Reused Yeast Trouble

[BDD]

Hi all,

Thought i would give yeast washing and re-using a go for a bit of fun. So after my last brew about 2 weeks ago i collected and washed the yeast (us05). Did a brew last night and pitched the washed yeast straight into the brew. Probably should have made a starter but was being a bit lazy. Anyway i got up this morning and absolutely nothing has happened. Decided to give it a bit of stir with a sanitized spoon to see if that would get it going. Hasn't made a difference so far but might be too early to tell. Anyone have any ideas apart from pitching a fresh packet? Im not too concerned about the brew as it was a fairly cheap one just as an experiment.

 

[wbosher]

I'd just sit tight for a bit. Even with "new" yeast, it can take 24-48 hours to kick off.

 

[Yob]

Are you sure it was well rinsed and you didn't collect trub? How many ml of yeast? How had you stored it for those 2 weeks? In the fridge? Did you allow to come up to pitching temps?

 

[Goldenchild]

Leave it alone
I'd be more worried about opening your fermenter and putting the spoon in there.

Assuming you let the yeast warm to room temp and when washing the yeast collected enough cells it should be fine.

 

[jaypes]

Just my twisted point of view, I can see why you would re-use liquid yeast at $12-15 a pack but US-05 at $4-6?

 

[wbosher]

Practise?

 

[Screwtop]

Dried yeast is inexpensive! Plus when it's in the best shape it can be in:

US-05

Total bacteria*: < 5 / ml

Acetic acid bacteria*: < 1 / ml

Lactobacillus*: < 1 / ml

Pediococcus*: < 1 / ml

Wild yeast non Saccharomyces*: < 1 / ml

Pathogenic micro-organisms: in accordance with regulation

*when dry yeast is pitched at 100 g/hl i.e. > 6 x 106 viable cells / ml

 

[BDD]

Yob: was stored in the fridge for the two weeks and took it out of the fridge about 6 hours before i did the brew. Didnt measure how much there was but at a guess i would say bout 150-200ml.

Yeah us05 is pretty cheap but i was just having a crack to see if i could do it for a bit of fun.

 

[Nick JD]

I have never seen the point in washing yeast. I've been reusing trub for years and never noticed a difference between virgin yeast and trub yeast pitched beers.

 

[Yob]

not many people actually wash yeast (different process all together), rinsing yeast is good fun and Ive never had a resultant beer infected, on the flip side, Ive never been able to come at pitching trub.

@ OP.. are you sure the rinsing was good? Im just hoping that you actually collected yeast and not the trub.. easy mistake to make when starting off / slurry is too cold / slurry is too thick / etc.

a good thing to do is stick some contact to the side of the jar and measure 50ml increments on it so you can get a good gauge of how much you have collected..

if it's at fement temp now, give it at least 48 hours before you really start to worry, it's been my experience that rinsed yeast does tend to take off quicker than the dry parent though.

good luck.

 

[BDD]

Brew kicked off last night and is bubbling away. Thanks for the input though guys its a great thing this forum. Definitely going to have another go at yeast washing but will prob make a starter with it next time.

Cheers!!

 

[Yob]

depending on what the viability is you really shouldnt need to do a starter..

for example, I as a habbit, cold condition my brews for a week, then rinse it and it may be a week or 2 until I use the slurry, lets say 2 for the sake of argument. This puts my viability at 3 weeks..

my Malty (Which some argue is conservative) says I will get 61% viability and need 89ml of compact slurry, 2 weeks would be 72% and 76ml of compact slurry. (default non yeast percentage)

As a rule I collect 100ml of Rinsed Yeast to make pitching numbers easy... 90% and 75% of the volume of rinsed yeast respectively for the figures above.

The only time I would normally do a starter is when / if it creeps over 100ml of yeast, then I would make a starter with half of it and dump the rest.

:icon_cheers:

 

[BDD]

Thanks for the info Yob. Haven't really played around much with mr malty or any other calculators. will have to check it out.

 

[carpedaym]

The only time I would normally do a starter is when / if it creeps over 100ml of yeast, then I would make a starter with half of it and dump the rest.

Yob, I'm a new brewer trying to learn the ropes, so forgive me but I'm a little unclear about what you're referring to. Would you be able to clarify?

Do you mean the required yeast creeps over 100mL, or the slurry collected? And what is the benefit in halving it before making a starter?


Also, BDD, I recently bookmarked this yeast calculator as it seemed a good supplementary tool for stepping up starters: http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/

 

[BDD]

Cool thanks carpedaym. Just checked it out. looks pretty good

 

[Glengine]

People keep saying dried yeast is cheap, but I find that is true only if you are doing large batches! I do 'half size' brews (9-10L) and at ~$7 for a packet of US-05 at the LHBS that makes it not so cheap.

I've just started reusing yeast myself, but instead of rinsing and storing it, I plan to get a new brew going the day that I'm bottling and collect 50-100ml of the trub (I'll swish the fermenter around a bit to loosen it up into the tiny bit of liquid left in it) and pitch that. It worked for me and the resultant beer tasted as I would expect. It did take a couple of days to really get going just like when pitching from a fresh packet though.

Does anybody that uses the trub know if it can be kept for a couple of weeks before being reused?

 

[Yob]

A couple of weeks is fine

Re above, I always collect 100ml and as the viability drops you need more, if the calc says I need more than 100ml the starter comes in to play as the yeast health isnt that great at that stage, I only use half or less because there isnt any need to use more than 50ml into a 2lt starter (regular size and gravity ale)

Whats important is having a handle ON the yeast health and knowing when they need the starter or are too old to worry about, sometimes it's easier just to start again if the health is low.. A good beer s worth more than suspect yeast

 

[thylacine]

Brew kicked off last night and is bubbling away. Thanks for the input though guys its a great thing this forum. Definitely going to have another go at yeast washing but will prob make a starter with it next time.

Cheers!!

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/55409-rinsing-yeast-in-pictures/

 

[fletcher]

can i just ask; even for dry yeasts, wouldn't it be healthier for the yeast to be split and cultured before using to ferment. that way you don't get any trub or **** to worry about rinsing off etc?

so i'd have a pack of US-05 for example, and i split that into x amount of grams each and pitched it into a 1.030-1.040 DME wort in a jar or whatever...then continued to grow them from there.