Reuse of yeast.

I am making a hard cider and I was wondering if I could add fresh water, cider and sugar to the existing yeast after I rack the first batch. I know when making moonshine from a simple mash you can do so by replacing sugar water and any spent/floating corn up to 7 times. New to beer, wine and cider brewing so I am not sure if any liquor mash rules carry over.

I've done is quite a few times and have never had any issues at all. I haven't been brave enough to try pitching a third time. The obvious things I notice when dumping juice onto yeast from the first batch is that A: It starts fermenting almost immediately. (well within an hour or so) and B: I rarely if EVER get sulfur smells from the second batch. Obviously there's enough yeast in there to keep it from getting stressed early on.

I don't know if I would keep reusing a batch that had an OG of 1.100 over and over...but a typical cider batch? I wouldn't hesitate at all.

I did sim.... I do alot of 1 gal batches and rather than waste the lees I combined them all and added fresh juice.... took a while to clear and I had to rack it off about an inch of lees after the first week but came out all good.

Go to the Articles- Tutorial section and you will find fabulous info on harvesting yeast and freezing it.