Pitching On To Yeast Cake

[Uncle Fester]

I was under the impression that you could go about 5 generations before your yeast really started mutating into bad things.

Also, I seem to remember that one breed of yeast (US56 ??) actually tends to mutate in a positive way.

Please correct me if I am mistaken. It will save me going down a potentially costly path in the near future. (As soon as I start AG, I am going liquid yeast, and will be harvesting the results for a few generations, being the tightwad that I am...)


Fester.

 

[bindi]

I remember this topic from awhile back [can't find it].
I think it was "Grumpy"Thomas who said to use only half a cup from the yeast cake, this what I do now and "wash" the rest If I have time.
As for yeast mutating, the Wyeast 3333 I use in Hefes is now producing Krystal Weizen after 5 generations and the taste is great, just not cloudy and little less banana.
Anyone else notice this? <_<

 

[Weizguy]

I have found, with weizen yeasts, that they seem to become less ester-producing.

I cannot state this with certainty, but my results seem to show it. However it may be that my technique has evolved (highly likley) and that it may be a strong factor also.

With regard to esters and fusels - I thought that esters are produced during the yeast reproductive phase and that a yeast cake would produce less esters as the numbers do not need to increase so much; and aren't fusels produced at higher temps, independent of cell count?

Seth

 

[brewwizard]

G'day Guys.
I have had great success with taking a culture at high krausen.
I two thirds fill a sterilised milk bottle and airlock it.
Leave for about half an hour then put it in the fridge.
Remove from the fridge about a couple of hours before you need to pitch.
Use within three or four weeks for best results.
Cheers
Col :chug:

 

[pint of lager]

Col,

If you have left a starter in the fridge for 3-4 weeks, how long does it take to start a fresh brew? I would have thought after this time frame it would have been preferable to pour off the waste wort leaving the slurry behind and to add a fresh load of wort, wait till that is at high krausen and pitch.

There was a thread in the last week or so where a member had done something similar but it had taken well over 48 hours to get going.

Another method that people may not know about, is to grab a litre of actively fermenting wort from primary and use that immediately to kick another brew off. You do need to be 100% satisfied that your sanitation is good.

 

[Voosher]

Col,

If you have left a starter in the fridge for 3-4 weeks, how long does it take to start a fresh brew? I would have thought after this time frame it would have been preferable to pour off the waste wort leaving the slurry behind and to add a fresh load of wort, wait till that is at high krausen and pitch.

There was a thread in the last week or so where a member had done something similar but it had taken well over 48 hours to get going.

Absolutely agree.
My splits from smack packs will not kick off in less than 48 hours after they have been fridged for anything more than about a month. They'll need some additional nutrition pretty quickly. And if you're not feeding them and allowing them to take their sweet time you're probably stressing them.
Fresh starters are always a good idea.

 

[Jye]

I heard on the brewing network of a brewer hooking up a blow off tube with the tubing going into the fermenter just above the wort, so any krausen would be blown out the tube and into a sanitized contain. This would then be used for the next batch and would have a very small lag time... he called it super yeast :lol:

 

[Tony]

i usually keep about 100mls of trub and them bring it to life a 1 liter starter before using it.

I think pitching active healthy yeast is more important than how many billion cells/liter to the home brewer.

only my opinion

I like to have it either bubbling away in the starter or slowing down the day before. other than that i keep some dried yeast on standby but havnt had to use it yet.

I only pitch onto the yeast cake with a beer over 1.070 if the yeast is what i want and havnt had any problems.

cheers

 

[Trough Lolly]

i usually keep about 100mls of trub and them bring it to life a 1 liter starter before using it.

I think pitching active healthy yeast is more important than how many billion cells/liter to the home brewer.

only my opinion

I like to have it either bubbling away in the starter or slowing down the day before. other than that i keep some dried yeast on standby but havnt had to use it yet.

I only pitch onto the yeast cake with a beer over 1.070 if the yeast is what i want and havnt had any problems.

cheers

Totally agree - it's yeast viability not sheer numbers that make for a good ferment, IMHO...
I wash my slurry and keep the milk which settles out in 1.25L bottles for future use. I've found that the Chico Ale strain, (US-56 or Wyeast 1056) actually gives a better final product with subsequent re-use, as does the Wyeast 2000 Budvar strain. The Weihenstephan strain (W34/70 or Wyeast 2124) is also happy to be re-used either with a direct repitch of fresh wort or harvesting. Has anyone else got a favourite strain that actually gets better with repitching / re-use?
Cheers,
TL