Re-pitching lager yeast...without a conical

[Jevans]

Lately I've gotten into brewing lagers with the White Labs Mexican lager yeast. I would love to re-use my yeast but after two weeks of fermentation in the carboy and two to three weeks of lagering in the carboy - will that yeast still be good to use? I don't have a conical so I have no way of dropping yeast after fermentation. Would love to save a few bucks, not have to do a starter and getting use this yeast for several generations. I just don't know if its any good after all that lagering, etc.

 

[bratrules]

You'll be fine. Am sure the yeast will be in great shape. All lagering does is put the yeast to sleep. Also I would use mrmalty calculator to estimate the amount of slurry needed to repitch.

 

[dinnerstick]

agree with bratrules, the yeast will be in great shape. but you can still harvest some of the yeast before you lager, using an auto-siphon. jam it into the thick yeast cake and pump out 500 ml or whatever of slurry. of course there is a small risk of oxidizing and/or infecting your beer so be clean quick and careful.