Yeast Recycling

[Zipster]

Hi there,

Got that yeast from my last Pilsner batch sitting gently in my freezer, I scraped it from the bottom of the drum. Can I use that in my new mix? If so how much of it, it's like a goo..

Thanks in advance.

 

[Amber Fluid]

Sorry, I am unable to answer your question but I actually thought that you couldn't freeze yeast without (can't remember what it's called) something. I thought the ice ruptured the cells.... or something along those lines.

Please let me know how you go with this.

 

[manticle]

Glycerine.

Zipster, yeast is best kept in the fridge, not freezer.

Look up yeast washing and re-using yeast.

To calculate how much, look at the 'mr malty' pitching rate calculator. You can calculate slurry dosage from there.

You need to be careful with sanitation when re-using yeast as any bacteria etc will make their way into the new batch and multiply.

 

[felten]

If you haven't added the right amount of glycerin, the freezing would have dehydrated the yeast and you would have killed some, maybe most of it off. It's much better to store it under cool boiled water in the fridge.

I'm slow

 

[Zipster]

ooops! oh well got plenty of it anyway, i'll just load the thing up!

 

[felten]

Stuffing your beer full of dead yeast probably isn't a good idea (depending how much is dead), unless you like vegemite.

What yeast did you use originally?. If it's just some dry yeast you might as well get another couple of packets and just make a proper healthy pitch instead of pitching possibly dead/unhealthy yeast in there.

 

[Amber Fluid]

Maybe create a starter with it to see if it is still viable.

 

[Brewer_010]

Hi Zipster

I recycle my yeast a fair bit, just be really really careful with sanitation. Essentially all I do is after racking the beer off to the keg I use a sterilised spoon and scoop the slurry into a couple of airtight sanitised jars, to use within a month or so in another brew. If you leave it any longer you may like to get a starter going so the yeast numbers are up there.

Personal experience is that the best results are using within a week or two of harvesting the yeast slurry. I tend to brew and ferment over two weeks, then keg that beer, wait a week or so then brew another so I can keep a fairly steady stream going (with the same strain if thats the case). Haven't had infections but I am extremely careful with sanitation.

Maybe starters are better but honestly, I don't have the time nor inclination. If I throw in about 120mL of slurry they get cracking well inside 12 hours to krausen.

cheers

 

[Zipster]

starter?

 

[Wolfy]

starter?

Usually a small volume (1 to 2L) of (1.030 to 1.040 OG) wort, (most often made from LDME), that the yeast is pitched into to grow and increase the yeast health before the starter and/or just the yeast is pitched into your beer.

 

[Zipster]

thanks wolfie.. i think i'm guna just chuck the whole thing in the mix, see what happens.. got about 10cl of it

 

[Zipster]

olrite, so the calculator says 132ml from slurry pitch... got about that but some of it might be dead.. so if I just use that and wait longer for the yeast to breed in there.. that should work eventually yeah?

 

[Wolfy]

olrite, so the calculator says 132ml from slurry pitch... got about that but some of it might be dead.. so if I just use that and wait longer for the yeast to breed in there.. that should work eventually yeah?

If you actually froze your yeast, I'd guess that at least half - or more - will now be dead (not just "some of it"), if you have time, pitching the yeast into a starter will help you check how much of the yeast is alive (if any) and to let it grow more viable cells you can then pitch into your beer. Of course the best thing about home-brewing is you can do whatever you like, but pitching previously frozen yeast directly into a batch of beer is not something that I'd do.

 

[manticle]

Zipster, you need to do some reading. There's plenty of detailed info out there on this stuff - most of it free and on the net.

Start here: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-was...ustrated-41768/

http://hbd.org/carboy/yeast_washing.htm

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/guide-maki...ast-bank-35891/



And as much as you can of this: http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

 

[Zipster]

Thanks Manticle. I really appreciate that but I hate reading!! I'm from the "trial and error" school, or the "hey man how d'you do that" school

I'll chuck the whole 130ml of half dead goo in the wort, see what happens.. Unless someone gives me a good reason not to do it I'll do that.

My guess is that it may take longer to reach 1010 gravity but I'll get there!

 

[manticle]

Trial and error is great mate but learning principles on which to base your ideas will save you a world of pain.

Keep in mind people have been brewing beer for thousands of years and every experiment you want to try and every basic mistake you might make has been tried and made before.

 

[Zipster]

yes i know i know... all these great things that happened before i was born!

I like to read sometimes, just being a jerk...

Will go through your links as soon as my brain gets straight and cool again.

Really appreciate your feedbacks you lads are true gentlemen!

z:/

 

[bowie in space]

Trial and error is great mate but learning principles on which to base your ideas will save you a world of pain.

Keep in mind people have been brewing beer for thousands of years and every experiment you want to try and every basic mistake you might make has been tried and made before.

I'm hoping plenty read this including O.P
Bowie

 

[dcx3]

Zipster i'm a practical learner as well mate but the one thing ive found with brewing is that there are rules to this game. Knowing this will save you a helluva lot of time and energy.Ditch the frozen shite and buy some quality yeast from a site sponsor,read the yeast articles on this site and follow those directions.
This is a great site and these guys posting in this thread have made all the basic mistakes we all make and then told us all about it so that we become better and save our time so that we can make better beer.
All the best mate....read "how to brew" its a must

 

[Zipster]

how to brew? do you have a link for that? it sounds like its for me...

I pored that yeast down the drain btw, after an attempt of proofing it seemed to be hopeless. Will get some fresh lager yeast and start from there, its 7 bucks for a sachet so I will keep it cycling.

IN THE FRIDGE NOT THE FREEZER! got that!!
ps: i'm okay with rules, meanwhile i like to understand every bit of them