Reusing Yeast from CARBOY (How Long)

I just racked My clone DFH Raison D'etre clone using Wyeast #1762 Belgian Abby II to my Keg, After racking I just put the whole carboy in my fridge without doing anything to the leftovers in the bottom.

Question, I;d like to try and reuse the yeast thats in there. I left a little Black oil ( the beer) over it, and wanting to know what, and how long do I have to pour another Brew over it, etc. Or, If I don't do anything with it in the next few days will it go bad and be wasted? Or, If i didnt have any wort to dump over it right away, Shall I just dump it? Im thinking of doing a Belgian triple, or some kind of a scotch ale? Any suggestions?

BTW I did a 1 L starter, and Then used it to do another 1 L starter before pitching. It was an extract brew.

Thanks !

You'll be fine in the next couple days, just don't leave it sitting for weeks. Or, if you need time, follow the yeast washing instructions that Bernie Brewer posted in the yeast forum.

get about 3 or 4 big mason jars and sanitize them... swirl the carboy and get everything in suspension... rack the trub to your mason jars... seal them up and put them in the fridge. The trub will fall quicker then the yeast when chilled. When you are ready to brew in a few days decant the "black oil" off the thin layer of white yeast.... pour the white yeast layer into your wort and get rid of the trub. Super easy and you get to wash your fermenter and get rid of the trub. I've pitched on yeast cakes and reused washed yeast. I always have better overall results with washed yeast.

Ok Thanks for your info, Im going to read a little bit more and get some jars!

BradleyBrew said:

get about 3 or 4 big mason jars and sanitize them... swirl the carboy and get everything in suspension... rack the trub to your mason jars... seal them up and put them in the fridge. The trub will fall quicker then the yeast when chilled. When you are ready to brew in a few days decant the "black oil" off the thin layer of white yeast.... pour the white yeast layer into your wort and get rid of the trub. Super easy and you get to wash your fermenter and get rid of the trub. I've pitched on yeast cakes and reused washed yeast. I always have better overall results with washed yeast.

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An even easier way to do this is to pour off your yeast+trub into the mason jars and let the jars sit on the counter for 15-20 minutes. In this time, the trub will fall out of suspension leaving the yeast. Pour off the yeast layer into a fresh jar and discard the trub left in the first jar.

+1 to washing. I have never been a supporter or got good results from direct pitches onto a pre-existing cake.

+Eleventy to washing.

I have probably 10-12 different yeasts in my fridge that I've been gathering after I rack a beer. One smack pack will be split up into 3 pint mason jars after one fermentation, then I get a starter of one of them going for the next brew. I haven't pitched much past 2 generations, but my results have been great!

Ok Guys, I tried to wash the yeast..... I followed BB's sticky, Hopefully I did it somewhat correctly for my 1st time?

I think I got a little too much trub in it though?

Picture #1 is when I filled the pint jars up at 5:30 am this morning.

Picture #2 was at 5:50 pm in the fridge when I got home from work.

I was kinda in a hurry this am. And was kinda really un-sure of doing it right!

I did wait the 20 minutes as BB says to do. However when pouring the liquid from carboy to "Glass Vase" that I had boiled the night before and covered with tin foil that I spryed Star San on. Thats all That I had in glass the was big enough to fill.

I really think I got some (too Much) trub in the mix?

Does picture #2 show that I have some useable yeast? The one on the left looks like I do to me?

The one on the right is in question.

Hopefully I have a chance of using this yeast again. ? ? ?

If I have too much trub in these? Should I have waited longer to pour off?

And IF SO? could / Should I mix these up and kinda do the same thing again?

Thanks!

You definitely have yeast in there, but you also have lots of trub. I say leave them alone. I've had jars like that before when I rushed, but they fermented the next beer just fine without any off flavors. So RDWHAHB, and leave em alone.

So how long can you store yeast like that in the fridge?

I Just brewed up a Brown ale from a jar that looked like the one on the left. It was 10 months old. So I made a starter and it was a little slow getting going, but once it did, it went crazy. I just transferred that beer to the keg and it was fully fermented (actually the FG was 1.010 and I was just shooting for 1.012). Granted that was the oldest jar I have used to date, but I have yet to have one fail.

BigB said:

I Just brewed up a Brown ale from a jar that looked like the one on the left. It was 10 months old. So I made a starter and it was a little slow getting going, but once it did, it went crazy. I just transferred that beer to the keg and it was fully fermented (actually the FG was 1.010 and I was just shooting for 1.012). Granted that was the oldest jar I have used to date, but I have yet to have one fail.

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That answers my question Thanks

daver, I've read up to 1 year with no problems.

An issue I have with "pouring" off the yeast, letting it settle and then pouring off again is that after it's all settled and you tip the fermenter to pour, it stirs up the trub again. I have a different method that works better and leaves all of the trub at the bottom of the bucket. After I boil and cool slightly more than 1 gal. of water and add it to my bucket, I shake it up and let it settle at least 30 minutes. I put 8 sanitized pint jars in the sink. Using my sanitized auto siphon, I put just the tip into the bucket and siphon off the yeast into the jars. As the level gets lower, I lower the siphon tip but always keeping it just under the top. I move the outlet hose from jar to jar and after the last one is full, you should have a 1/4" or so left just above the trub which I just discard. I boil my lids, add the rings and cool in the frig. This works well since you never have to move or tip the bucket after the trub settles.

wolverinebrewer said:

An issue I have with "pouring" off the yeast, letting it settle and then pouring off again is that after it's all settled and you tip the fermenter to pour, it stirs up the trub again. I have a different method that works better and leaves all of the trub at the bottom of the bucket. After I boil and cool slightly more than 1 gal. of water and add it to my bucket, I shake it up and let it settle at least 30 minutes. I put 8 sanitized pint jars in the sink. Using my sanitized auto siphon, I put just the tip into the bucket and siphon off the yeast into the jars. As the level gets lower, I lower the siphon tip but always keeping it just under the top. I move the outlet hose from jar to jar and after the last one is full, you should have a 1/4" or so left just above the trub which I just discard. I boil my lids, add the rings and cool in the frig. This works well since you never have to move or tip the bucket after the trub settles.

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That is a great idea, but I haven't had any success with it. I don't know if its because all I have is the large autosiphon, or if I don't have enough hose, or what... I just make a big mess. Do you have the capability to post a youtube video or pictures of your process?

Yes wolverinebrewer, I have the same problem as both you and BigB, If ya can do the video, I would love to see as well. I only have the Large autosiphon too. Is that what your using?

Yeast washing is worthwhile ... I have some 6 month old WLP001 that took off in the starter, and later in the mild ale. The beer was excellent...the yeast book says 6 months in the fridge, but it is probably more - as long as you do a starter to prove viability.

This weekend I will be doing a belgian clone, using some 550 that was stored for over 1.5 years... the starter was good, so we shall see..

BigB said:

That is a great idea, but I haven't had any success with it. I don't know if its because all I have is the large autosiphon, or if I don't have enough hose, or what... I just make a big mess. Do you have the capability to post a youtube video or pictures of your process?

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I have to admit it's hard to do with one person since you have to hold the siphon at the right level and then pump the siphon to start plus hold the hose in the jar without it coming out of the jar or the jar tipping over (it's happened). This is why I put the jar my sink....it case one tips over. Usually I have someone hold the outlet hose and move it from jar to jar while I carefully lower the siphon as the yeast solution gets closer to the trub. You will get some spilling as the hose goes from one jar to the other but I just wipe it up with a star-san soaked paper towel.
If you have help, it is very easy and you can do this in about 45 minutes.
Esmitee, I'm not sure which size siphon you are referring to but mine is 23" by 1" dia., the outlet hose is about 36". I assume this is the large one and it still works fine.

Sorry but I have no youtube capabilities.

Set the carboy or bucket on its side when you rouse the yeast to pour it off. That way all you have to do is just tip it the last third of the way to get the yeast poured off and it leaves the trub in the carboy.

statseeker said:

Set the carboy or bucket on its side when you rouse the yeast to pour it off. That way all you have to do is just tip it the last third of the way to get the yeast poured off and it leaves the trub in the carboy.

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Damm, wish I would have did that lastnite when I washed my 3068 heff yeast.

I was thinking about tilting the carboy to get a smaller trub area. That didn't work out.
Its is hard to do the siphon method by yourself. Thats how I did it lastnite, with not great results. Next time, I'm going to lay the carboy on it's side. That sounds like a no brainer to me and should leave all the trub behind.
Thanks for that tip.

BTW : I've only been adding the 4 pints of water as the OP said to do.

I boil and fill up 4 pint jars and I guess it's a gallon glass jar before hand.

I only have been adding the 4 pint jars to the carboy. I am confused

My question is.

Should I be adding ALL of the water I had filled up in the 4 pints, AND the gallon to the carboy, Swirl the carboy and let settle for 20 minutes and then fill up the gallon jar from the carboy, swirl, and let settle, And Then outa the gallon jar fill up the 4 pint jars and dump out whats left?