Got bourbon barrel porter in the fermenter.
I am thinking about doing a black ipa today but I had a question about yeast. Is there a way to save the 1/2 pack of yeast I don't use so I could use it in another brew? Just wondering if after opening the pack it's a one shot deal. The yeast in question is SO5 NB standard for the ipa kits.
Thoughts/ideas?
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Sure!
There's lots of ways to do this - if the yeast is dry, all you need to do is just fold the packet over (making sure to keep extra O2 out, and keeping the cut corner inside the folds) then put a piece of painters blue/green tape over the folded side. Once you're done, I usually label the tape so I know how much is in it (not necessary, I'm just like that), then put it into a ziplock snack bag, squeeze out the O2, then put the whole works into the FREEZER. That's it! I've had dry yeast like this for over a month and it still takes off fine - heresey, I know, but it's true.
And speaking of yeast - don't forget you can harvest the slurry's from your 1gal batches and then re-pitch them! I find my self doing this all the time, now, as I'm usually brewing at least once a week so instead of using new yeast all the time I just pitch the slurry from last weeks batch (provided it's the correct type of yeast). The three most common yeasts I use right now are Notty, US05, and S04 - between those three I'm sure I can find SOMETHING to brew.
Collecting a slurry from a finished batch is easy, and really doesn't take any time/hardware other than a little bit of bottled water and a clean, sanitized mason jar and lid.
Once you get done racking the beer into bottles, take a little bit of bottled water and pour it into the jug and swirl around the old yeast/trub to get everything back into suspension. Then, pour that slurry into the mason jar, and put the lid on it making sure to lightly screw the ring down. Label the jar with some painters tape (can you tell I like using bluetape to label?) so you know what it is, what generation (how many times you've pitched that slurry before), and what date it was collected. Once that's all done, the put it into the fridge on the top shelf and leave it alone - after a day or so it'll separate out with a little beer on top, yeast, then the old trub. You can leave it like this until you're ready to brew again, for me about a week, sometimes two weeks. No more than 3 weeks total, then you're better off either washing it out, or just pitching fresh yeast. I try to time out and brew beers that will work with the yeast I have present at that time.
When you're ready to pitch the slurry, just decant off the old beer, then pour the yeast and a little of the old trub (don't stress over it, it'll go to the bottom with the new trub) into the new batch. Shouldn't need much at all, as the yeast will be on top, so when it starts to pour "clumpy" (and you'll see it as you pour), you're done.
Fermentation will take off like a rocket with the slurry, so have your blowoff tube on!
Some will say that re-pitching dry yeast is a waste, as it's so cheap. I perfer to think of it as cost containment, and practice for when I get a fancy/expensive yeast that I want to step up or keep on hand. I've got 5 packs of dry yeast in the freezer right now, and I'm still using slurry yeasts I bought 3 months ago - can't beat that at all in my book. :rockin:
