Reusing Yeast Cake

[Julez]

Hi all,

I've got a hefe weizen in primary at the moment and contemplating my next brew. I don't have any yeast in reserve, so I'm thinking of trying my hand at a dunkel weizen next and pitching it on the yeast cake from the current batch. My questions are;

1/ Is there any reason why I shouldn't put a dunkel wort onto the yeast cake from a hefe batch? It's Wyeast 3068, which suits both styles.

2/ What preparation will I need to do when reusing this yeast cake? Simply drain off all the current batch and pitch my next batch of fresh wort straight onto it? Simple as that?

I had searched past forums, but unable to find good info on this.

Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[Cortez The Killer]

You might not wanna use all the cake

You'll find it'll go bananas (really take off)

With a sanitised cup scoop a couple of cups out of the first cake and pitch into the next batch

Cheers

 

[Sammus]

Pitching darker onto lighter is usually OK, the other way isnt.

Another thing for consideration, is if you had an abnormally big hefe on there first it might not be great, high OG (high alc) beers tend to stress the yeast out.

Thirdly, it would probably be too much yeast. A yeast cake is normally an overpitch anyway, and with wheat beers people tend to underpitch a fair bit to stress the yeast in a such a way to produce certain yeasty flavours.

 

[Julez]

You might not wanna use all the cake

You'll find it'll go bananas (really take off)

With a sanitised cup scoop a couple of cups out of the first cake and pitch into the next batch

Cheers

Thanks Cortez. Actually I did more searching of past forums with different parameters and got the method figured out now.

But good point you make, as this is a feisty little yeast

 

[Hargie]

...your best bet is to top crop.....skim the dirty krausen off at about 24hrs.....it will regrow another , within hours and this is the cleanest healthiest yeast in the fermenter, use that...but if you use slurry use 1/4 -1/3 of a cup....any more will be very messy...

...cougar...

 

[Julez]

...your best bet is to top crop.....skim the dirty krausen off at about 24hrs.....it will regrow another , within hours and this is the cleanest healthiest yeast in the fermenter, use that...but if you use slurry use 1/4 -1/3 of a cup....any more will be very messy...

...cougar...

Sounds logical. I'm going to start culturing from slants quite soon (just ordered some vials), but in the meantime, just looking for a quick and easy way to get more mileage from the existing yeast. The slacker in me likes the convenience of the pitch onto slurry method . Will definitely heed the warning about how much to use though. Cheers for that.

 

[hockadays]

Slants are the go, you'll never look back.

 

[drsmurto]

What if you went from a 1.040ish beer to a 1.060ish beer? Could you dump onto the yeast cake or should you still only use a portion of the cake?

In the past i have collected the entire yeast cake, allowed it to settle for a few mins before tipping off the milky suspension and then washing the suspension several times with sterile water. I then pitch the washed yeast rather than the trub, cold break etc from the last brew. Not sure if my pitching rate is too high or low in this case. Seems to be working so far. If its in the fridge longer than 2 weeks i make a weak starter up just to kick it back into action.

 

[Interloper]

Based on advice here I whacked a Chocolate Porter straight onto the yeast cake (Nottingham Danstar yeast) from a Coopers Export Irish Stout brew.

Took off all the brew and then just poured in my extract, hot water and fermentables. Sealed that bad boy up and it was fermenting in 5-6 hours.

All went fine pitching another darkie on the stout yeast cake. Haven't tasted the porter yet, but I can't see why you'd worry about taking half the yeast cake out before pitching. More risk to sterilisation I reckon.

Just go a dark, heavy beer rather than a lighter one and you should be fine

 

[MVZOOM]

Sounds logical. I'm going to start culturing from slants quite soon (just ordered some vials), but in the meantime, just looking for a quick and easy way to get more mileage from the existing yeast. The slacker in me likes the convenience of the pitch onto slurry method . Will definitely heed the warning about how much to use though. Cheers for that.

Julez - where'd you order your slants from? What kind did you get?

Cheers - Mike

 

[Julez]

Julez - where'd you order your slants from? What kind did you get?

Cheers - Mike

Howdy Mike,

Got the ones below, from here http://www.proscitech.com.au/cataloguex/online.asp?page=l9

I hope the centrifuge tubes are suitable, can't see any reason why not. They are autoclavable polypropylene, supposedly can withstand up to 135 degrees and have flat bottoms so they can be stood upright. These ones are 50ml. 50pcs cost $22 ex GST and about $12 for freight.

Should turn up in the mail tomorrow, so I hope they fit the bill....



CENTRIFUGE TUBES, STERILE with screw caps
Dimensions:
LCA01 = 118H x 28.5 extern. diam. x 27mm intern. diam.


LCA01 Centrifuge tubes, PP, conical free-standing, sterile, 50mL AUD22.00 /pk/50 stock. .

LCA01, LCA02, LCA04

 

[dc59]

Hey people I just dumped a stout onto the yeast cake of a ordinary bitter today. The yeast was Muntons Gold Yeast and this was the first time I've reused yeast.

Within a couple hours it was racing like crazy and has been like that since. Decided to find a thread to find out if it's normal behaviour to be doing this and thought it funny when I read the very first reply

"You might not wanna use all the cake

You'll find it'll go bananas (really take off)

With a sanitised cup scoop a couple of cups out of the first cake and pitch into the next batch

Cheers"

So are there any potential issues for someone who has used the whole yeast cake?

Dave

 

[haysie]

So are there any potential issues for someone who has used the whole yeast cake?

Dave

Issues? Not really apart from fermentation was over in 72 hours, the beer was still good, very good. I just got to drink it earlier.
Try it, suck and see.
My opinion is> not the best way of brewing but...... giving right conditions e.g O/G, Temp, sanitation go for it!
Just do it, you will be wiser for it.
Cheers
Haysie

 

[Stuster]

Issues? Not really apart from fermentation was over in 72 hours

The main issue really. If you overpitch you can get runaway fermentations. Not really so much of a problem at this time of year, but when the weather warms up it can be hard to keep the temperature down sometimes. And that can give you fusel alcohols, more esters than you wanted, etc. Most times, pitching the whole yeast cake will probably work out (I've done it a few times), just things to be aware of. Certainly a good idea if you're doing a really big beer.

 

[haysie]

There you go.

 

[G-money]

I have brewed a European Lager with BE2 and kit yeast and want to do the same again. Can I just dump this onto the old yeast cake? How do I go about doing this? Do I fill the fermenter up with water and then add the Kit and kilo of BE2? I tend to add the BE2 to boiling water to assist in disolving it.

 

[Frenzel]

A method that i have used for my last couple of brews is after about day 3 of fermentation get a sterile bottle or jar and fill straight out of tap seal & put in fridge to stop the yeast working then next time you brew give it a shake & poor into wort.Within hours yeast is working again. Idea was from this site but couldnt find link.

Frenzel

 

[Interloper]

I have brewed a European Lager with BE2 and kit yeast and want to do the same again. Can I just dump this onto the old yeast cake? How do I go about doing this? Do I fill the fermenter up with water and then add the Kit and kilo of BE2? I tend to add the BE2 to boiling water to assist in disolving it.

I like to boil my sugars up too, and you'll be fine just whacking it straight onto the yeast cake. I've done re-pitches by taking only a cup or two of the slurry left after a ferment and other times I have just chucked the K+K mix straight on top and really don't notice too much difference.

Chucking straight onto the yeast cake without fiddling around and pulling a cup of it out = less handling and less infection risk I reckon.

Go hard! Just pitch straight on top of that bad boy! :super:

 

[rimrunner]

you could of course scoop a certain amount of the yeast cake out and leave enough in for fermentation. i doubt a quick scooping would do much to increase risk and you'll still have plenty of cell count to reduce lagtime.

 

[G-money]

Does anyone have any good K&K recipes to dump onto a European Lager yeast cake? I am told you should go darker and have a higher OG.