One week in primary & re-using yeast

[bvanderhaar]

My brewing schedule worked out to one week between brews. I'd prefer to re-use yeast - since I have much better luck the 2nd/3rd/4th time around on yeast (and it's economical). Would it work to rack to a secondary after one week? I'm basically treating the first batch of beer as a giant starter .

I will probably have enough yeast left in the primary to put a significant amount back in the secondary. If the FG still needs 10 points or so - will this be alright? Or is it too much of a disruption of the yeast's environment?

 

[thaefathan]

Sounds fine to me. Do you just brew a low gravity beer, and then pitch a higher gravity onto that yeast cake?

 

[bvanderhaar]

Well...they are about even. The first one is an American IPA (~7.7% ABV), the next one an American Stout (~7.2%).

I think the concern would be more the hops - but I think the intense maltiness of the stout should cover up any residual IPA hop flavor...

 

[ncsuwerewolf]

I never rack onto a cake as the yeast volume is so large. I like to run off into a sanitized fermenter and swirl the cake and pour about an 8 count int the fresh wort. This still requires a blow off as the fresh yeast is hyper active. The remainder of the cake is saved for later brews/ starters.

 

[bvanderhaar]

I never rack onto a cake as the yeast volume is so large. I like to run off into a sanitized fermenter and swirl the cake and pour about an 8 count int the fresh wort. This still requires a blow off as the fresh yeast is hyper active. The remainder of the cake is saved for later brews/ starters.

This does sound safer to reduce sanitation concerns and residual flavor concerns - I'll plan to do it this way.

Saving some yeast does make sense; I may just discard it or put it in the secondary. I'll probably save the yeast from the 2nd batch for future batches.