Last brew's yeast

[jump_xiii]

Last time I brewed I harvested the yeast. Now I have 2 jars in my fridge. Maybe tomorrow, or maybe next weekend I'll be brewing another batch and want to use this yeast.

How do I get from fridge/ jar to pitching?

 

[hercher]

How old is the yeast? How much is in the jars?

Assuming the yeast isn't too old (I recently pitched harvested yeast that had been in my fridge for almost a month without a problem), and assuming you have an amount sufficient to pitch, simply allow the yeast to reach fermentation temperature, and toss it in. It's that easy.

I did have a longer than usual lag time (about 60 hours) when I pitched that month old yeast. In hind sight, a starter probably would have been a good idea, but so far no problems.

 

[jump_xiii]

How old is the yeast? How much is in the jars?

I harvested it 7 days ago. It has been refrigerated since then. I'd say that there's 12 ounces at a guess in each jar and I have 2 jars.

So raise to pitching temp and pitch 1 or both?

Thanks for the help!

 

[frankstoneline]

How did you harvest? Did you wash and save in jars? If its just slurry, and there is 12oz's of it, you might be able to let it warm and pitch directly, however I would recommend a simple starter:
I usually boil about 2.5 cups of water and .5 cups DME for 10 minutes, then cool and transfer to a sanitized carboy, decant any liquid off the top of the yeast, pitch to the starter and swirl vigorously every time you walk by for ~18-24 hours before pitching. I cover them with a piece of tinfoil to keep stuff outta the juice.

 

[jump_xiii]

Yeah I 'think' I washed it ok, but the liquid above the yeasty layer is really dark (the beer was a stout).

Do I decant the liquid off, or just swirl it all back up and go from there?

 

[hercher]

What kind of beer are you making? How much liquid is there? Quite honestly, I probably would just swirl it all back up and dump it in. However, if you are making a very light colored ale, you may wish to decant the liquid off, then use a comparable amount of sterilized water (or use some wort from your new brew) to swirl it around and pitch.

 

[jump_xiii]

Well I'm still brewing from hopped canned extract kits, so I'm just trying to be a little experimental for my own learning process. The next batch is a Bitter, but I'm cool with pitching the yeast from the stout even though it is darker. Conforming to e standards of what is or isn't a bitter is not important to me- I just wanted to try out reusing the yeast whilst keeping the process relatively simple.

I think I will go with swirling it up and pitching it (at the proper temp) and I'll report back.

Thanks for all the help guys.

Oh, and in the estimated 12 ounces I'd say that the yeast that has settled to the bottom looks like about 1/4 of the total in the jar.

 

[frankstoneline]

Well I'm still brewing from hopped canned extract kits, so I'm just trying to be a little experimental for my own learning process. The next batch is a Bitter, but I'm cool with pitching the yeast from the stout even though it is darker. Conforming to e standards of what is or isn't a bitter is not important to me- I just wanted to try out reusing the yeast whilst keeping the process relatively simple.

I think I will go with swirling it up and pitching it (at the proper temp) and I'll report back.

Thanks for all the help guys.

Oh, and in the estimated 12 ounces I'd say that the yeast that has settled to the bottom looks like about 1/4 of the total in the jar.

I would decant maybe 1/2 the liquid before swirling and pitching to the starter, the starter should start bubbling pretty quickly, if you see activity let it get nice and frothy and then pitch it.