Reusing Yeast

[Smileyr8]

I know lots of you out there do this.

Is it as simple as leaving a little beer in the fermenter after bottling/kegging swishing round leaving for while for the solids to settle out then filling a sterilized bottle with the liquid and placing in the fridge until ready to use?

Then how do I use it?

Make a starter in a sterilized jar with the contents of the bottle from the fridge and add to the next brew?

 

[Chippy_Tea]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay7oVbQNiGI[/ame]

 

[MyQul]

The above does work but your not supposed to use water to either keep yeast under in the fridge or use it for rinsing. Once you've racked your beer off the yeast cake your supposed to swirl the FV then let the bigger bits of break material settle then pour about 400 to 500ml into a container.
How ever if you don't leave most of your trub in the kettle like I dont and most of it ends up in the FV the above doesn't work because you've got too much trub mixed in with the yeast in the FV
I just tend to collect a load of this heavy trub in a jar and guestimate by previous experience how much to repitch into the next brew

 

[Smileyr8]

I just tend to collect a load of this heavy trub in a jar and guestimate by previous experience how much to repitch into the next brew

So if I understand you correctly, I can leave a little beer in the FV swill that around, leave to settle for 30 mins or so and collect say 300ml for my next brew and place in the fridge until I am ready then pitch that?

 

[Niman]

I reused yeast for the first time a fortnight ago had used wlp004 for a stout and repitched 5 gallon on to the yeast cake, dmmn thing near broke lid of fermenter, pics on my brewday thread.

Tonight just bottled the beer and filled 2 mason jars with the trub, now in fridge, not sure how its gonna settle out.

might try to use it again.

 

[Smileyr8]

Right I left a small amount of beer on top of the yeast cake, swished around and left for 15-20 minutes to settle then poured into a large sterilized jar (the slurry was very thick), this has been sat in the fridge since Sunday.

How do I go about using this?

 

[LarryF]

I fill a third to half of a sterile PET bottle with a trub and beer mix from the bottom of the FV put a lid on and put to one side. When my wort it ready I fill the bottle to 3/4 full, give it a shake and in the FV it goes. It's worked fine so far, better than pitching dry yeast.

 

[rodwha]

That's a bit different than the instructions I had been given (video).

What I do is sanitize various repurposed jars in Star-San while I boil 1 gallon (~3.8 L). Let that cool to room temp while I sanitize 3 repurposed containers (water jugs or vinegar jugs) that are each a gallon also along with a funnel. Once cooled the boiled water (done to both sanitize it but also to deplete it of oxygen) it is poured on to the yeast cake and violently shaken. Allow it to sit 20-30 mins and slowly pour into the first container while watching for the discoloration the trub has. Give this container another 20-30 mins to settle and repeat until done. At the end it ought to be quite free of trub and is then poured into my jars ensuring they are nearly full. Label with type and date and store in the fridge for 2-3 months. Make a starter when needing to use.

I've not seen, nor heard, that water should not be used.

 

[rodwha]

Starting with "clean" yeast I no longer do all of the work of washing yeast. Instead I make a starter a bit larger and save 1/3 of it as clean yeast to keep. With a low gravity and the absence of hops, hot/cold break, etc. there's just not much to do. It's simple and less likely to have issues.

 

[rodwha]

I'm curious why water is bad.

 

[MyQul]

I'm curious why water is bad.

I think one reason is contamination. Microbes have a hard time in beer because the ph is so low (usually about 4 I think) plus because of the hops you have some anti-bacterial qualities there. Microbes also aren't that keenon living in alcohol either. plain old water doesn't have any of this of course as the ph is usually around 7, although I have read you can uses distilled water/boiled & cooled

 

[rodwha]

The water is boiled and with the containers, equipment, and jars sanitized there shouldn't be any more chance for contamination that when the wort was placed in the fermentor.

Not that I've watched many, but a few, and they've all shown it the same way. I have seen some who just save the slurry too though. But then it wouldn't be washed yeast. Though I don't really agree, those who are against using slurry (not the yeast cake as a whole) claim something about "contamination" when using a dark beer to make a light beer. I'd think it too little to truly notice unless maybe it were something like a pale lager with not much to mask anything.

 

[clibit]

http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/yeast-storage-and-maintenance-0

 

[MyQul]

Also, (I was too knackered yesterday eve to do any more typing) buried in what clibit has linked, even when stored in the fridge they're still matabolising and and need nutrients so this is why it's best to store it under beer

 

[rodwha]

Very interesting. I'm at a loss for why big organizations/stores have been teaching it the way they have. I can't say I ever had any issues though.

My understanding is that after yeast made beer and sat (here it's typical to primary for 3 weeks with no secondary) they've consumed about everything, including their byproducts, leaving it about depleted of any nutrition for them.

I had been keeping and using liquid strains for years but tossed them all a little over a year ago as we were moving, but also because I lost track of the number of uses on many of the jars. I've been wanting to get back in to liquid yeasts and have some research to do.

Thanks fellas!

 

[DoctorMick]

Some good reading here. I'm about to order my first liquid yeast and expect to reuse it. What's the minimum equipment I'm going to need?

 

[clibit]

Some good reading here. I'm about to order my first liquid yeast and expect to reuse it. What's the minimum equipment I'm going to need?

The minimum is a jam jar, sterilized, spoon.

 

[MyQul]

Some good reading here. I'm about to order my first liquid yeast and expect to reuse it. What's the minimum equipment I'm going to need?

Star san would be very useful but not absolutely necessary. You don't even need a spoon - I just pour trub straight from the FV into the jar

 

[Smileyr8]

Right made a starter before I started the brew which kicked off like crazy, which made me feel a little cocky, I was also making pizza at the same time, and seeing I had my compulsory beer whilst brewing I thought why not pitch the some of the left ver yeast to make he pizza dough, the pizza was a little flat but it was an amount of guess work so will know in future to add plenty of the yeast.

Pizza was OK should have added more of the yeast.

 

[louis macneice]

One of the easiest ways to do this is to plan a series of brews - e.g. pale ale, mild, ESB and old ale - and simply pitch each brew onto the yeast cake of the previous one.

I did almost exactly this with a liquid yeast (WLP007); all the ferments worked very well and produced some of the best tasting beers I've made. It also made the cost of the high quality yeast about £1.60 a go.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice