Why can't I just jar my yeast cake?

Hi All,

So I've washed yeast a few times with the method in the sticky, and it works great, but it's time consuming. Boil, wait overnight to cool; it's a process. I had a Belgian Dubbel that had a nice, strong fermentation, so I want to save some of the yeast. Not a hoppy beer, big malty flavors, and a nice, tight yeast cake. Why can't I just pour this cake into a sanitized jar, store it in the fridge, and call it a day?

 

A lot of folks do this, it works better if you're going to use it in the next week or two, but i've used a 3 month old jar of 3724 without any problems. I do tend to get around to washing my yeasts if I'm going to store them for a while. If you're storing it for a while you're going to want to make a starter anyhow.

 

You don't have to bother boiling water and waiting for it to cool overnight if you are impatient. I have rinsed yeast ("washing" is something different; the terms get used interchangably at HBT but they aren't the same) using distilled water and it works fine. In general you can only be one of lazy, cheap or impatient at a time.

I have stored yeast cake in a jar in my fridge for a couple of weeks before re-using. I think longer-term storage with unrinsed cake is considered risky because you have more impurities ("gunk") thus risking off-flavours or even infection. Store your cake for as long as you like, take the lid off the jar, and give it a sniff. If it smells okay it's probably okay to use.

 

Why not boil and cool the water- ie ice bath?
If that is too time consuming, why not use distilled water from a jug?

If you just dump the whole cake into a jar you'll be getting all the dead yeast, hop left overs, etc. Take the extra time to separate and you'll end up with cleaner, happy yeast in the long run. Put trash in, get trash out.

 

I've reused a jar of yeast recently that was 2 months old, just a straight dump from the fermenter into the jar sort of deal. It took off after a day and seems to have done its job.

 

I do this, but I always make a starter before I just go and dump in in my fresh wort straight out of the fridge.

 

I starsan my jars and just pour the cake in and chill to 42 degrees. Warm for 24 hours before pitching into a starter.....

Mind you I've only done this once so far (I'm a nub) but the starter was fine and saved me $8-$16 bucks.

 

I did this myself recently after I forgot to make a starter. It took 2 days for the yeast to start in a low gravity blonde ale, and the beer tasted like a$$, likely because the yeast health was poor and the yeast were stressed since I didn't make the starter. I ended up dumping it because it wasn't to my standards.
The point is, sometimes it may work, sometimes not. Rather than waste a day of brewing a beer and possibly ending up with poor results, just take the time to make a starter so you know if your yeast is healthy or not.

EDIT - I just re-read your post - first time I read it I thought you said you dumped straight from the jar into the fermenter with 2 month old yeast. I had that backwards. Did you make a starter for your yeast?

 

I have simply put yeast in jars and reused months later several times, always with great results.

 

did this with my last batch yeast was over two months old let it warm up and pitched half the jar took off in less than 8 hours great beer too

 

I think I might wash me some yeast this weekend. I have a new technique I want to try. Will post if its succesful.

 

It's what I do 4/5 times. No washing, no starter. I don't use them if they are over 3 or 4 months old.

 

I do it all the time as well. Rarely do I buy yeast. I never wash my yeast and I use my yeast even at 3/4 months old. How I came across this and made myself feel better is I saved some kolsch yeast from 2 different beers. One was brewed 9 months prior the last. I was brewing another kolsch in a couple weeks so I decided to fill ac couple of jars with yeast. Well I ended up pitching the 9month old slurry straight into the new beer on accident, no starter, nothing. It fermented out fine, and tasted like every other batch of kolsch and side by side with the other kolsch I brewed 2 weeks prior was spot on. Now I use saved yeast every time. I still will make a starter but if it is only a few months old, I don't bother. Terrible practice everyone says, but it works for me and my bcjp certified friends don't seem to notice either.

 

As far as the water cooling issue, why not prep up 6-7 mason jars w boiled water ahead of time?

Sent from my iPod touch using HB Talk

 

Ditto...you can just do this tonight and the jars can sit until you want to use them...

 

I just starsan a big jar, dump in my cake, let it seperste for a couple hours in the fridge and then transfer the good stuff. Kinda like washing, but with half the steps hehe.

It works awesome. Just reused a 5 month old Belgian and it tastes awesome.