Using yeast cake instead of packets

[odie]

If I have more than one jar of the type I'm wanting to use, I'll grab the freshest one first, open and sniff test and pitch it. bad sniff...dump and grab the next freshest one and repeat...worst case i dump all of a certain type and pitch a new pack of dry yeast and start the harvest cycle from scratch.

I just pitched a jar of harvested Kolsch yeast from last Feb that was a re-pitch in itself, so 2nd or 3rd generation already. I still had 2 dry packs of Kolsch yeast in reserve but wanted to see what would happen. It's chugging away...will see how it tastes in a couple months.

 

[odie]

Here is a picture of a jar of yeast I collected about 10 days ago.

View attachment 717171

do you filter or screen all the kettle wort into the fermenter? I've started doing that and I pretty much save the entire fermenter cake and it looks about like what you have. A huge cake of pretty clean yeast cake with little to no trub at all. No washing or decanting needed.

 

[eric19312]

do you filter or screen all the kettle wort into the fermenter? I've started doing that and I pretty much save the entire fermenter cake and it looks about like what you have. A huge cake of pretty clean yeast cake with little to no trub at all. No washing or decanting needed.

No filters. I whirlpool through my CFC back into the kettle to drop kettle temp to desired hop steep temp and then whirlpool with the hops for a few minutes. I then let the kettle settle for at least 15 minutes. Then I slowly pull from the corner of the kettle through CFC into fermentor. I have one of those Spike kettles with the two tier bottom, lower tier holds the cone and I pull wort from the upper tier. Really does a nice job leaving hops and hot break in the kettle. The cold break will mostly go into the fermenter since most of it precipitates in the CFC. If I have time I will dump whatever cold break collects at the bottom of the cone before pitching yeast.

 

[mattdee1]

The only kind of "reusing" I do anymore is done by over-building yeast starters by about a liter or so, and saving that in the fridge to form the basis of a future starter. My most recent batch was a 10gal pale ale (~1.050) that used some WLP001 I saved from an overbuilt starter 7+ months ago and had stored in the fridge. That saved yeast was 3rd or 4th generation from the original retail vial. I made a starter with it, which took a bit longer than usual to ferment out, but the beer is flowing now and turned out great.

I've reused S05 several times using various methods (harvest and store, pitch right on the cake, etc.) and I've had at least 3 batches where the beers ended up with a weird Belgian character to them. Still totally worth drinking but not what I want or expect out of S05. I assume it was caused by some kind of contamination or maybe underpitching or whatever... I don't really care because I've resolved to never fart around trying to get more than one batch out of a yeast packet that costs $3.

 

[Immocles]

I've reused S05 several times using various methods (harvest and store, pitch right on the cake, etc.) and I've had at least 3 batches where the beers ended up with a weird Belgian character to them. Still totally worth drinking but not what I want or expect out of S05. I assume it was caused by some kind of contamination or maybe underpitching or whatever... I don't really care because I've resolved to never fart around trying to get more than one batch out of a yeast packet that costs $3.

I've had very similar experiences. I repitched with great success until I didn't. After having three odd tasting batches in a few month span, I decided I would just stick to fresh packs of dry yeast (with a few, small exceptions). Maybe my sanitization is mostly to blame, but for a relatively small price tag, I will take it over being disappointed in a batch.

 

[mattdee1]

I've had very similar experiences. I repitched with great success until I didn't. After having three odd tasting batches in a few month span, I decided I would just stick to fresh packs of dry yeast (with a few, small exceptions). Maybe my sanitization is mostly to blame, but for a relatively small price tag, I will take it over being disappointed in a batch.

Exactly. It's not that there is no way of making it work, and to those who get it to work perfectly every time, good for them I guess.

But when you consider the number of hours that you invest into a batch of beer from lighting the kettle to cleaning the fermentor after packaging, $3-$4 savings seems like a poor balance against the added risk of problems. The only thing I'm annoyed at now is that I let myself get burned 3 times before finally saying "screw this s&*t" and putting in place the rule that I will buy fresh packs of dry yeast every time. The added convenience of it is easily worth the piddly cost; the added reliability of it is just icing on the cake.

 

[eric19312]

Well I decided to brew a few lagers over coming months and first batch started with dry yeast...needed 6 packs of Saflager 34/70. Got a good price on the packs but it was still almost $30. I'll absolutely harvest and reuse if yeast behaves as expected.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

I will repitch up to 5 times depending on the gap between repitching. As an example, this past summer, I was busy with other summertime things and didn't brew as much as planned. I only repitched 1 yeast strain 3 times instead of my normal 5 times as the gap between brewing was, IMO, too much.

 

[RePete]

This past year I've been brewing almost every weekend, and doing as some here have suggested...just drain the beer from the fermenter into a keg, and then pour the new wort into it. It has worked. I'm on the 3rd batch for the present yeast cake. Normally, I get to a point where I just want to do something else, and pitch new yeast then. I have stopped saving used yeast beyond just keeping the current cake going. I had some jars saved up in the fridge, but recently dumped those. The yeasts I use are easy enough to find, and I figure that once it gets beyond a few generations, may as well just dump it and start over.

 

[kpsalerno]

I reused a S-04 slurry eight generations in a year, repitching 1 Cup for 5.5 gallon standard strength batches, then topping off the jar with yeast cakes from each subsequent batch. Never had an issue, and one of the beers was entered in a competition and did well.

I also kept a W-34/70 slurry for 12 months to the day before repitching 2 Cups for the first time and experienced a huge lag of 96 hours at 54F with a standard strength batch before I finally saw krausen formation and any airlock activity. High krausen and steady airlock activity took 120 hours. I read somewhere above that is to be expected when you keep a slurry dorment that long.

 

[Dland]

Similar idea;

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/continuous-use-fermentation.686951/