Washing yeast?

[growlrr]

I've been seeing a lot of folks talking about "washing yeast" and reusing it for another round of brewing. I have to ask, why would you bother? You can easily spend $50-75 (or more) on honey, another $20-30 of fruits and/or spices, etc. Yeast seems to be the only inexpensive ingredient in the whole project. You're hard pressed to pay more than a buck or two for pretty much any dry yeast you want. Am I missing something here?

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I've been seeing a lot of folks talking about "washing yeast" and reusing it for another round of brewing. I have to ask, why would you bother? You can easily spend $50-75 (or more) on honey, another $20-30 of fruits and/or spices, etc. Yeast seems to be the only inexpensive ingredient in the whole project. You're hard pressed to pay more than a buck or two for pretty much any dry yeast you want. Am I missing something here?

Yes, dry wine yeast is very affordable. Liquid beer strains average $6-8 and some newer brands are even more. With that said, I suppose there are some mead and wine makers that save yeast as well.

 

[jtratcliff]

why not? It's easy..

 

[Drewed]

Depends on how strong you make your mead. Beer rarely hits the alcohol tolerances of the yeast, but mead can do it quite easily. Trying to reuse mostly drunk yeast does not make for good drinks.

 

[bernardsmith]

But it does allow and enable you to create and use a house yeast- unique to you and which can produce very unique characteristics

 

[mongoose33]

Not everybody has unlimited funds to brew. If you can save $6 or $7 in yeast, that's money you can spend elsewhere--or save.

Lots of people have families, young kids, maybe other circumstance where they don't have tons of money to throw at a hobby like this, so they do the next best thing--they figure out how to get what they want but not spend money to do it. In other words, washing yeast.

Seems reasonable to me.

 

[growlrr]

I don't disagree, believe me - I'm putting my fourth (and last, Thank God) kid through college, but this isn't exactly an inexpensive endeavor given the cost of honey and fresh (or frozen) fruit. It just seems like for the cost of skipping a Mickey D's run you wouldn't risk a potential stalled ferment, off flavors or a batch that tastes like a previous one. If you are trying to breed some personalized strain that is unique to your brews, that makes sense, but the is a skill level I have yet to achieve....

 

[Kent88]

This time of year shipping liquid yeast can be iffy, I know in my area it has been in the 80F range during some days, so who knows how hot it gets in transit. If I can order yeast in the spring and fall and make a small batch to keep it alive now and then, then I can brew or make mead/wine anytime in the summer.

And not all of us live close by a LHBS that has a yeast selection we are satisfied with.

 

[hockeybrewer]

I don't brew meads or wines but I do beer with some liquid yeast. I buy hops and grain in bulk and then make an oversized starter and harvest off of that for many generations I'm looking at $15-20 a normal batch and $30 for a hoppy NE IPA. Can't beat that price for someone who has more time than money(like me). Brew on I also will repitch yeast cakes once or twice, I try not to push it.

 

[MindenMan]

When I brew my beers, I generally only buy yeast once a year and keep a first generation (unfermented in used wort) bulk batch alive in the fridge. I used to brew every 5 or 6 weeks so the $7-8 usually spent on yeast got to be spent elsewhere, or not spent at all.

 

[bernardsmith]

Most wine makers use dry yeast and a packet costs about $1.30 - $2.50. Technically, a pack is good for 5 gallons assuming that the SG is not way up in the stratosphere...