Rinsing Yeast, Starting Yeast, Brewing Beer...

[ash]

Thanks Hairy,i was going to buy 3 tallies of sparkling ale to use,would that make enough yeast.{don't like problems LOL[

[Cloudy]

what nobody else want to field this? [lol]

 

Thats correct mate, with big beers, say over 1055 (generally not for a mild 1040) and certainly over 1060 its a good idea to aerate after pitching.. you have to keep in mind that Yeast are still in aerobic fermentation and reproducing, and what they do is essentially 'give' a part of themselves to the daughter cell, if you are keeping them in aerobic fermentation you will have a greater population of healthy viable Yeast, if you dont give them enough o2, especially with big beers, you may have trouble with attenuation and 'clean up' and might not get as clean a beer as you would otherwise.

 

You have to keep in mind that for the first 24 hours (maybe longer) they are not 'actively' fermenting (though they do a bit) but are in reproduction mode, any o2 at this point will be eaten up by the yeast.

 

Im a good Yeast daddy!! [lol] [rightful] [ninja]

 

Yob

 

Well that did it for me! I made a starter from my rinsed yeast using LDM and water and it started to ferment so I pitched it into a Dark Ale (yesterday). SOOOO BUSTING to see if it is working (self doubt is a b!tch) after reading this thread I decided to open it up and look (having one of the old FV's you can't see much of what's happening). And to my amazement everything is going perfectly, talk about ferment! 3rd brew in the bag and it couldn't be better, rinsed and started yeast, controlled pitch temp, controlled ferment temp, I'm happy. I think that rinsing and pitching ANY yeast is great. The true test however, will be in the taste...

 

Cheers all for the input. Yob I may owe you a few brews after this...

[Cloudy]

Might also add the questions...

 

How many times can you rinse yeast?

and

With the exception of SG, does it matter which beers you use rinsed yeast on? Eg I have rinsed yeast from an ale, now being used in a dark ale. Could I then use it on a belgian ale, then a stout, then a pilsener?

[Guest]

Might also add the questions...

 

How many times can you rinse yeast?

and

With the exception of SG, does it matter which beers you use rinsed yeast on? Eg I have rinsed yeast from an ale, now being used in a dark ale. Could I then use it on a belgian ale, then a stout, then a pilsener?

 

There isnt really a fixed number, it depends on a lot of factors, most important of which is your sanitation and the environment in which you rinse the yeast, other parameters exist.

 

Keep in mind that no brew we do is free of contamination and one of the factors that needs to be considered is increased bacterial load from pitch to pitch. I visited a brewery in Ireland (The Fransiscan Well Brewery) and the Head brewer there had used his yeast from brew to brew 128 times!! BUT the processes in a Pro Brewery are not at all like we do on a Homebrew scale.

 

I know Bill has done quite well at times and has used his up to about 6 or 8 times from memory and the general rule of thumb is about 4-6.

 

One of the main driving forces is the Style to which you are brewing, if you are say brewing APA's repeatedly and your sanitation is up to par then you can keep going until you notice flavour drift, this is why it's important to taste the brew at every stage of the ferment, your taste buds are a very good tool and your senses will develop a 'library' of how things should be.

 

Other factors are things like, are you doing a direct re-pitch, harvesting and making a starter, using a stirplate or mini ferment..

 

many many factors determine how successful repitching yeast will be.

 

Sorry, not an easy question to answer.

 

Yob