How many times can I use / reuse yeast

[Sherpa FE]

If I bought a new vile of yeast, say a hefeweizen yeast. Could I split the original batch into maybe 4 other batches of yeast? What would I need to do this?

Can I also take 1 of those original batches of yeast and use that how many times?? What would I need to do that?

I have read the yeast washing posts, and its a little confusing, plus the Air Force web server over here, pretty much filters all the pics, so I am not able to look at the yeast washing explained post.

Thanks for the help
Josh

 

[Funkenjaeger]

In short, yes, you can. There's no real limit on how much use you can get out of one original vial of yeast, as long as you play your cards right. There are a lot of ways to accomplish these sorts of things. If you want to get several batches out of a vial of yeast, you can split it up and make multiple yeast starters out of it to step it back up to pitchable quantities. Or you can harvest and wash yeast cakes. Or you can culture yeast using slants - this is the method I use - or similarly, using plates, or freezing yeast with glycerin; these methods of course require starters to get back up to pitchable quantities again.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

I do this everytime that I buy a vial of yeast.

I'll make a single 2qt starter from the contents of one vial of White Labs yeast. At 2-3 days, I boil up another starter wort, divide it equally between two containers, then also divide the 2qt starter equally between those same containers. I'll use one on a brew and bottle the other for future use in starters.

 

[malkore]

I've read you shouldn't push it beyond 5 generations, maybe 6. Otherwise you get mutations and the wrong flavor profiles.

I have no idea how much truth there is to this.

Myself, I plan to wash several times, but eventually get another vial/pack.

I figure if I can harvest several times and turn an $8 vial into 6-10 batches, I got a good deal.

 

[Lee3]

If I understand these posting,I can reuse the yeast 5 or 6 times but should use a starter each time. Are the yeast spores in the sediment at the bottom of my vile and I should discard the liquid on top of the sediment

 

[Kharnynb]

I usually stir it up, wait for the worst sediment to fall out and then pitch all but the bottom crap.

 

[tjmac5071]

I pushed a vial of wlp090 over ten batches without a noticeable change.

Take a pack, make a starter +100-200b cells, store that in the fridge in a Mason jar. Next brew take the yeast out and do the same. Repeat until you feel a need for a new pack. For me it was after the yeast sat for 6+ months when I couldnt brew so I dumped it and bought a new pack.

Another nice thing to do is package pitchable quantities. I like to make 250-300 store that so after it sits a month I still have enough left for a batch.

 

[YellowRiver]

My yeast reuse is fairly simple. I swish the cake around and pour some out then pour into a quart jar. After a bit I pour off the top, fill up a pint jar and discard the rest. Seal lightly and place in fridge. After everything settles I get about 1/4 jar of yeast with "beer" on top. I usually pour off and use a starter but not always.

Am Ale II 1272 tolerates this. I think its at its best generation 3 thru 8 and then I throw out as I'm looking for something different and I figure Ive got my moneys worth.

 

[Hudini56]

I "stole" some yeast from 2 heady topper cans about 3 months ago. I built it up over 3 weeks with multiple step starters. Long story short, when I got to a starter of 1.040 the second time, I made a 1500ml starter. Took about 5-600 ml and poured that off into a mason jar and stored it in the fridge. Pitched the remainder into a ipa. I washed the ipa used yeast (which I found washing to be pretty labor intensive and didnt produce the result I wanted - very little yeast when done) But I still had that 5-600 ml from the original. I used that 5-600 and built up a double starter and saved again another 500ml. Pitched my 1litre onto another ipa. And the result of my 5-600 is still a healthy looking yeast cake in a mason jar. So I am basically on gen 3 or 4, seeing a very small layer of brown yeast at the top of my last cake. But still quite a bit of viable yeast. And again this is from a can of beer. So from a healthy vial, I could imagine getting 6+ easily.

My thought on pitching off the 5-600 ml prior to pitching into a batch is I am saving the same yeast. Just in a different manor. Separating it prior to a full 5 gal ferm. Whats the diff really? Maybe I am wrong. But I wont be washing yeast again, just planning my batches with an extra couple days to make my double starter.

Well my long story short didnt pan out the way I hoped...

Cheers!

 

[Kampenken]

I keep it simple. Buy yeast, make a starter and pitch. Harvest yeast (I do have a conical so easy) into a boiled mason jar that was cooled and put into fridge. Next time I brew and want this yeast, I decant some of the beer off, swirl up good and pitch. Repeat. Repeat. Etc...

 

[MVKTR2]

You can easily push repitching beyond 10 times with many yeast with little change in character. Different professional breweries have different processes for number of repitches. Heady Topper is famously repitched 20 times with 8-12 tepitchings quite common commercially and a few breweries only repitching 4 or so times.

If your fermentation and process is solid no doubt you can get similar results. I've never used yeast more than 4 or 5 times personally, usually 3 times as I'm always switching up styles. The many comments above are solid advice.

 

[pepindavid]

Take a look at this: http://brulosophy.com/methods/yeast-harvesting/

Very simple, in my opinion. This method asks for overbuilding your starter by the equivalent of a vial (100 billion cells), using a calculator like this one: http://www.brewunited.com/yeast_calculator.php

The night before brewing, you put the overbuild part of your starter in a mason jar - that's the new "vial" for next time.

 

[DurtyChemist]

If you harvest from starters it's easier than yeast washing. I use the spreadsheet put together by Homebrew dad (google it) to calculate how much of a starter I need to harvest 100 billion cells into a mason jar for the next pitch. Obviously the more often you brew a style and use the same yeast the fresher your yeast will be and the easier it will be to pitch enough and save enough. I currently have two yeast strains and one Brett strain harvested this way. I keep track of the dates harvested and the number of times I've pitched it with the intention of seeing if I detect off flavors from the yeast. I stored the Brett because it was $11 for a pack and I might make another just because I have it on hand.

 

[Hudini56]

I am on batch 3 of my original "conan" yeast strain. Using the over build a starter and save to a mason jar. While I have used it on 3 diff pale/ipa recipes I've found no issue with fermentation time or off flavors yet. Will keep using my mason jar technique. Trying to get 8 batches or so, at least. Will be going back to the first recipe I used it on in the next week or so. That will be the indicator as to if it has mutated to anything different. Which I highly doubt..

 

[Smellyglove]

I find "classic" hefe-yeast to be a bit finicky to top-crop over several generations. The issue I've been struggling most with is that 380 more or less suddenly start to flocc. I've had a 380 on a starter which looked like a 002. Tried it in a beer, never again. Bottom-harvesting is easier with these strains. You'll get not the optimum quality as you would with top-cropping, but if you use them for normal hefes (OG 1.050-55) the yeast should be pretty good to use, but once in a while you'd want to try to separate dead cells from those still vital. But still, I find these strains hard to harvest and make them taste more or less the same after like 5-6-7 batches. Wlp300 and 380.

75% of the beers I make are with hefe-strains, or just classical pale ale strains (us-05). I've had a 05 strain going for 20-30 batches (can't remember), and when I pulled the plug on it it was mostly because i had to move and it wouldn't be kept cool for a while because of laziness. So, different strains are.. well, different when it comes to harvesting and repitching.