. Some reading is required I think.

 

[alanywiseman.]

We re use yeast 6 times then throw it as it gets weaker after half a dozen times. We use yeast from fullers bottled beers the brew we are doing at the moment is using the yeast for the 3rd time now . We split the yeast and freeze it then just make a starter out of it a few days before brewing

What do you freeze your yeast in? Is it cooled boiling water?

 

[taylorj29]

Pittsy, thanks I will try that method as I think the flavour I'm getting may just be down to the yeast and not anything I've done wrong so it could be time to try a new one. Any recomendations for a IPA, Doombar type clone?


Cyclops, it certainly did the last time :shock: straight out the top of the bubbler, SWMBO was *not* happy.


The Goatreich, I don't do anything clever with it. After I rack the beer I empty the yeast into a sterilised 2 pint plastic milk carton add cooled boiled water. Shake the solution let it settle and repeat then put it in a cold fridge. When I want to use it comes out of the fridge to warm for a few hours then I add it to 200ml of 35c boiled water with 2 teaspoons of caster sugar disolved in it then left somewhere warm for a couple of hours before pitching. I usually get a good fast fermentaion in about 12 hours or less.

 

[The Goatreich]

The Goatreich, I don't do anything clever with it. After I rack the beer I empty the yeast into a sterilised 2 pint plastic milk carton add cooled boiled water. Shake the solution let it settle and repeat then put it in a cold fridge. When I want to use it comes out of the fridge to warm for a few hours then I add it to 200ml of 35c boiled water with 2 teaspoons of caster sugar disolved in it then left somewhere warm for a couple of hours before pitching. I usually get a good fast fermentaion in about 12 hours or less.

Cheers, that does sound pretty simple. When you say, "Shake the solution let it settle and repeat then put it in a cold fridge" do you repeat the shake and settle, or rack off the water, add fresh boiled cooled water, shake and settle again.

 

[graysalchemy]

Be careful of using sugar to re start a yeast it should be what you are brewing with ie malt as the yeast can switch of the metabolic path used to ferment the malt.

 

[taylorj29]

The Goatreich, yes rack off and repeat.

graysalchemy, good info, that maybe why I don't get an instant fermentation as it can't eat the sugar? I have saved some wort from the last brew to try it with next time. I'll probably follow pittsy and get some liquid yeast for the next batch though.

 

[Mark1964]

After transferring from fermenter we just leave a bit of beer and swill it round kill its mixed well then just pour into a 500 ml pop bottle then put in fridge leave to separate for a day then pour off the beer and add cooled boiled water then freeze

 

[graysalchemy]

You don't use 30% gycerine solution then :hmm: :hmm:

 

[alanywiseman.]

After transferring from fermenter we just leave a bit of beer and swill it round kill its mixed well then just pour into a 500 ml pop bottle then put in fridge leave to separate for a day then pour off the beer and add cooled boiled water then freeze

Interesting. I would have thought that the yeast cells would have bnurst when the water inside them froze and expanded but i suppose that if enough survive the go forth and multipy when you feed them.

Make things exciting as i lack space to have a dedicated brewing space but this way i could harvest some yeast from bottle and just freeze till needed.

 

[graysalchemy]

You can add I think a 30% solution of gycerol/glycerine to prevent this. Never Tried it but I was going to have a go with it next time.

 

[alanywiseman.]

THe only experence i have of freezing yest is that you can freeze a small sample of a sourdough starter then defrost and feed to get it going again.

 

[dennisdk2000]

I'm very intrigued, especially as this would make the use of liquid yeast a lot less costly, especially for my small brews which usually calls for half a packet of yeast, be it liquid or dried. So for I've stuck to dried as I couldn't justify spending in the region of £7-8 for a 1 gallon batch, or even two 1 gallon batches if I plan properly. However, only problem is deciding on a liquid yeast that will be good for most styles of beer? Though the freezing option does give you more options (space is an issue, don't have room for a yeast fridge!).

Dennis

 

[hedgerow pete]

according to the book the dave lane book he used to( his he alive?)
dave stores his yeasts in a standard beer bootle crown capped and out of the fridge or freezer.

the basic idea is to collect the trub give it a wash and then add some more malt and leave it to ferment to max alc and or untill its stops naturally because of lack of food or what ever, these bottles are then left untill wanted next time, each bottle then gets added to a brew and the yeast starts up again,

because we dont pasturise and oor sterilize the beers or in my case wines i can store the yeasts in high alc wine mixtures for several years if i want to, i just remove a small amount and restart it and then add it to the musts

 

[graysalchemy]

I was doing that but I had one which was about 4 months in a bottle and when I added it to abrew it didn't get going so had to use another lot of yeast, so fro my next brew I tried it again with more from the original yeast cake but used a 2L starter. Got it going fine but tasted the fermented wort and it was rank either infected or mutated, tasted quite meaty :sick: :sick:

 

[hedgerow pete]

i have four yeast strains for wine making on the go, i use those silly britic juice bottles or the small beer ones and a crown cap, the pressure and lack of sugars and high alc levels holds it safe for me.

after i buy a yeast strain i make up a starter bottle and then add half to the wine i wish to make the other half of the starter bottle goes into a plain sugar solution to make the yeast kick in it is then left for a day to get the air and to get going, it is then into a demi john for about a month until it dies down and then its bottled, labled and left alone untill i need it, its then poured into a full size wine bottle and restarted with a simple acidic sugar solution for a couple of days to get it going before the lots emptied into the next fermentation bucket .


i cant see why i cant do the same or something very similar with beer yeasts, we all know how to collect a yeast from a beer bottle so i cant see why the proccess is not that far off each other.

can i just mention that until i became unemployed and could not afford to do it i used toreplace my yeasts each year as a private humbug gift to my self, so say one wine yeast is split 12 times as normal after making up 12 batches i dont try to repopulate the yeast again i just buy a new batch, i dont understand enough about hygene to propagate yeasts at home, if i did i would also be making mushroom cultures aswell.