Yeast question ???

I am just about ready to rack 5 gallons of cider into a secondary carboy. i would like to start a new batch right away. My question is, can I reuse the yeast from the first batch? and if so how many times can i reuse it? I used Safale S-04 yeast if that makes any difference. Thanks

Yes!

Until Gabriel blows his horn!

No difference!

Pogo

I've heard 3-5 times. You get more mutation with every generation and after a while, you'll have a different animal than what you started with. Personally, I don't do it more than once. Yeast is cheap.

For yeast as cheap as S-04 I would pitch new yeast every time, just so I could thoroughly clean my fermentation vessel each time. You could very easily re-use the yeast cake a second time and I'd bet my bits that you won't experience any short-comings in the batch. Just remember to use a blow-off tube if you don't normally... After using my Wyeast cakes once, I wash the yeast and I'll use the washed yeast to create 3 starters. Doing this reduces the cost of 1 Wyeast package to that of 5 S-04 packages, at which point I consider it cheap!

5 times is the recommended max for homebrewers. As PAC762 mentioned, after too long the yeast begin to mutate and you end up with a very different yeast profile.

But yes, many of us frequently reuse the yeast cake. There's no real reason not to, and when you're using liquid yeast, it's a real money saver.