I'm going to bottle my Surly Bender tomorrow. I've got a small yeast cake at the bottom of my secondary (WY 007) that I was thinking about saving. Two thoughts: (1) is there enough yeast in secondary to make it worth it? (2) can I just rack the beer out, bung the keg with and throw it in the fridge until I use it in 2 weeks?
Saving the yeast cake
- Thread starter DaveGEsq
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Saving it is worth it if you don't have access to fresh yeast, or want to save money or just want to wrangle yeast. Whatever you do, you should manage the yeast in a sanitary way. You can save it in the carboy and then use it again, but you will be pouring your wort on a mix of yeast cells (healthy, mediocre and dead). Plenty of folks brew a batch right on top of the previous batch with great results. My brother is one of them (but he typically racks the beer and pours new wort on top the same day). I also know a local brewery that does this. In fact, he re-uses his yeast upwards of 17 times!
Unless it is a fantastic or rare yeast, I myself prefer to pick up a new vial, grow a starter and do my thing. But, if I were going to re-use some yeast I would wash it and then store it in the fridge. Check this post: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/
I also listened to a Brew Strong episode about re-using yeast, washing, etc. Jamil feels that yeast will hit its stride by the 3-5 batch. While I am only speculating, I think there is some truth to this if you select the yeast in the same way each time (e.g., take the top 2/3 of the yeast cake). Otherwise, I have no idea, but Jamil's got some major creds.
Unless it is a fantastic or rare yeast, I myself prefer to pick up a new vial, grow a starter and do my thing. But, if I were going to re-use some yeast I would wash it and then store it in the fridge. Check this post: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/
I also listened to a Brew Strong episode about re-using yeast, washing, etc. Jamil feels that yeast will hit its stride by the 3-5 batch. While I am only speculating, I think there is some truth to this if you select the yeast in the same way each time (e.g., take the top 2/3 of the yeast cake). Otherwise, I have no idea, but Jamil's got some major creds.
scottland
Well-Known Member
Don't reuse the yeast from the secondary unless you're doing it for a specific reason. I'll explain why.
By reusing yeast from the secondary you are only reusing a small portion of the yeast used to ferment the batch (remember all that yeast at the bottom of the primary?) what you are effectively doing is selecting yeast with certain qualities.
The yeast in the secondary took the longest to drop out of solution. They will be the most attenuative, and the least floculate. Two characteristics that don't jive with a British yeast. If those are qualities you are looking for, then it could be a fun little experiment, but otherwise get a fresh pitch of yeast.
Always take your yeast from the primary, that way you get a good genetic mix from the yeast population
By reusing yeast from the secondary you are only reusing a small portion of the yeast used to ferment the batch (remember all that yeast at the bottom of the primary?) what you are effectively doing is selecting yeast with certain qualities.
The yeast in the secondary took the longest to drop out of solution. They will be the most attenuative, and the least floculate. Two characteristics that don't jive with a British yeast. If those are qualities you are looking for, then it could be a fun little experiment, but otherwise get a fresh pitch of yeast.
Always take your yeast from the primary, that way you get a good genetic mix from the yeast population
KevinW
Well-Known Member
Yeah the yeast will start to falter after a few re-uses but one thing that makes me concerned about pitching to a yeast cake is that you are re-pitching all the "leftovers" and waste from the first batch. It may not cause any problems as there are quite a few homebrewers that do this routinely but I am with johnnybrew as far as just getting fresh yeast or maybe wash the cake then store (very sanitary of course)!
Just my thoughts!
Just my thoughts!
Scottland is right. I didn't notice it was the yeast from the 2ndry the OP was asking about until I read these other replies. My post was referencing yeast from a primary. Sorry for the confusion.
Thanks for the thoughts, y'all. I'll junk this cake and think about harvesting and washing next time I use 007 (just happens to make really good beer so I figured, if I'm going to play around with reusing yeast, might as well be this one). Appreciate it muchly.
Just a thought from a noob here- But wouldn’t the last yeast cells to go dormant also be the ones with the highest alcohol tolerance? So, if your goal was selecting that particular trait, choosing cells from the secondary could be a good thing… right? Or is my thinking off base?
Not necessarily the highest OH tolerance, just those that are less flocculant. Those which could be more or less OH tolerant can potentially be any which are still viable (i.e, not dead). And those yeast could still be floating around in the beer or in the yeast cake.
