Ney Strain Of Yeast?

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Spork

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I think I've got a new strain of yeast.
Little has changed in my process, but after a year and a bit of AG BIAB brewing I finally brewed a shocker!

Recent changes:
- stopped skimming the scum as sweet wort came to boil - made a couple of very nice beers.
- might have pitched a couple of brews a bit warm (mid 20's) - but that has happened before and they have soon cooled to 18 - 20c in the brew fridge. Those beers tasted fine.

This makes me think it's the yeast.
I've been re-using part or all of my yeast cakes for 3-4 generations for a while now with no dramas, but the other day I tipped my first keg. It was undrinkable.
I'm sipping on a keg that used the same yeast now. It's drinkable - just.
The yeast began as US04. This yeast can be a bit slow to settle out, but the last 2 batches it didn't settle at all until I stuck it in the freezer @ 0.5c.
FG on the current one is too low for me to determine using refractometer and chart to compensate for alcohol content. Must be bloody close to 1.000. Bitter as.

Going to brew tomorrow, and will cool the wort to 18c before pitching - with fresh yeast.
Having to buy beers really sucks. :(
 
- stopped skimming the scum as sweet wort came to boil - made a couple of very nice beers.

Wouldnt have though tthat would make a difference..

- might have pitched a couple of brews a bit warm (mid 20's) - but that has happened before and they have soon cooled to 18 - 20c in the brew fridge.

Wouldnt have though tthat would make a difference..

This makes me think it's the yeast.
I've been re-using part or all of my yeast cakes

dude!!

The yeast began as US04. This yeast can be a bit slow to settle out, but the last 2 batches it didn't settle at all until I stuck it in the freezer @ 0.5c.

This didnt tell you anything? Would seem to me you have had significant drift and mutation (hate that frikkin yeast anyway, never had great results with it)

Having to buy beers really sucks. :(

Lessons learned??
 
Live and learn Yob.
No more reusing yeast for me, unless I do it "properly" - which I can't see happening.
I'm a "best result for least effort" kind of brewer. Re-using yeast cake worked perfectly OK for the first 20-30 times, but I guess cleaning FV between every brew (instead of just racking to secondary and dumping more wort in) and opening a packet of yeast isn't that difficult if it saves me one brew in 15.
 
I sanitise a 300ml PET bottle, swirl the trub after kegging and bottle 250ml of trub.

Leave it in the fridge. Date and strain written on it.

If used within a couple of weeks it's fine to directly pitch - always taste the beer on top first. It tastes very yeasty, but that's okay - you're looking for sour or vinegar.

Really very easy.

The problem with pitching on top of a cake repeatedly, is that bacteria and wild yeasts have been sucked into your fermenter each time you bottled/kegged/transfered, and then been given a nice warm lag period to breed up.

Eventually, it's going to cumulatively fail. By obnly taking trub, you're reducing the likelyhood of this occuring.
 
Im a big fan of re-using yeast, love the practice, but I dont think Ive ever just dumped on top of a cake, part or whole ;)

just different strokes for different folks I guess mate, Ive always enjoyed the process of harvesting and rinsing the yeast and almost see it a separate hobby.

Now with a stirplate, Im a danger unto myself and am still trying to get new processes nailed down.

:icon_cheers:
 
Also using all the yeast cake is over pitching....

I read somewhere on here:

1 cup = Lagers
1/2 cup = Ales

I still use one cup for ales though and haven't had a problem yet :unsure:
 
Live and learn Yob.
No more reusing yeast for me, unless I do it "properly" - which I can't see happening.
I'm a "best result for least effort" kind of brewer. Re-using yeast cake worked perfectly OK for the first 20-30 times, but I guess cleaning FV between every brew (instead of just racking to secondary and dumping more wort in) and opening a packet of yeast isn't that difficult if it saves me one brew in 15.
I can only imagine the amount of dead yeast cells that would have accumulated after 20-30 brews on the one cake...
 
I can only imagine the amount of dead yeast cells that would have accumulated after 20-30 brews on the one cake...

I think after you got to about 2 or 3 it would remain constant, as you are only keeping a % of the entire cake and tipping out the rest. I reuse my yeast over and over. At one stage I had a cake that was in service for a few months straight. To me I think a nice healthy yeast cake produces a better beer than a fresh batch of yeast that has been mishandled.

QldKev
 
To me I think a nice healthy yeast cake produces a better beer than a fresh batch of yeast that has been mishandled.

QldKev

+1
I thought it might have been only my palate but I also think that yeast that has been used a few times seem to produce a better product than it did in the first use.
 
I think after you got to about 2 or 3 it would remain constant, as you are only keeping a % of the entire cake and tipping out the rest. I reuse my yeast over and over. At one stage I had a cake that was in service for a few months straight. To me I think a nice healthy yeast cake produces a better beer than a fresh batch of yeast that has been mishandled.

QldKev
If you listen to the experts, they will agree with you. As long as you aren't just dumping onto a yeast cake, anyway...

I am still a fairly new brewer, I have only reused a yeast cake once and I didn't get bad results. But with so many different yeasts and beers out there to try, I'm cool with paying another $10-15 for some new yeast at this point in time, and I try my best not to mishandle it (I always rehydrate dry yeast, try to pitch at the right temps, etc.).
 
The only time I change yeast cakes it when I get sick of one given yeast or think it may show signs of an infection/become infected. But in my fermenting fridge I do have 3 fermenters running at a time, so I do have 3 yeast strains to play between.

Often I have S-189 on the top shelf next to the cooling as I find that fermenter sits a bit cooler, and it gives me a lager. Then ale yeasts in the 2 fermenters on the bottom shelf, with the stc-1000 probe between the bottom fermenters. One will be a neutral yeast such as US-05/American Ale II/San diego super yeast, and the other often some strain of an English Ale.

Give a good mix to keep a range of beers on tap.

QldKev
 
Spork said "I've been re-using part or all of my yeast cakes for 3-4 generations".
I don't think he's been using the same one for 20-30 brews.
 
Spork said "I've been re-using part or all of my yeast cakes for 3-4 generations".
I don't think he's been using the same one for 20-30 brews.

Correct mate.
I usually get 2-4 brews per pack of yeast before ditching the yeast-cake and starting with a new packet, and have done this for (estimate) the last 20-30 brews.
 
I prefer to top crop, but it doesn't always work out ( laziness, bad timing etc ), so i often pitch onto fresh yeast. For same gravity I dump half, for stronger beers, I leave most, for mega beers I use the whole lot. I just bottled a 10.3% IIPA that I pitched onto the my yeast cake of a 4.5% ale. It went fine. I normally do 3 in a row max, though like I mentioned, I prefer to top crop.
 
Correct mate.
I usually get 2-4 brews per pack of yeast before ditching the yeast-cake and starting with a new packet, and have done this for (estimate) the last 20-30 brews.
My mistake, sorry.
 
I recently reused a 1272 yeast cake 3 times without removing any trub/ yeast. First it was a black IPA, then and IPA, then a pale ale. It was completely the reverse of how it should have been done, but all 3 beers turned out well. The pale ale has a really greast flavour, but of course the last 2 beers are totally unrepeatable.

The only problem I had was when I put the pale ale wort in the fermenter and put it in the fridge the whole thing when nuts and volcano'd out the top in a display of angry yeast fury. That was with 45L of wort in a 70L fermenter, so it was some pretty serious foaming, the cling wrap was hanging on for dear life and was blown up like a bubble.
 

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