Two back-to-back recipes w/ same yeast

[Zippox]

Anyone have a couple AG recipes you would recommend that I could use the yeast cake from the first to use for the second? Figured if there are two good tasting beers that can use the same yeast, why not save myself a few bucks.

By back to back I mean brew>ferment>bottle>brew>ferment>bottle

 

[thegreatmaibockaddict]

I repitch yeast all the time. I brew, say a pale on Sunday, then the following sunday make an IPA, transferring the Pale to secondary and pouring some of the yeast from the Pale Ale carboy to the IPA carboy.

Pick a yeast strain and pick a couple of styles that fit the yeast and go for it.

FWIW I have done this a couple hundred times, and the only issue that you can have is if the yeast you had initially was contaminated, in which case you have a catastrophe on your hands!

My site is down (out of my control right now) or I would point you two a couple that I have posted.

Will come back and post again if they get it back up again.

 

[Jayhem]

When doing this you need to stick to similar styles or at least beers that will not be effected by the trub left from the previous batch.

Starting with a Pale Ale and then doing an IPA makes sense. You could also do a brown ale followed by an Amber or vice versa. What you don't want to do is a stout and then a light beer but I have made a stout with washed yeast from a Pale Ale with no problems. Usually it's the neutral ale yeast that are used for this (Nottingham, 1056/US05, etc.)

 

[Zippox]

I've not washed yeast before. Is this something that should be done if I plan to reuse it just once?

BTW keep the recipes coming! Just started AG brewing and would like to get a few great batches under my belt. First and only was a Saison. I'm a fan of unique tastes like that.

 

[Jayhem]

I've not washed yeast before. Is this something that should be done if I plan to reuse it just once?

BTW keep the recipes coming! Just started AG brewing and would like to get a few great batches under my belt. First and only was a Saison. I'm a fan of unique tastes like that.

Washing yeast is simply adding sanitized water (boiled and cooled or distilled) to the fermenter after you rack the beer off the yeast for bottling. You then shake the fermenter up, let it settle out and the yeast stay in suspension for 20-30 minutes while the heavier trub mess settles out. Then you just carefully pour off the milky yeast layer into sanitized jars and seal and store in fridge for reuse. If you do it this way you get much cleaner yeast but you will probably still want to make a small yeast starter before using it in the next batch. The main benefit is you can keep the yeast for several months in the fridge this way before brewing the next batch in case you don't have time to bottle and then brew in the same day or 2.

I would recommend sticking to simple recipes as your first several All Grain brews. Search for a recipe on here called "Biermunchers Centennial Blonde" you can't go wrong with that one. An American Pale Ale is also an easy recipe to do and is a good one to experiment with different hops on.

 

[solbes]

I do this all the time. Just easier than getting liquid starters for everything, and you can save a few bucks on yeast costs. Here are some of my better ones.

-Kolsch to Altbier is my favorite 1-2 punch (WY2565)
-Patersbier to any high gravity Belgian (WY3787, no starter needed on the Patersbier)
-Pilsner to Maibock Lager (Saf 34-70)
-Irish Red to Piker Liker Porter to Russian Imperial Stout (I use Bells for this)

PM me if one of these interests you, I can PM back a recipe