Re-using yeast

I am getting ready to transfer my brew from primary to secondary. I am thinking about trying to keep the yeast and use it for another batch.

1. I've never tried to re-use yeast before.
2. How do you do it?
3. What type of beer would you recommend to make? The yeast is WLP800 Pilsner Lager Yeast

Thanks for the help!

p.s. Can you make a stoudt from that yeast?

1. I've never tried to re-use yeast before.
>It works great, even faster than you would think.
2. How do you do it?
>If you have a batch ready to go, you can pitch on top of yeast cake or you can leave a little beer in the carboy or add some water to it. Swirl it around to mix it up. Transfer to clean growler, let settle for 15 mins and separate the liquid top (thats what you will use). Use it within 2 weeks or you can freeze it, use 25% water 25% glycerin and 50% yeast.
3. What type of beer would you recommend to make?
>Anything darker than the original.

It would have been easiest to have your next batch ready on the same day you racked your lager off of the yeast cake. instead, you're going to have to save the yeast for a later batch. See this:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/

You can't really do a standard stout with lager yeast, though it might be interesting to try it and see. Baltic porters use lager yeast, so there's an idea. But with Pilsner yeast, you really should do another pilsner. Maybe an "imperial" pilsner.

pezcraig said:

1. I've never tried to re-use yeast before.
>It works great, even faster than you would think.
2. How do you do it?
>If you have a batch ready to go, you can pitch on top of yeast cake or you can leave a little beer in the carboy or add some water to it. Swirl it around to mix it up. Transfer to clean growler, let settle for 15 mins and separate the liquid top (thats what you will use). Use it within 2 weeks or you can freeze it, use 25% water 25% glycerin and 50% yeast.
3. What type of beer would you recommend to make?
>Anything darker than the original.

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I'm interested in trying this as well, but I'm curious how do you figure yeast counts into your yeast calculations if you reuse trub? I've just ordered a starter kit and was going to try a starter for the first time with my next batch, a Hobgoblin clone from AHS. Right now I have a Scotish Ale in the primary that I'm going to rack to a keg and could try racking the Hobgoblin straight onto the Scotish Ale's trub. If I do this, should I forgoe any added yeast, or skip the starter and just use the Wyeast smack pack that I have?

If you rack the Hobgoblin straight onto the yeast cake, you are wildly over-pitching. There have been some pretty good arguments here about whether that will hurt your beer, but you definitely would not need to add any more yeast. I think pezcraig's growler example also has more than enough yeast.

Personally, I scoop out yeast from the trub and pitch to my wort in a different fermenter. If you're saving the used yeast for a longer time and breaking it down into smaller portions, then you would make a starter.

McGarnigle said:

It would have been easiest to have your next batch ready on the same day you racked your lager off of the yeast cake. instead, you're going to have to save the yeast for a later batch. See this:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/

You can't really do a standard stout with lager yeast, though it might be interesting to try it and see. Baltic porters use lager yeast, so there's an idea. But with Pilsner yeast, you really should do another pilsner. Maybe an "imperial" pilsner.

Click to expand...

Wow. The link is awesome. I am definitely saving that and giving it a shot. I really should rack today and I don't have the ingredients for another batch yet. I think I will try and save it and make something else.

Thanks!

I haven't saved yeast yet, but I have racked right onto a yeast cake. I would only suggest it if the two batches are similar. I've also read that this should only be done once, maybe twice. Stresses out the yeast or something like that.

McGarnigle said:

Personally, I scoop out yeast from the trub and pitch to my wort in a different fermenter. If you're saving the used yeast for a longer time and breaking it down into smaller portions, then you would make a starter.

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+1 on this one.

I do it all the time. Keeps me brewing every 3 weeks.
Once you rack the beer into your bottling bucket.
You want to sterilize a container, glass pyrex measuring cup works great, and use a sterilized spoon and remove some trub from the middle layer, you want to use 3/4 to 1 cup of trub. That should get you the correct cell count for a 5gal. batch. Pitching right onto the whole cake will be too much specially for an English Ale that you wnat some nice fruity esters. I will bottle in the morning, and brew in the afternoon. Just put a piece of plastic over it and keep in the same area of your fermeters.

I've used the 1cup trub method for at least 10 batches and it works great. I've even gone to lighter batches from dark with no real ill effects on color.
Saves you $7 a batch and you don't have to worry about smacking and waiting.
So you get your bottling and brewing done all in the same day.

Nice. I think i might run into a problem.... I dont brew fast enough. I might just have to plan my next 2 batches one right after the next to save some money.

You can simply scoop the yeast out into a couple of jars and then store them in the fridge till the next brew day. No starter needed. That's how I do it, and I don't wash the yeast either, just keep it sterile and cold. Check this thread out: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/du-you-reuse-unwashed-yeast-215795/

fuznutz04 said:

Nice. I think i might run into a problem.... I dont brew fast enough. I might just have to plan my next 2 batches one right after the next to save some money.

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That's what I do. I brew in pairs, two in succession that can use the same yeast. If I want a Belgian, it's two in a row. The second is typically the bigger beer.

lx302 said:

...I do it all the time. Keeps me brewing every 3 weeks....
I've used the 1cup trub method for at least 10 batches and it works great....

Click to expand...

What happens is that you develop your own house blend of yeast.
To quote Martha, thats a good thing.

From what I have read, you can take a batch and split it into 4 units. Each unit can be used 4 times and split again. I have talked to some professional brewers and I am told that under the proper conditions, one can do this up to 14 times. Not recommended, but you can try. As far as I am concerned, I wouldn't do it more than 7. Its an exponential, and that should produce enough beer for the year. (haha-right)

I am just getting into saving yeast. I have pitched onto yeast cakes with dynamite results. The profile and depth evolves. Also I save $6-7 a batch on yeast and with Parti-gyle brewing techniques I can brew a batch for about $12-17 (and that makes the wife happy).

and with 2 fermentors and 2 styles of yeast, I get a ton of beer brewed. You need to Stagger the primaries ever other week. I usually will try one style of yeast, say a German Ale, brew an Kolsch, then an Altbeir, and so on. Same for then British ale yeast, brew a Mild, Bitter, Pale Ale, ESB, then an Old Ale, etc.

Since I've been using dry yeast the savings isn't a real issue but being able to avoid having to clean and sterilize the carboy seems like a pretty big advantage. Does it matter that there is break, dead yeast and old hops in the trub? From reading this one and the other linked thread, it seems like all the folks opposed to pouring the new batch right on top of the previous cake are talking about ending with an "inferior beer" in theory rather than from experience, and all the folks who said they've done it seem to say the results were good. It's pretty tempting, I must say.