# reusing 3068



## Alex.Tas (30/10/13)

I've reused some 3068 recently and found that im not getting that big yeast flavour in subsequent brews (with identical recipes). 
to reuse the yeast i slosh the stuff around the bottom of the fermenter after bottling, and pour it into a sterilised glass jar. allow it to settle in the fridge overnight, then pour off most of the liquid, decant the yeast, aiming to leave as much trub behind as possible.
am i doing something wrong here, or has anyone else had issues reusing 3068?


----------



## Acasta (30/10/13)

I would suspect if ferment temps and wort OG are the same, that its your pitching rate.

From wyeast about 3068: "The balance can be manipulated towards ester production through increasing the fermentation temperature, increasing the wort density, and decreasing the pitch rate. Over pitching can result in a near complete loss of banana character."

Do you know how much yeast you are pitching? I believe 6 mil cells / ml is what you get from the pack into 19L (5 gal).
Here is a good resource from wyeast on re-pitching slurry and should help you figure out how much slurry to pitch. http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_pitchrates.cfm


----------



## QldKev (30/10/13)

How much of the yeast are you pitching. 

edit: I'm thinking the same as Acasta said, you are over pitching it. If your OG is 1.050 then I think about 1/2 of the yeast is needed.


----------



## RelaxedBrewer (30/10/13)

I have found the same thing. I reused it after saving it for a couple of months and got absolutely no banana flavour. I used a starter to control pitching rates.
I was not sure if it was me so I did a bit of a search around on the net.

People seemed to be saying the same sort of stuff. Some people report that the longer the yeast is inactive for the less ester flavours it produces when it starts up again.
Some said that they get around it by not activating the smack pack and splitting it, so they can at get ~4 brews from 1 pack.

This is just what other people on random forums were saying, I have no hard evidence. I would like to hear from people that have successfully reused 3068 after storing it for a bit.


----------



## Alex.Tas (30/10/13)

thanks for the responses peeps. 
Sorry i didn't measure the volume of yeast i was re-pitching. it would have been the entire yeast cake (minus some loss during decanting) of the previous wheat beer. I guees from what you say QLDKEV, i should have only used half of this?
OG was 1045 - tin coopers wheat, 600g wheat dry malt, 500g ldme + 3068 primed with 155g dex.

Sound like i've overdone it?


----------



## QldKev (30/10/13)

Yep, half the yeast cake worth of yeast for a normal gravity range beer. In this case an over pitch would explain the minimal ester synthesis from the Log phase of the yeast cycle; hence no big yeast flavor.


----------



## Weizguy (30/10/13)

I find that the fresher the yeast, the better the esters. I brewed a weizen recently and the esters were good, pitched a weizenbock ont o the yeast cake and the esters were still good, but somewhat diminished, but the 9% alcohol was smooth and almost hidden.

I recently listened to the BN podcast about weizens. Jamil finds that if you leave the yeast to sit too long between batches, you get less esters in the next batch. I have found that too.
In Germany, the practice is to scoop yeast from the krausen and pitch it to you next batch, assuming you have need for subsequent batches. I have tried this before, and a small pitch is enough to fire like a rocket (rocket-weizen), and the esters are super.


----------



## Alex.Tas (31/10/13)

so probably better to underpitch than overpitch with hefeweizens?


----------



## Weizguy (31/10/13)

Depends if you want more esters or if you prefer the clove character.

A smaller/ lesser pitch will favour esters. Better to pitch less than to ferment too warm, in my opinion.


----------



## Midnight Brew (7/12/13)

RelaxedBrewer said:


> I would like to hear from people that have successfully reused 3068 after storing it for a bit.


I just built up some bottle dregs from the July case swap and pitched it and the aroma from the FV is delicious banana esters (currently at 17C). I'll report back once its kegged an in a glass.

To the OP, It is going to be a lot easier to top crop 3068 because it throws such a large krausen. Because the strain is a low flocer when you harvest from the bottom its going to slowly over time become a higher floccer if you keep repeating your process. Where as if you crop from the top its the yeast in its unchanged and purist form.


----------



## Samuel Adams (9/12/13)

I will be brewing a wheat using 3068 this week & the plan is to do a 1L starter, split into 4 x 200ml bottles (to store for future brews) and build up the remaining 200ml into another 1L starter. I have done this with success with 1272 but now I'm wondering how 3068 will perform. 
I will report back here with results after I brew with one of the split yeast bottles.


----------



## Samuel Adams (25/4/14)

Well after brewing a Heff & a Dunkel with some split 3068 I can report that I didn't have much luck with either 
Not sure if it was the yeast farming method or ferment temp but both beers were lacking in both clove & banana flavour. 
The heff was femented at 20*c & the dunkel at 18*c and both had a 1L starter pitched at ferment temp.

For the record I have had great sucess using this farming method for 1272 (American Ale II) & also 3726 (Farmhouse).
It may be the pitching rate or ferm temp that is letting me down with the 3068 or it's just a bit more temperamental.
The quest for a great Bavarian wheat continues...


----------



## Dunkelbrau (28/4/14)

Samuel Adams said:


> Well after brewing a Heff & a Dunkel with some split 3068 I can report that I didn't have much luck with either
> Not sure if it was the yeast farming method or ferment temp but both beers were lacking in both clove & banana flavour.
> The heff was femented at 20*c & the dunkel at 18*c and both had a 1L starter pitched at ferment temp.
> 
> ...


What was your mash temp?

Clove comes out more at the correct temps from mashing, and banana improves with open fermentation/stressed yeast.. So under pitching/oxygenating can help but I'd prefer to go the open ferment for initial fermentation.


----------



## Samuel Adams (2/5/14)

Dunkelbrau said:


> What was your mash temp?
> 
> Clove comes out more at the correct temps from mashing, and banana improves with open fermentation/stressed yeast.. So under pitching/oxygenating can help but I'd prefer to go the open ferment for initial fermentation.


I think the heff was mashed @ 67 (mistake) & the dunkel @ 64
What mash temp do you recommend ?
I might give open fermentation a go next time but will this work in a fridge I wonder ???


----------

