First time reusing yeast cake

[rgregoryirving]

So I’ve been brewing on and off for the past 9 years and for awhile I’ve been interested in reusing yeast but I’ve never actually done it.

For the first time today I reused an entire yeast cake and I’m pretty excited. During my brew day I kegged a batch that was in my fermenter, then cooled my wort down to the exact temperature that the previous batch was to not shock the yeast. Before I was even finished cleaning my brewing equipment there were signs of visible fermentation.

I know some people will say that was over pitching, and that may be true, but I didn’t want to overthink it too much my first time. Was just excited and wanted to share with the community that is always giving me new ideas.

 

[Gusso]

I've done just as you described quite a few times. Never had an issue.

 

[Redpappy]

if you makes you feel any better, that is what I did on last brew 3 weeks ago. if I'm planning on brewing the same beer, I usually try to to reuse my yeast.

My process, i usually drop the new beer to about 80F, and then go ahead and transfer to fermenter. And usually by the time i'm done, its bubbling away.

 

[Jag75]

No worries , there are Breweries out there that do this . They call it cone to cone. Someone else just posted this very same topic. Some brewers will do a cell count . Some don't, they just eye ball it or use a certain amount . Your good to go .

 

[Dland]

Cone to cone, kinda sounds catchy...

It is what I generally do for many batches at a time, until I have a brewing hiatus or decide to change yeasts. With a conical, I'm able to easily remove the yeast solids & any trub from last batch. New wort goes in on about a quart of yeasty beer from last batch. Fermentation starts quickly, always good results. Good wort oxygenation recommended.

 

[seatazzz]

I do this all the time. I don't always pitch directly onto the yeast cake, however, especially if it's a yeast that doesn't do well overpitched, like kveik. You can save the yeast slurry in a big sanitized mason jar and use that just as well. Make sure you get all the big lumps by swirling the fermenter around with the leftover beer. If there's not enough liquid left to make a good slurry, add some distilled water. You won't get all of it (unless you have several jars handy) but one jar to one batch is plenty for pitching. I've got a jar of Imperial Loki slurry that I use just a scant 1/2 cup of for each batch, and it's still going strong.

*edit And it should go without saying, store the jar in the fridge until you're ready to use it.

 

[GrowleyMonster]

I have done that several times. Knock on wood, no problems so far except then the trub depth is double, and my spigot is covered, so I often end up transferring to a CO2 purged secondary when major fermentation has ended. Now, I just save a scoop of yeast in a zip lock and make a one quart starter the day before brew day with a half pound DME in a quart of water plus a little for the 15 minute boil-off. I cool it and pour into a sanitized gallon wine jug, stick a stopper and an airlock on it, just like if I was fermenting a mini-beer and it is usually working hard in just a couple of hours, so I know the yeast is at least healthy and viable. When I pitch this the next day, the whole thing goes in, liquid and all, after swirling it around good. The batch begins working almost immediately. I just did the 4th generation of a HotHead/BE-256 combination. I am on the road right now but will be home this afternoon and I will bottle it, since I am out of empty kegs. And once again I will save a scoop of the leavings and storing it in the fridge for the next starter.

My beers are almost always over 1.070 which is why the deep trub, but a somewhat lighter beer would probably work great for 3 generations or more with the wort going right on the leavings of the previous batch, especially if (1) the last batch was transferred by closed loop, resulting in a purged fermenter full of CO2 and fresh trub, and (2) I forgot what I was gonna say. Oh, brew day happens on the same day you transfer the previous batch to keg or bottles. If it was a closed loop transfer and no air gets into the fermenter, you could probably pour onto week old trub, but I would try to do it same day if possible. There is no real need to swirl up the old yeast, just pour gently and you should be good. I don't oxygenate, doesn't seem to be needed with the yeast already a mature culture.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

I know some people will say that was over pitching, and that may be true, but I didn’t want to overthink it too much my first time. Was just excited and wanted to share with the community that is always giving me new ideas.

I'm interested to hear your results, especially if it's a beer you've brewed before without the over pitch. I find overpitched beers are a bit thinner tasting, even though the FG is typically the same as normal pitched beers. I'm not sure why - it might be a pH thing, or to do with glycerol production (or similar) or a lack of esters from a reduced growth faze. I use overpitching as a tool - if I want a thinner, dryer tasting beer then I'll overpitch some slurry (mostly this is for pale lawnmower lagers).

 

[rgregoryirving]

I'm interested to hear your results, especially if it's a beer you've brewed before without the over pitch. I find overpitched beers are a bit thinner tasting, even though the FG is typically the same as normal pitched beers. I'm not sure why - it might be a pH thing, or to do with glycerol production (or similar) or a lack of esters from a reduced growth faze. I use overpitching as a tool - if I want a thinner, dryer tasting beer then I'll overpitch some slurry (mostly this is for pale lawnmower lagers).

I'll definitely report back my results. I have brewed this beer once before however the first time I used US-05, and this batch I used WLP-550--so I definitely expect there to be differences regardless of pitch rate.