Reuse a Saison yeast cake?

Assuming the Saison I have in my primary doesn't get stuck and require me to repitch some champagne yeast, I'm thinking of reusing the yeast for a second batch of beer when I transfer to a secondary.

Anyone have any experience reusing a Saison yeast (mine is Wyeast 3724, Belgian Saison)? It seems like such a stressful fermentation--ramped up to 80 degrees, at least 3-4 weeks in the primary, etc.--I wonder how the yeast will fare at the end.

(Thanks.)

I have never done it, but if you brew another saison after, you might get some extra saison loving flavor out of it. I reuse and repitch on to the same yeast cake quite frequently with other types of beers and it usually works out very well. Provided you make another beer in the same style it should work out great.

If yo uare trying to make something else however, switch up the yeast. Additionally there is a very good thread on yeastwashing somewhere around here that you might want to look at, just in case you decide to brew another saison in a few months.

Personally, I'm extremely curious what Saison yeast would do in beers of a totally different style.

Especially flavor-intensive yeast strains make me want to do crazy things.

I'm going to toss my Christmas beer on my WLP565 cake when I rack the saison off this weekend if all things go as hoped. Loosely based off Troegs Mad Elf, it's going get aged on some cherries and oak.

Wyeast says it works in the temperature range of 60-72 degrees F. It being summer, I have to submerse my fermenter in water and it stays around 60 degrees F. So I was interested if anyone has ever tried fermenting at 60 degrees

brewt00l said:

I'm going to toss my Christmas beer on my WLP565 cake when I rack the saison off this weekend if all things go as hoped. Loosely based off Troegs Mad Elf, it's going get aged on some cherries and oak.

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that sounds fun!

I just poured my saison yeast cake down the drain...

Jaysus said:

that sounds fun!

I just poured my saison yeast cake down the drain...

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Ack!! Given my frugal nature as a homebrewer, I could never bring myself to dump perfectly good yeast!

brewt00l said:

Ack!! Given my frugal nature as a homebrewer, I could never bring myself to dump perfectly good yeast!

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I really didn't want to... but it was 10pm and I transfered unexpectedly, so I wasn't prepared to do anything else with it.

I did kinds just stare at it for a good minute... you know, remembering the good times and all. But then I said a couple nice words, and started scrubbing.

Jaysus said:

I really didn't want to... but it was 10pm and I transfered unexpectedly, so I wasn't prepared to do anything else with it.

I did kinds just stare at it for a good minute... you know, remembering the good times and all. But then I said a couple nice words, and started scrubbing.

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In the future, FYI, you can easily let a yeast cake sit for a few days before you get around to washing and harvesting it. It's not necessarily a "do it as soon as you rack the beer off of it" kind of deal. Just be sure to seal it back up with an airlock like you would normal beer.

Evan! said:

In the future, FYI, you can easily let a yeast cake sit for a few days before you get around to washing and harvesting it. It's not necessarily a "do it as soon as you rack the beer off of it" kind of deal. Just be sure to seal it back up with an airlock like you would normal beer.

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If you're letting it sit, should you also leave a little bit of beer on top, or does that not matter?

First off, I'd like to strongly recommend that you bring samples of this beer to your friends at work.

I think I found someone else who tried reusing, but they don't say how it turned out:

http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=83161&st=0&p=984017&#entry984017

Racked my saison to the secondary and pitched the Christmas brew on the cake today!:rockin: