Reuse yeast

[JerryMc]

I've been making a Fruit Bomb Triple IPA that to me is the best beer I've ever tasted. Original recipe on Brewfather by David Heath. It uses Lutra Kveik (DRY) Omega OYL-071 yeast and the result is about 12% abv. I use Golden Promise Pale Malt as base. I also ferment under pressure in a 7.6 gallon kegmenter.

I've been thinking lately that it would be nice to reuse the yeast but the bottom is flat and no way to dump out as you would in a conical fermenter. Also using a FLOTit 2.0. Suggestions on how to accomplish this appreciated.

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[RM-MN]

How big is the container that has the flat bottom? Can you lift it to dump? Add some boiled and cooled water, swirl it up and dump it into santized jars. Put the lids on the jars but do not tighten them, there will be some CO2 yet to expel.

 

[JerryMc]

It is a 7.6 gallon kegmenter. After pressure transferring the beer to a corny keg it's not too heavy but how do you separate the yeast from the gunk or trube?

 

[JerryMc]

Found lots of youtube videos on reuseing / washing yeast from trub. Thanks for your help.

 

[redrocker652002]

I was just going to add that Youtube is your friend on this one. I have seen lots of ways to do it. I think Clawhammer has a few, there is also a lady who does it that has a good tutorial. I am in the process of trying to figure out how to do it as well. I am also thinking of getting a liquid yeast and try and propagate it to get more out of it.

 

[fluketamer]

also you dont have to wash the yeast - just saying. you can just rack new beer onto the cake, or scoop out the cake or rinse with cooled water like above poster said swirl and pour it out into mason jars. i never wash my yeast anymore i just make sure to go from light beers to dark ones. and i havent had good luck repitching from stouts with this method. its not perfect and i wouldnt do it for a competition but it works great for easy yeast banking without much time or effort. and makes for great drinking house beers so i dont feel the need to do more.

after a few days in the fridge the yeast will compact and you can pour off the supernatant before repitching. i know i am repitching plenty of dead yeast cells in there along with hop matter prolly but it seems to taste fine and the lag time is zero. the yeast usually explode within a few hours.

 

[redrocker652002]

also you dont have to wash the yeast - just saying. you can just rack new beer onto the cake, or scoop out the cake or rinse with cooled water like above poster said swirl and pour it out into mason jars. i never wash my yeast anymore i just make sure to go from light beers to dark ones. and i havent had good luck repitching from stouts with this method. its not perfect and i wouldnt do it for a competition but it works great for easy yeast banking without much time or effort. and makes for great drinking house beers so i dont feel the need to do more.

after a few days in the fridge the yeast will compact and you can pour off the supernatant before repitching. i know i am repitching plenty of dead yeast cells in there along with hop matter prolly but it seems to taste fine and the lag time is zero. the yeast usually explode within a few hours.

I was going to give that a try soon. I have a few mason jars and thought it might be cool to give it a whirl. I will, of course, keep a pack or two of dry on hand just in case.

My question is, this just seems way too easy. So you just add heated and cooled water, swirl and pour into the mason jars?

 

[fluketamer]

i rack as much of the beer off the cake as i can like always. then pour out any beer i couldnt rack off with out trying to disturb the cake too much cause i am trying to get yeast without beer ideally. i rinse and sanitize my mason jars and caps. then i cheat and use about a half a brand new bottle of bottled water to resuspend the cake. too lazy to boil and cool water lol. then pour the resuspended cake into the jars. this works everytime up to about 5-6 repitches.

taste before repitching - if it taste like flat dilute beer repitch. if it tastes yeasty repitch. if it taste a tiny bit tart you can repitch with caution . some yeasts taste more tart than other (diamond lager) . if it tastes or smells like vinegar throw it out.

plan on brewing in 4 weeks i wouldnt repitch it after a month.

you can freeze it if you need it longer but i havent done this.

it makes dry yeast very cheap if one pack gets you several brews.

the absolute easiest is just to dump fresh wort right onto a newly exposed cake after racking beer off of it when bottling or kegging. no need to clean the fermentor. not even the nasty kreusen ring and all. technically it only had non spoiled beer in there so it should be fine. i have done this lots of times. but it makes me a little nervous so i tend not to. also it means bottling or kegging on the same day as brewing. although i have sometimes left it a day in the fermentor then dumped beer into it the next day with no difference in taste.

i do a bout three wham ciders a year where i just throw apple juice onto a cake - two weeks later- " wham "- cider.

read this thread,
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/meet-the-magical-clown-car-cornelius-keg.710752/
the guy just keeps dumping fermentables in a keg and every couple of weeks has beer cider mead whatever. no cleaning in between


cheers

 

[skunkape]

the guy just keeps dumping fermentables in a keg and every couple of weeks has beer cider mead whatever. no cleaning in between

He'd have made good monk.

 

[day_trippr]

There's at least one currently contributing HBT member that does that on the regular...

Cheers!

 

[InspectorJon]

It uses Lutra Kveik (DRY) Omega OYL-071 yeast and the result is about 12% abv.

Everything I have read says it is not a good idea to reuse yeast from high alcohol fermentations.

 

[JerryMc]

@InspectorJon
What reasons were given for not reusing yeast from high abv?

 

[InspectorJon]

Stressed, unhealthy yeast. See this thread.

 

[AlexKay]

Certainly the conventional wisdom is that you don’t repitch yeast if the beer is high-ABV and/or extensively dry-hopped. Also, smoke carries over on repitch.

 

[JerryMc]

I think I'll try making a starter from my dry yeast packet and overbuild it so I can store some for later and avoid using it from fermentation keg. From what I've read this should work better. I have a heated stir plate I've been wanting to try out anyway.

 

[JerryMc]

The Lutra dry yeast Recommended Pitch Rate: 60 - 120 g/bbl (50 - 100 g/hL)
Can someone please define these abbreviations? I don't get it. TIA

 

[day_trippr]

g/bbl is "grams per barrel", with a barrel of beer = 31 gallons

g/hL is "grams per hectoliter", with a hectoliter = 26.4 gallons

Cheers!

 

[JerryMc]

Using my target OG of 1.098 Omegas calc gives a pitch rate of 2.81g/gal. So how can I use this information to figure out how to overbuild my yeast from an 11 gram packet?

 

[day_trippr]

I like BrewUnited's Homebrew Dad's Online Yeast Starter Calculator yeast calculator as it provides a simple way to allocate cells to "over-build" and save for later. Just set up your desired pitch rate, the volume of beer you'll be eventually pitching to, and the over-build count, and it will guide you through the number and volumes of starter cycles to get there...

Cheers!

 

[JerryMc]

Only info I could find was on morebeer.com and they state 55 billion cell count. There are 11 grams per pack. This would be per pack or per gram? 2.81 grams x 5 gallons of beer is 14 grams of dry yeast according to Omegas Calculator. I have no clue how to do this...

 

[day_trippr]

55B would be for the full pack, so you would use that with the born on date (which if your yeast comes with a "best by" date will need an adjustment) to set the initial conditions...

Cheers!