Saving used yeast?

Ive read alot of these threads and have from time to time come across someone saying that they save the pile of yeast off the bottom of their primary. Am I understanding this right? Can you actually save used yeast?? Is it, like, your own breed? If you can...how do you save it?? Kind of interesting.

Yeah, it is possible to do this but I dont think that many actually do it if you know what I mean. Important thing is to keep everything sterile. It is best to store the yeast in the fridge but I dont think it survives in the freezer. Dont know what can happen at room temp.

I'm doing it for the first time - but only because I bought a Wyesast Wit smack pak and want to get my moeny's worth from it.

I wouldn't bother if I was just using dried yeast in a brew.

I decanted the yeast from the bottom of the primary into two sterilised 1 litre PET bottles. I kept these at room temperature for a day with the lids on but not screwed down tight so that the yeast would use up more of the fermentables left in the wort. I then screwed down the lid, stuck them in the fridge and have vented them every couple of days or so, just to stop the pressure buidling up inside.

I'm hoping to re-use the yeast in a raspberry wheat once I've got the Wheat beer out of secondary and into bottles.


HTH

80/-

Turricaine said:

I dont think that many actually do it

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I think you will find many DO save yeast. At a cost of five to six dollars a pop, this is an incredible way to lower the cost of brewing. I have had great success with it and have done it rather simply with no butane burners or cultivating kits.
I just shake up and rack the yeast from the bottom of the primary into sanitized 22oz bottles till they are about half full, cap them and put them in the fridge. Once a week for the next few weeks I will barely lift the cap with a bottle opener and allow the 'hiss' from pressurization to reside then let off and let the cap seal itself again (just don't pry enough to bend the cap, only enough to hear a hiss). Come brew time, I make a starter 1 to 2 days prior and I have yet to have one fail or have any sanitation issues. I currently have about seven different yeast styles in my fridge ready to go and a friend of mine who took up the hobby along with me has another four styles so we have a pretty good selection and don't have to purchase yeast when its time to brew.

Yeah, the hardest part about saving yeast is putting up with the bottles of yeast taking up fridge space that COULD be used for bottles of beer.

I highly recommend saving yeast.

80/- said:

I'm doing it for the first time - but only because I bought a Wyesast Wit smack pak and want to get my moeny's worth from it.

80/-

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Funny, that exactly what I just did. Going to reuse the yeast this weekend.

I put the yeast and krausen (pretty much everything left) into to 500ml swing top bottles, been in the fridge for 2 weeks now. So 2 questions:

1. I haven't been venting at all, probably about only 2/3 full, so i thought it'd be ok. Am i just lucky it didn't blow and should be venting?

2. Do you want to collect the krausen too or just the trub?