How Do I Reuse Yeast?

[Renegade]

so add 500mls water to yeast cake but only pour off half a stubbie (188ml) ? do you disgard the rest ?

Um, you look my post a bit too literally. Tap off three if you like, add a litre of water too if you like.

For me thouh, I would only do about three of this generation - as mentioned it may not last forever in the fridge.

However once you take yeasty liquid from the first batch, the next time you do a brew, you can repeat it, and make another three. Which mean you'll have 5 yeasts... and so on.

Being that it multiplies like buggery, and I assume will be quite healthy, I'm starting to think about the idea of never buying yeast again, but simply taking one bottle off each batch, reserving for next time etc etc. I'm really only doing more than one at a time in case anyone else needs some yeast... and to also get practice in the method. Soon I'm going to start using liquid yeasts, and I know someone who is going to do the same, eventually we should both have quite a good yeast bank. At that stage I might even call-out to AHB'ers, see if anyone wants to do a yeast swap !

 

[marksfish]

if yhe stubbies of yeast are over a few weeks old i recomend making a starter as some strains can be a bit slow to wake up.

 

[Renegade]

Nothing a bath of warm water wont fix. I often put the yeast bottle into my sink after Ive ice-bathed my mini-boil. The water itself is proabbly about 35c after heat transfer

 

[Gavo]

If you are reusing it in a week or two you could save some in a sanitised bottle as you have mentioned.

Gavo.

Ahh to quote oneself... just soak it up.

Now back to reality. I have only ever washed yeast as described in the article I linked to earlier. I found it quite simple and the yeast stores well, I also rarely do two batches back to back using the same yeast. I usually have an emergency dried yeast handy just in case.
With Australia's biggest brew day I will be doing a my first double batch and will be fermenting one at a time. The second one will be fermented from a stubbie full of yeast cake from the first, should make an interesting comparison.

Cheers
Gavo.

 

[avaneyk]

Hi all

I've been reading this forum for a while but this is my first post...

Has anyone had any problems with bacterial or wild yeast infections when reusing yeast? I've read some books that make it sound like this could happen pretty easily.

I don't reuse my yeast cos dried yeast is pretty cheap but am thinking of moving to liquid yeasts soon and then it would definitely be worth it - I just worry about losing a brew to bad yeast.

Also, I read somewhere that yeast has a maximum number of generations before it starts to change its characteristics (ie mutation) - anyone ever noticed this?

Cheers,
Andrew.

 

[Gavo]

Infection is not a problem if your sanitation is up to scratch. I am finding that I get more careful with this all the time. Most people will reuse yeast up to three generations, some more, generally there is further risk of infections as the generations go on.
Dry yeasts are cheaper... but consider that from the first brew you can easily harvest three yeast samples and three from each subsequent set of brews. At the very least this is 9 brews 3x3 so therefore a saving of $45 at five dollars per pack of dried yeast.

Cheers
Gavo.

 

[marksfish]

+ 1 on infection risk, use more than one type of sanitzer so the bugs that live every where dont develope resistance.

 

[Renegade]

Has anyone had any problems with bacterial or wild yeast infections when reusing yeast? I've read some books that make it sound like this could happen pretty easily.

Hi Andrew, and welcome to the community.

As far as bacterial infection is concerned if you follow some simple sanitisation practices, there's no reason why re-used yeast trub is going to go bad. You're taking stuff that's been under good conditions to start with (ie your un-infected beer that you just bottled) and if you mix it up with decent water stock - let's say boiled, the cooled, but honestly I have done it with straight tap water - and into a sanitised bottle which you cap/screw the lid on, then there's little chance of infection.

As far as 'wild yeast' is concerned, same deal. There's not too much chance of anything 'wild' getting in there and changing the profile if you work fast & smart.

As a general afterthought, I should make it clear that all of my previous posts on this thread may not conform to the 'best' way to do things, but so far the simple route has worked for me without fail. Of the couple of crap beers I've produced (due to temperature issues, I determine) and only one infected brew (acetobacter bateria), the re-used yeast has never been the culprit.

 

[manticle]

To add - you can make a starter and taste it to see if it tastes as it should. Otherwise if you pitch directly on to cake, taste the to be bottled brew first and make sure it's ok.

Infection is always a possibility. Sanitation is always a remedy. I've re-used liquid slurry and top cropped liquid yeast with no infection issues.

 

[Renegade]

To add - you can make a starter and taste it to see if it tastes as it should.

Why bother, if your archived batch is already quite 'beery' and has a bit of liquid in the bottle ? You can just pour out a shot and taste that before pitching.

Not directed at you, Manticle, but sometimes people like to complicate procedures that are ultimatly quite simple & straightforward.

 

[manticle]

I was seeking to reduce paranoia but I guess you're right. Tasting a slant at room temp won't be much different to tasting a starter. My own processes are far from technical and complicated but I'm also far from paranoid. I'm more a 'chuck it in and see if it works kind of guy' (who tries very hard to see if it does work and figure out what went wrong when it doesn't). My processes have involved a lot of mistakes so I often try and recommend ideas that make sense to me now rather than my general ' lick it up off the floor no worries champ' approach.

 

[manticle]

It's just my inappropriate use of a term because I'm still learning. I meant 'yeast in a bottle with water, kept in the fridge' - whatever that's called?? My mistake.