reusing yeast

[adirob]

I just used a white labs yeast in the latest brew. It came in a cool little screw top test tube thingy and seemed to have a wee bit of beer with a chunk of cake underneath it. I think it would have looked nice in the fridge

So, in my ignorance now that the brew is done and a lovely cake formed in the bottom of the primary FV I have just scooped a wodge out, wacked in a bit of beer on top.

Questions,

1)will it keep in the fridge, if so for how long?
b) will it work on my next brew?
iii) I have read something about washing the yeast to remove autolysed cells, leaving only living blighters, is this essential. If so, can do it with my sample or is it too late?
four) would it be worth using the spraymalt bag I have downstairs to culture up some more cells?

any comments would be much appreciated

ade

 

[phettebs]

I frequently do save yeast for reuse. I scoop it up into a sanitized glass jar and cover it with foil to place in the fridge. If you are going to brew again within a few weeks, you can just pitch it as is (depending on how much you scooped up.) Otherwise, you can take a couple tablespoons of it and make a starter. I've kept a jar of it up to a year and made a starter just fine. But that was probably pushing it. YMMV.

I don't wash my yeast. You certainly can if you wish.

Baz

 

[luckyeddie]

No problem with re-using.

The first thing I did with WLP550 was to make a huge starter over the space of 10 days or so then split it. Half was pitched and the other half was kept sealed in the fridge in several Grolsch bottles. Each time I come to brew with that yeast now I take one of the Grolsch bottles, wash it in a demijohn with boiled cooled water (shake, leave for half an hour, decant the good stuff and ditch the trub) then build another starter from that. I've still got 2 of the first-generation bottles left. I'm told that you can probably go 4 or 5 generations.

When I'm down to the last one then I shall repeat the exercise (huge starter, pitch half, keep half). I reckon I will probably only have to order one of a particular yeast per year from now on.

If you want to save even more money, consider harvesting from beer bottles. I now have Orval, Duvel, Chimay and Westmalle yeasts safely grown on and fridged to keep the WLP550 (Achouffe) company. I used a Duvel yeast a couple of months ago and made the best tasting beer I have ever brewed. Bear in mind that what you get from White Labs is a pure isolated strain, whereas what you get out of the bottle reflects what was actually used in the production of that specific brew - and what you get out of a bottle is, by definition, the robust yeasts that survived the brewing rigours and stresses.

Attached is a quite comprehensive paper on yeasties and how they fare under brewery conditions. I found it absolutely fascinating.

http://sbli.ls.manchester.ac.uk/fungi/2 ... se2007.pdf

 

[hedgerow pete]

any chance of re linking the link as it comes up dead on mine