I’m wanting to start saving and re-using my yeast for future batches. What beer kit has the most versitile yeast? What I mean is, if I buy a new beer kit and primary fermentation is over, I want to save that yeast and be able to re-use it to produce other beer varieties.
A neutral yeast, like WY1056, would be most widely applicable to reuse.
+1, bigtime.
That’s one of a couple of strains I’ve taken to almost insane numbers of repitch, and it not only remained robust, but also did not seem to develop any off flavors as a result (and I don’t wash or rinse the yeast from batch to batch).
I have of late been brewing and experimenting more with East Coat Yeast’s ECY10 ‘Old Newark Ale’ strain and am currently up to repitch #6 with that one. It also seems to be pretty robust and trouble free. I’m going to take this one to a total of 10 re-uses just for the hell of it to see what happens. I’m guessing that this yeast will become my new main “go-to” when not using my ‘house’ yeast (origins unknown)
Denny I’d have thought you would plug WY1450. Since you didn’t, I will.
I use Safale o5, which is supposed to be similar to WY 1056. It is a dry yest so I always keep a couple packs on hand. At times I will wash it and reuse for a period of time.
I brew almost exclusively with this yeast, including an Octoberfest Ale.
+1 on the US-05/WY1056. I’ve save and repitched many times from just one package. I’ve also repitched a package of WY2206 through quite a few generations. I’m guessing that almost any yeast will repitch well if you just harvest it off the bottom of the fermentor quickly after racking the beer off and then get it right into the next batch or into the fridge.
The real question is: what yeast strain do you want to use frequently enough to make this practice worthwhile? If you store the yeast in the fridge for more than a month, you should make a starter and then you have about the same work as just getting a fresh smack pack ready to pitch.
The real question is: what yeast strain do you want to use frequently enough to make this practice worthwhile? If you store the yeast in the fridge for more than a month, you should make a starter and then you have about the same work as just getting a fresh smack pack ready to pitch.
I’m not worried about work as much as cost. I enjoy the hands on aspect of all-grain brewing and am willing to do the work involved. I don’t brew as often as I would like, mainly because of the expense.
My thought was to find a yeast strain such as has been mentioned and look for other beer kits that I would like to brew using the same yeast. When I find several kits that have the same yeast, I will buy one or two until I have brewed all.
Thanks, Lennie! I was just tryin’ to be a bit humble (for a change!).
1056/001 is great for this use - I’d be hesistant to repitch US-05 - that version is already a bit more attenuative than the White Labs/Wyeast versions, and the times I have repitched it, its been even moreso - as much as 4% more attenuation than the previous run.
San Diego Super (WL090) seems to be a good one so far for repitching (just repitched a session ago) and WY1028 London has always been a good candidate for me for an English strain.
+1 on 1056.
My “house” yeast is 1272 and it’s still viable after a dozen re-pitches. That said, I use it almost exclusively in my IPAs that are on deck about every 6-8 weeks. I don’t use a starter for these, just decant and pitch.
I regularly reuse my other yeasts as well. Anything over 90 days old will get a starter. Cheap insurance for detecting an infection.
[quote=“Sooner49er”]The real question is: what yeast strain do you want to use frequently enough to make this practice worthwhile? If you store the yeast in the fridge for more than a month, you should make a starter and then you have about the same work as just getting a fresh smack pack ready to pitch.
[/quote]
Not to hijack the thread, but how long can decently-washed yeast stored in sanitary mason jars in a cold fridge last? Is there a rule-of-thumb for this?
They’re in pint-sized jars…
Thanks!
I recently revived a jar of unwashed yeast that had been in the fridge for two years. It was a fairly long process though. I stepping up the starter from two 1/2 liter jars into which I had placed a heaping tablespoon of slurry, then after I saw good activity I swirled the starter, let the trub settle for a couple minutes and poured off the liquid (from both jars) into a two liter starter. After that had fermented out, I let it settle, decanted the liquid, and poured the slurry into another two liter starter. That gave me enough to finally pitch for the batch, and got rid of the dead stuff in the starting material.
I’ve used yeast from unwashed cake stored in jars for up to a month, after that I usually make a starter. I keep between four and eight strains of yeast at any given time and try to use them at least three generations. I used my last British ale yeast for something like eight generations just because I like bitters so much. I figure I’ve gotten my money’s worth after a few uses. I’d point out that I brew small batches (3gal) so the cost per gallon is a little higher if I do single use. When I get a strain I’ll generally plan out a few brews for it, generally going from weaker to stronger beers. I won’t necessarily brew one right after the other though.
I try and keep a Bavarian wheat yeast, a British ale yeast, a clean ale yeast, and maybe a Belgian yeast on hand. That covers a lot of territory. even if you want to brew something like an alt, you can always re-use that for something else. I brewed an APA with alt yeast, turned out fine just took a long time to settle. Don’t be afraid to experiment.
I’m sticking with 1450 and 1968 as “house yeasts” - both are proving to be fairly versatile. I am starting to see US-05 as the Wonder Bread of yeast. It’s so clean and neutral. I think it’s a stumbling block, actually. There are much better yeasts out there. I plan to use 1450 in a lot of styles to see where it takes me. Incredible mouthfeel!
Is 1450 slow to start? Or does it like warmer temps? I just brewed the extract Rye Smile IPA and made a starter from harvested 1450. Starter took off and I even stepped it up, which took off. Pitched it about 24 hours after high krausen and expected this to start within hours. As of this morning nothing.
By contrast, I made a starter from a smack pack of British II yeast and the starter was pretty tame. Stepped it up and still much tamer than the 1450. Brewed both on Sun night and the British II was bubbling steady by Monday am. 24 hours later and nothing on the 1450. I even pressed the lid down to see if I had a leak and did not detect one. I will pull the lid tonight if I still see nothing.
This is in a controlled 60* environment.
[quote=“560sdl”]Is 1450 slow to start? Or does it like warmer temps? I just brewed the extract Rye Smile IPA and made a starter from harvested 1450. Starter took off and I even stepped it up, which took off. Pitched it about 24 hours after high krausen and expected this to start within hours. As of this morning nothing.
By contrast, I made a starter from a smack pack of British II yeast and the starter was pretty tame. Stepped it up and still much tamer than the 1450. Brewed both on Sun night and the British II was bubbling steady by Monday am. 24 hours later and nothing on the 1450. I even pressed the lid down to see if I had a leak and did not detect one. I will pull the lid tonight if I still see nothing.
This is in a controlled 60* environment.[/quote]
There’s no reason to assume one yeast will act like another. I generally use 1450 in the low 60s. Sometimes it may take 24 hours or so to start, but that’s not a problem.
I am just trying to rationalize why the starter took off but the batch did not and vice versa with the other batch. Surly the rye malt would have nothing to do with that, right?
I am guess that when I get home tonight it will be normal, but that will be closer to 48 hours
I am just trying to rationalize why the starter took off but the batch did not and vice versa with the other batch. Surly the rye malt would have nothing to do with that, right?
I am guess that when I get home tonight it will be normal, but that will be closer to 48 hours[/quote]
Nope, the rye has nothing to do with it. It could be a slower yeast (remember, they’re different) or it could be that since it was reused yeast that there were actually fewer viable cells than there were in your starter. Or it could be something else entirely.
The only issue I’ve had with 1450 is having a slow finish on the first pitch or two (as reported by others on this board). I’m still in the initial phase of experimenting with this yeast, so I can’t comment on it much. Good to see that Denny has weighed in here!
:cheers:
Well as of last night still no bubbles so I pulled the lid to find a good layer of foam. So fermentation is happening. I tried lots of stuff to tighten the lid to no avail. I am using a “modular” blow off tube system but I checked that thoroughly for leaks and did not find any. The other one I set up this way works perfectly.
No longer worried, but just curious why I am not getting my bubbles. And anxious to try Denny’s Rye recipe. I was a little disappointed in the NB Partial Mash RyePA. Good beer, just not that much Rye.
