Yeast re-use

I haven't had problems when reusing old yeast. Putting fresh wort on the remanent of the secondary yeast works for me. Reusing the primary yeast might be better - fewer mutations. Many batches are better for it - reused up to three times.

I've always had vigorous fermentation when reusing yeast - it is always faster than any yeast starter I've made.

If it works for me - screw the experts - keep doing it (my motto).

I have to figure that all yeast in the world are just the descendants of wild yeast. Some strains lend their characteristics to different locales and brews. Some old breweries, that made great beer for hundreds of years, never cultured or isolated their strains - just kept the yeast going with fresh ingredients.

Did the pharaoh's brewers have clean rooms, or PhD microbiologists? I wonder how good their beer was - but they kept at it so it must have pleased them - or the tap water was too terrible for words.

Healthy yeast is probably more desirable than a particular yeast when all is said and done (and drunk).

Your recipe sounds good. I'm not a meade fan, but appreciate the art, and recognize the effort you bring to the craft

i make sour dough bread which is basically 7 year old yeast. when you find a great yeast sure keep it going. personally i think making beer and making sour dough bread go hand in hand. the chance of cross contamination is incredibly high, but, no buddy complains of a slice of bread and a beer.

i also heard that smiling naked men are best stored in dark bedrooms. but i would not know.

I have only recently been reading this group, newspapers are still my preferred reading, but home brewing is my hobby,, and someone introduce me to this newsgroup several months ago,, though I would give my two cents worth! Hope my experience with reusing yeast is of interest

I can agree, using the yeast cake for the next batch is possible, though it does require more work than chucking in a new pack of dried yeast. I have been making a Chimay clone and am now on my third consecutive batch, with the original yeast,, started with a wyeast 1214 Belgian Ale Yeast, combined with a yeast culture from the sediment of a Chimay Grande Reserve bottle. I started this original batch largely due to cost,, the wyeast cost over $11. cad up here in the north,, and the chimay itself was $10 as well,, but definately worth the price to me!

The first batch started slooooow,, and took an extended time to finish, about 45 days,, in bottle fermentation also proceeded slowly,, I sampled a bottle after three weeks and it was flatter than a pankake,, another two weeks and it was beautiful. This is not too long to wait, and it was in the middle of our winter, and quite cold in the house. I kept a portion of the yeast from the primary and put up the second batch about two weeks after the primary finished,, all grain supplemented with unpasturized local honey,, and the fememetation from this mix, well,, it was surprisingly quick, and this from a .090 gravity brew! The benefit,,,,, it fermented and matured quicker than the first batch, and was fully drinkable in just two months!

I have made Chimay clones from time to time over the past 20 years, and though I love the speed of the ferment,, I will wait to see if the resulting beer has the storage quaility remains the same as my past batches,, I have a few bottles from over 4 years ago that I go to when the mood strikes,, and like fine wine . it seems to improve with age. I suspect it will be the same with these batches.

When you store the yeast, how long is it good for and how do you store it?

I have no problem putting some of the dregs from the fermenter in a sanitized beer bottle capping it and leaving it in the refer for months (never went over four months and used a starter but there was no problem, I think 6+ months might be OK). Easy to do when racking - just pinch the hose when the siphon starts sucking drub, and transfer the end of the tube to a clean bottle.

Ideally the yeast should be fed to keep them active, but they last cold in the dormant stage very well.

It is easy to just take a bottle of homebrew that is leftover from a year ago (assuming you have one) pour the beer off, add some water,shake it up to get the yeast in suspension, then pour that into a starter solution.

Do it a day in advance to check the viability and get the yeast multiplying.

Has an article on freezing yeast for use years later.

Hi, I dont mean to be negative but why reuse yeast? yeast is so cheap and there are so many kinds available depending on brew type you want.

Yeast can run $10 a shot or, more commonly, $5 for most of the liquid yeast. Or you may just have an exceptional beer that you want to duplicate. Liquid yeasts tend to be more variable in character so you may want to hang onto one. You may want to combine two different yeasts . . . I tend to get faster fermentation when reusing a shot of yeast.

There are lots of reasons besides cost, but cost may be one consideration.

I agree with you in reference to dry yeast. Liquid yeast is more expensive, though, especially by the time you make a starter for it. Saving a reusing yeast provides you with a higher cell count and saves you money. In addition, there are some hard to get strains I like to use and it's much easier to save and reuse them instead of culturing them from a slant every time.

---------->Denny

the oldest recipe on this planet is how to make beer,

well 4 thousand years ago they did not understand yeast. the story of it is actually fascinating.

yeasts have been stored for hundreds of years, not as a package but, as a working viable culture. in bread making sour dough bread making is (well in my case) an 8 year old yeast.

yes yeast is so cheap now lets do an experiment go the brew shop and get the most expensive yeast and the cheapest. go home and make one loaf of bread wih one package, and make another with the second package. cheap is a relative term ya get what ya pay for ALWAYS well reuse. life exists on this planet. but not even yeast can survive being on mars. if i spend 17 dollars for a yeast, reusing it is normal.