Lager Yeast Reuse

[albsbrew]

I made my first batch of lager and was disappointed to find out that the taste was very buttery. I thought I had done everything I was suppose to do, but apparently not. I did a D-rest at the height of krausen to clean up any off flavors, but it was a no go. After further research, I realized I needed to have wort and yeast at ferment temp (50 degrees) before pitching east.

My question is: Can I reuse the yeast I kept and pitch into another batch without the buttery flavor the bad batch had? Is my kept yeast bad?

 

[BryceL]

Someone correct me if wrong, but I think the yeast would be fine. As far as the D-rest goes, it's usually recommended to do it when fermentation is about 75% complete. You may have done it a bit early.

 

[albsbrew]

Thanks BruceL. Assuming my yeast is ok to reuse, can you critique my method?

1) Pitch yeast into wort - both at 50 degrees before adding yeast
2) ferment at 50 degrees
3) D-rest (60 degrees) at about 75% of fermentation - (about when the krausen starts to fall back in)
4) rack into secondary when fermentation is complete (when krausen has fallen completely back in/3 consecutive readings of the same hydrometer reading)
5) lager at 32 degrees for 3 weeks

 

[BryceL]

That method should work. My only suggestion would be to do your D-rest a bit higher, maybe around 65. Also, the length of lagering will vary depending on the gravity of your beer. The higher the gravity, the longer you should lager. One more thing. If you are using a carboy for secondary, I don't think you need to do 3 hydro readings before transferring. I would take one, and if you are close to your estimated FG then transfer. It's not that critical if your still in the fermenter. If you are transferring to bottles, then yeah, you could do the extra reading to make sure its done to avoid bottle bombs. Just a thought to save you some beer

 

[BryceL]

Oh, meant to send you this link. I reference it a lot.

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Fermenting_Lagers