# Saved my hungry yeast from today's bottled batch



## welly2 (31/1/15)

So I've just bottled my Belgian blonde, John Claude Van Coopers, which had super fast acting yeast. I thought I should save it really and perhaps do something with it.

Managed to get more or less all of the beer into my priming vessel with just enough beer to make the yeast pourable. So I did that:





I've stuck it in the fridge. But what now? Just use it as it is or can I/should I do something more with it?

Cheers!


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## Matplat (2/2/15)

If you read John Palmers website, he has something to say about recovering yeast..... you need to wash out the dead yeast, but il leave the detail of the process up to John


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## slcmorro (2/2/15)

Just use it as is. It's no different to repitching onto another cake. It'll be fine.


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## TheWiggman (2/2/15)

So you're saying you just recovered it from the bottom of the fermenter? Then what you have is trub, which is yeast and all the other solids that precipitated out from fermentation.
You could re-pitch what you have (many people have done this) but you aren't pitching an ideal yeast solution so it will end up being a little different than if you were to pitch 'fresh' yeast. Alternatively, look up 'yeast washing' as Matplat said. Many good references on this here forum or YouTube. Once washed, you can store the yeast in the fridge or freezer* for quite some time before building up and using again.

Note that you can't** always re-use yeast. If you've used a hell of a lot of simple sugars or it's a high OG beer, then you should dispose of it as the yeast would have mutated beyond acceptable standards.

Edit: *with caveats, check out freezing yeast thread
**shouldn't. You can, but will get varying results.


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## Yob (2/2/15)

slcmorro said:


> Just use it as is. It's no different to repitching onto another cake. It'll be fine.


which isnt best practice.. 

only once Ive used a cake.. and that was this weekend, I used to to restart a RIS..

reason being, you get flavour development through the growth phase, overpitching, just like underpitching, can have a detrimental effect.. more important on some styles than others.

anyway.. here's a LINK for the OP on how to rinse yeast


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## S.E (2/2/15)

welly2 said:


> So I've just bottled my Belgian blonde, John Claude Van Coopers, which had super fast acting yeast. I thought I should save it really and perhaps do something with it.
> 
> Managed to get more or less all of the beer into my priming vessel with just enough beer to make the yeast pourable. So I did that:
> 
> ...


You can re use the yeast as it is without washing it, the yeast is sort of washed or separated from the rest of the crap as it settles in the fermenter anyway.

Many homebrewers prefer to swirl the fermenter as you did to mix up the yeast and crap then wash and separate it. I prefer to drain the fermenter carefully without disturbing the yeast cake then scoop the clean yeast with a sanitised spoon.

Commercial breweries with conical fermenters can dump out the crap first then repitch the clean yeast straight away. If is good enough for them it’s good enough for me.

Cheers Sean


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## stux (2/2/15)

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/55409-rinsing-yeast-in-pictures/


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## welly2 (24/2/15)

Cheers all. I ended up chucking it as I've not had the opportunity to stick on another brew (brew day next week though). I'll have a go at this again next brew day and check out some of the links you all posted. Thanks very much!


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