Repitching yeast- what style to do after a cream ale?

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bigolbigbelly

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Hello everyone,

I am a new brewer and new to this forum. I just bottled my first cream ale this past Sunday. I saved the left over yeast from my brew in a sanitized jar and put it in the fridge. I want to user this yeast after my next batch (a partial grain IPA) and I am looking for a suggestions from the pros here on a style of beer to brew on that same yeast from the cream ale. I have read that i should go with a darker brew. Does anyone have a good suggestion?

Thank you.

"Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world."
-Kaiser Welhelm
 
Agreed. Most people haven't had good luck with Munton's- it doesn't seem to attenuate with "all malt" beers, according to their own website.

Also, I wouldn't recommend pitching on the yeast cake for dry yeast. There are enough yeast cells in an 11 gram package, so you don't need to have a starter or pitch on the cake. For an expensive liquid yeast, I'd say "do it!" but not for a cheap dry yeast that isn't very good to begin with.
 
Thanks,
I was just going to try it just to try it. Also I had read that the fermentation was fast and vigorous. Thanks for the help.

Yes, it should be fast and vigorous, and it works great with liquid yeast strains. But for dry yeast, it's usually not worth and and especially not for Munton's yeast.
 
While I agree that dry yeast is so inexpensive, there's no reason that you can't reuse the yeast in the interest of being frugal. I've saved slurry of US-05 and Nottingham before. Harvest from the fermenter using a sanitized spoon into a sanitized Mason jar and stick it into the fridge. You'll lose 25% viability per week. However, I wouldn't reuse the Munton's, given its poor track-record.
 
I agree with all that has been stated, but to answer your other question on what to brew next, it depends.

I think the recommendation to brew a darker beer is only really important if you're going to pitch on the yeast cake still in the primary fermenter, reason being that there's still beer, flavors, etc that may carry over to the next beer. In this case, a darker beer with cover them up better.

However, if you have harvested and washed the yeast, I'd argue that it doesn't matter what you do next. I've brewed stouts and then pales (after washing the yeast)...no problem.
 
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