Is it okay to repitch wlp300 hefeweizen ale yeast? I have a dunkelweizen fermenting right now, and I would like to brew a hefeweizen soon. Has anybody repitched this yeast?
I read that it is best to top-crop the yeast for german wheats if you want to repitch. Problem is, it is in a carboy and a lot of the krausen has already collapsed. So, would it be fine to repitch from slurry at the bottom of the carboy after I bottle? Will the next batch lose some of the special yeast character?
Thanks all
It would probably be fine for a second or third brew, but I don’t think I would push it much past that.
I doubt there is a difference in “top cropping” verses using the yeast at the bottom of the fermenter.
I don’t know why you would not be able to reuse the yeast multiple times like any other yeast. Some people use them 5+ times. Or you could take a couple of scoops and use that in a stater to increase the cell count. Making one pack of yeast useful for 25 batches.
The thing about hefe yeasts, as well as Belgian yeasts, is not to overpitch. For these funky and characterful specialty yeast strains, it can actually make a more flavorful beer if you stress out the yeast a bit by slightly underpitching. So I think it’s fine to reuse yeast from a previous batch. But I wouldn’t use an entire yeast cake. I’d use the equivalent of maybe 1/2 to 2/3 of a White Labs vial of yeast slurry, you know, that sort of quantity (I guess that might be 2 Tbsp or something like that) for next 5 gallons, and even that might be too much. If you use too much you might not get as much of those desirable clove and banana type flavors.
Okay, thanks for the responses. I’m bottling tomorrow probably, so I’ll be storing the yeast in mason jars in the fridge. If I leave it in there for a week and a half, I should still be able to pitch a small amount into the next hefweizen batch without needing a starter?
Also, I feel a little nervous about pitching less than a vial’s-worth of yeast. I actually made a 1 quart starter for the first batch. I smell a little bit of banana from the fermenter; fermentation started at 62F then I let it get to 68F about 30 hours later. It stayed at 68F since then.
If I pitched less than a vial of yeast, would I need to aerate with pure O2? Because I still use the “shake it like it owes you money” method.
Thanks again for any and all advice
Shake shake shake, that’s good enough. It’s all I ever do.
If you want to leave the slurry in the refrigerator for 10 days, then yeah, definitely pitch a full vial’s worth of yeast, or maybe one and a quarter even. But if you were pitching right away today, then you could go less than a full vial because the yeast is all woken up and ready to roll. Refrigeration will put them to sleep a bit so you will indeed need more.
