Re-using yeast

[hughes_brews]

I have read the Wiki about yeast washing, but wondered if this method would work, as well.

I made a 2 pint starter using White Labs yeast for this weekend's brewing. Before pitching, I was thinking about shaking the yeast into suspension, then pouring some of the starter wort into the cleaned and sanitized White Labs vial to put in the fridge for next time, and pitching the rest into the 5 gallon batch.

If this would work, how many times can I reuse the yeast before buying a new one?

 

[solidghost]

Hmmm...I am also interested in this. But I think the starter method is better than the yeast cake method. Less mutation of the yeast. The problem is trying to gauge how much yeast is enough for a 23l batch if we are using the starter method.

I think it is better to have a larger starter and produce as much yeast as possible, then seperate into different batches for pitching. This way, you can get a lot out of the original yeast. I read that you should not re-use the yeast more than 3 times.

 

[BeerSmith]

Hmmm,
Not a great idea - you would only get a tiny portion of the yeast into your tube that the original tube had. The original tube had around ~100 billion yeast cells - equivalent to a 1 liter starter. You won't get that by just taking a bit of trub from the bottom of your fermenter.

If you are going to wash yeast, a starter is a must (unless you are harvesting a ton of yeast). I highly recommend a 1-2 liter starter.

Cheers!
Brad