Re-pitching Yeast

[TmC]

Just wondering how long after pitching initial yeast would it be ok to repitch yeast? I have been buying the twin packs of yeast from CB and have been keeping them in the fridge to keep them fresh, US-05, temperatures have been from 17-19 all week. All beers had healthy krausen's but when i took some hydro readings today the smell was sickly sweet. Hydro readings varied from 1.005-1.015 but they all had the same smell to them. Been giving them some motion for the past 24 hours to try and kickstart the yeast again but dont want to have to tip these down the drain. So anyone know if it would be ok to repitch some more yeast after say 8-10 days and i actually racked one to secondary before i noticed the smell.

Cheers, TmC

 

[Yob]

Just wondering how long after pitching initial yeast would it be ok to repitch yeast? I have been buying the twin packs of yeast from CB and have been keeping them in the fridge to keep them fresh, US-05, temperatures have been from 17-19 all week. All beers had healthy krausen's but when i took some hydro readings today the smell was sickly sweet. Hydro readings varied from 1.005-1.015 but they all had the same smell to them. Been giving them some motion for the past 24 hours to try and kickstart the yeast again but dont want to have to tip these down the drain. So anyone know if it would be ok to repitch some more yeast after say 8-10 days and i actually racked one to secondary before i noticed the smell.

Cheers, TmC

ary you saying that you have harvested yeast and want to re-pitch them or you want to pitch more yeast to your current brews?

If the former, you can re-pitch right in up to about 2 weeks of storage, if the latter I would persist with rousing the yeast you have in there (sanitised spoon and stir, raise temps by 1'c etc) Patience and persistance is the best theory

what was the purpose of you racking off the primary cake? 8-10 days is not a huge amount of time and there is some theory about leaving the beer on the bulk of the cake to assist with cleanup of by products..

there is loads of info on yeast management in THIS topic as well as the link I posted HERE, it is well worth the listen

Yob

 

[TmC]

ary you saying that you have harvested yeast and want to re-pitch them or you want to pitch more yeast to your current brews?

If the former, you can re-pitch right in up to about 2 weeks of storage, if the latter I would persist with rousing the yeast you have in there (sanitised spoon and stir, raise temps by 1'c etc) Patience and persistance is the best theory

what was the purpose of you racking off the primary cake? 8-10 days is not a huge amount of time and there is some theory about leaving the beer on the bulk of the cake to assist with cleanup of by products..

there is loads of info on yeast management in THIS topic as well as the link I posted HERE, it is well worth the listen

Yob

I was thinking pitch more yeast into the current brews. I have always gone 10 days primary and 10 days secondary, 5 days cc. I only racked 1 out of 4 brews off the yeast cake so the other 3 are still in primary. I will probably give them another week to hopefully clean up after themselves. Will check those links out, cheers.

 

[mwd]

You don't say what you are brewing K&K or all grain.

If K&K or bits then your SGs of 1.005-15 sound pretty much in the ballpark. Don't rely just on smell how do they taste?

I reckon they are done wouldn't waste new yeast on them.

 

[TmC]

One is a coopers Real ale with BE2 and the rest are AG. They taste too sweet too, i think i will pitch a small amount of yeast into each, give them a bit of movement and leave them for a few more days.

 

[Ross]

One is a coopers Real ale with BE2 and the rest are AG. They taste too sweet too, i think i will pitch a small amount of yeast into each, give them a bit of movement and leave them for a few more days.

Absolutely no point in pitching extra yeast. Lift the temp to 21c to 23c if you feel they haven't fermented out & see if that helps, if it doesn't then look at your recipe &/or mashing process.

Cheers Ross

 

[TmC]

Ok will give that a go. Thanks for the info fellas :icon_cheers: