Harvesting Yeast

[jay29]

How long can I keep on using harvested yeast, that has been washed, in my brews?

Out of my two recent 5 gallon batches, I harvested about 24 oz of washed yeast. I would say enough for four batches, without using a starter..

Can I keep on harvesting it? Would be the same yeast or does it lose it's original properties after so many generations from the original?

 

[TheJadedDog]

The general rule of thumb is to only reuse yeast 3-5 times as it changes with each brew. Run a search on "yeast washing" to get more info.

 

[McKBrew]

http://byo.com/mrwizard/1377.html

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=41768&highlight=yeast+washing

 

[homebrewer_99]

I've kept it over a year. Most of the time I use it up to 5 generations without any problems...