Saving Yeast

Has anyone tried this before?

Snake River Brewers

Saving spent yeast? Does it work?

Kunzman guide for simply saving yeast

Saving yeast can be cost saving, and doesn’t take too much work. Yeast can mutate over time, so after about four or five generations, it’s best to get some fresh yeast.

Saving yeast

1. When primary fermentation is complete, there will be visible yeast slurry at the bottom of the fermenter. (These are dead and dormant yeast cells.)

2. When racking beer off of the primary fermenter, leave about 2 inches of beer left above the yeast slurry.

3. Shake the heck out of the fermenter and mix the beer with the yeast cells.

4. Cut a small hole in a quart Mason jar lid to snugly fit an airlock. (Make sure you sanitize the jar, lid, airlock)

5. Pour the mixed solution into the mason jar, filling it about half way

6. Place the airlock in the hole, filling it with water to the fill line. (Did you remember to sanitize the airlock?)

7. Place the jar in your fridge. (The yeast will be fine for up to four weeks, but the quicker you brew, the stronger the yeast will be)

Reuseing the yeast

1. Take the yeast out of the fridge and place in room temperature for about three hours before pitching.

2. Pour off half of the liquid in the jar into the sink.

3. Shake the jar, and pitch contents into next batch of wort.

Absolutely. You can also pitch directly on the yeast cake (I did that today) or wash the yeast.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/

A good write up about washing yeast by one of our own here.

I just did that yeast washing tonight, it's easy to do and a great cost saver. This way you don't have to worry about leaving beer in the fermenter, either. 2 inches of beer is a LOT to waste if you don't have to.

I personally take a sample from my yeast starter in a 50mL centerfuge tube. I usually have about 20-30mL of yeast sediment from the sample. Then make a starter from it when I reuse it. I just store it in the fridge and haven't had a problem.

Bytor1100 said:

I personally take a sample from my yeast starter in a 50mL centerfuge tube. I usually have about 20-30mL of yeast sediment from the sample. Then make a starter from it when I reuse it. I just store it in the fridge and haven't had a problem.

Click to expand...

Now that is a sweet idea.