Olemate Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 I would like to have a crack at "reusing" yeast recovered from my brewing trub. My go-to yeast for most of my brews (K&K and Extract) is US-05, or 2 off kit yeast. The inference I get, looking at the myriad of Youtube videos, is that the technique is really only used for liquid yeasts. What are your thoughts? Any good news stories using dried yeast? Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 It can be used for both liquid and dried yeast. Give it a go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Worthog Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 I do it all the time. One of my best beers came from a Nottingham/US-05 slurry. When you have bottled up and have approx half to 1cm of beer left over your trub, swirl it up to mix and thin the beer and trub, and fill 1-2 sanitised PETs through the tap. Label them and put them straight in the fridge to settle out and store. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenyinthewestofsydney Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Yep. Have a bank of 3 or 4 dried yeasts in liquid form. No problem whatsoever from a quality point of view Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beerlust Posted August 4, 2018 Share Posted August 4, 2018 Being able to successfully harvest & re-use yeast is a great tool to have in your home brewing arsenal particularly once you start to purchase expensive liquid yeasts. Cheers & good brewing, Lusty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olemate Posted August 4, 2018 Author Share Posted August 4, 2018 Thanks lads, much appreciated. Warthog, do you make a starter for each of your PET bottles in preparation for pitching, to build up healthy yeast numbers? Cheers Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Worthog Posted August 5, 2018 Share Posted August 5, 2018 No starter. If you followed my procedure you will find the Pet bottle settles out to around 30 to 50 percent 'solids', topped up with effectively beer from your previous brew. I pour off a small amount of the beer, leaving enough to mix up with solid material, when tipped up an down a few times. I then pour what is approximately 350ml of yeast cake straight into the fermenter wort. Be sure to do this straight from the fridge; dont let it stand and warm or the yeast and gas will begin expanding. This slurry amount is good for 23litres of wort up to around OG 1.050 if Ale. A bit more might be considered if it is Lager yeast to be fermented at 12c. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted August 5, 2018 Share Posted August 5, 2018 Making a starter would be a good idea if it sat there for a period of time, but if you're using it within a month then it's probably not really necessary. If you're using lager yeast you want to pitch about double the rate of ales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olemate Posted August 5, 2018 Author Share Posted August 5, 2018 Thanks guys, it seems so simple, I'll certainly give it a go. If I remember correctly Kelsey, you said some time ago that about 5 iterations of US-05 would be quite safe? Cheers Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
headmaster Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 I ran one for more like 15 generations and was still going great, I only retired it (down the drain) because I feared mutation. But it probably could have kept going strong for many more. Search for a thread on here if you have time for a long read, named 'Harvesting yeast for dummies' which contains a lot of discussion about this. Early pages lean towards washing the yeast but I have found you don't want to put too much sanitised water with your yeast as it can raise PH and it does not like that. It likes being stored with beer, and I don't blame it, as I love beer as well. If you have a high ABV/IBU beer it should in theory help to dilute it a bit before storage. Over the weekend I just pitched some 45 day old (since harvest) US05(about 350ml compacted) into an APA, it had a 5mm krausen 8 hours later. I get a kick out of making good beer but also cheap beer. Buying barley in sacks, bulk hops and re-using yeast brings batch costs to often less than $15 for 23 litres for the less hoppy ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 Essentially you can go as many generations as you like, as long as the beers are still turning out as they should. I've found with my harvesting from starters method that I can take them up to 15 generations and possibly further (testing this with 1469 at the moment), but those were liquid yeasts. A US-05 I was re-using only got to about 8 or 9 generations before it started throwing funky flavors, phenolic etc., not exactly desirable in an APA. Harvesting from fermenter trub you may or may not get as many generations due to the yeast being exposed to varying OG and hopped worts. With starters, the yeast that's harvested/pitched into batches is only ever exposed to the same 1.037ish OG unhopped wort every time, with the fermenter trub yeast just being chucked out each batch. Granted, it is a bit more mucking around with the making starters every batch (although you do have the advantage of a more accurate pitching rate), so the fermenter harvesting is definitely a simpler process overall and probably a better way to get started in re-using yeast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Captain!! Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 I have recently completed a yeast build and harvest using Kelsey’s method. And I feel like it’s a much “safer” process. I will be pitching this today. Nice clear wort/beer storing the yeast with no trub or Hop matter. The stored yeast would be approximately the same amount maybe a little more than what I would have got in the smackpack. And the amount of yeast in the flask is a perfect sized starter for pitching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rowbrew Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 Nice one Kirk. How good is it yeah? I love this method Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Captain!! Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 Yep, it’s a great process. Thoroughly recommend it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Titan Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 Maybe not the answers the op was looking for. He may not be able to do starters. Warthogs post is spot on for the op requirements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gus96 Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 Hi, first post here although I have been lurking for some time gathering info to improve my brews and save a bit on yeast costs. I am a K & K bloke with occasional steeped grains as per the Coppers Lager recipes. I have been following this thread and other similar ones with a plan to try and re-use my trub yeast as some others here are doing. As the pics show this is what I have done so far, almost a week has gone by and the trub has settled a bit in the bottles . From what I gather when I am ready to pitch the bottled stuff into my wort I simply drain off the liquid (beer) give what’s left a good shake and pour in the FV, correct? I use W34/70 mostly in my chest freezer with an Inkbird temp controller. Cheers Gus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 I wouldn't drain it all off, you need something to swirl it up with and make it thin enough to pour out easily, but essentially that is the process yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted August 6, 2018 Share Posted August 6, 2018 7 hours ago, Titan said: Maybe not the answers the op was looking for. He may not be able to do starters. Warthogs post is spot on for the op requirements. Anyone can do a starter. I have a stir plate now but before that I just used a juice bottle and gave it a swirl when I walked past. Easy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olemate Posted August 6, 2018 Author Share Posted August 6, 2018 Thanks again, I'm in the process of making my own stir plate, very satisfying in itself! It's just a matter of getting, not just the procedure correct, but the reasoning behind each step. Understanding just what I'm doing, and why, is all part of enjoying this hobby of ours. Cheers Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SG114 Posted August 19, 2018 Share Posted August 19, 2018 On 8/5/2018 at 8:08 PM, Worthog said: No starter. If you followed my procedure you will find the Pet bottle settles out to around 30 to 50 percent 'solids', topped up with effectively beer from your previous brew. I pour off a small amount of the beer, leaving enough to mix up with solid material, when tipped up an down a few times. I then pour what is approximately 350ml of yeast cake straight into the fermenter wort. Be sure to do this straight from the fridge; dont let it stand and warm or the yeast and gas will begin expanding. This slurry amount is good for 23litres of wort up to around OG 1.050 if Ale. A bit more might be considered if it is Lager yeast to be fermented at 12c. Cheers Hey mate, I've given this a go today with my Golden Ale recipe from the website. Last recipe was the Cascarillo Amber Ale so same yeast, interested to see how this goes. Thanks for the info! Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Potatoes Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 On 8/5/2018 at 8:38 PM, Worthog said: No starter. If you followed my procedure you will find the Pet bottle settles out to around 30 to 50 percent 'solids', topped up with effectively beer from your previous brew. I pour off a small amount of the beer, leaving enough to mix up with solid material, when tipped up an down a few times. I then pour what is approximately 350ml of yeast cake straight into the fermenter wort. Be sure to do this straight from the fridge; dont let it stand and warm or the yeast and gas will begin expanding. This slurry amount is good for 23litres of wort up to around OG 1.050 if Ale. A bit more might be considered if it is Lager yeast to be fermented at 12c. Cheers Thanks guys for this idea, I’m going to try this with the ROTM vintage ale, which has 1 kit, 1.5 kg lme, and 1 kg of Dextrose. Is this sg too high for this technique? I’ve harvested 1 pet bottle of slurry which is 1/2 full of yeast. Cheers, dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Worthog Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 You will be around OG 1.058 and you will ferment at 18c. Personally I would sprinkle the kit yeast over the wort as well. Get a confirmation from Otto. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 350mL of yeast... depends how compacted it is, how long since it was harvested? Pitching the kit yeast as well won't hurt, it just may not be needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Potatoes Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 Harvested 3 days ago. So it’s fairly compacted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted August 27, 2018 Share Posted August 27, 2018 Ok, well assuming a conservative 1 billion cells per mL you'd have about 350 billion cells, should be more than enough. When do you plan to brew the batch? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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