ReUse Yeast Cake from 6.1% beer

I just finished transferring my Belgian Dubbel (6.1%) from primary to secondary fermenter. It was in the primary for one week. In 7-10 days I am going to be starting a batch of Belgian Tripel that will sit for a few months.

I harvested the yeast from the Dubbel and put it in my refrigerator. Can I use this yeast instead of a starter for next weeks tripel batch? (on top of the Wyeast that is included in the Tripel). Or should I make a starter with the Wyeast. I read somewhere that yeast from a 6%+ beer should not be reused… not sure if that is true or not.

For reference these are the two kits I am cooking from:

Dubbel: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/le-p … rains.html

Tripel: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/belg … t-kit.html

Thank you!

This does not really answer your question, but you really transferred off the primary too early if only after 1 week. 2 weeks is the absolute minimum I wait and I still make 100% sure that fermentation is done. I still transfer to secondary a lot, but just for aging, freeing up space in primary containers or to add stuff to it.

In general, most people do not think a 6.1 beer is too high to reuse yeast

[quote=“mmessier2”]I read somewhere that yeast from a 6%+ beer should not be reused… not sure if that is true or not.[/quote]As long as it was a healthy fermentation you can use a yeast cake from anything up to 1.070-1.080 with no issues, IME.

I followed these instructions:

[quote]Active fermentation ends. Approximately one week
after brewing day, active fermentation will end. When the
cap of foam falls back into the new beer, bubbling in the
fermentation lock slows down or stops, and the specific
gravity as measured with a hydrometer is stable, proceed
to the next step.[/quote]

Foam had slipped back down and bubbling was once every 3-5 minutes. For future reference, I should keep it in primary longer?

Thank you for the guidance on the yeast cakes, I will reuse them in my next batch.

Mark

[quote=“mmessier2”]I followed these instructions:

[quote]Active fermentation ends. Approximately one week
after brewing day, active fermentation will end. When the
cap of foam falls back into the new beer, bubbling in the
fermentation lock slows down or stops, and the specific
gravity as measured with a hydrometer is stable, proceed
to the next step.[/quote]

Foam had slipped back down and bubbling was once every 3-5 minutes. For future reference, I should keep it in primary longer?

Thank you for the guidance on the yeast cakes, I will reuse them in my next batch.

Mark[/quote]

If you are new to brewing, following their directions to the “T” will yield good beer, for sure. If you continue to spend time on this forum, you will learn that their directions are about 5-10 years outdated based on current thinking. They fall way short of suggesting “ideal” fermentation temps, need for the proper amount of yeast by making starters or pitching multiple packs of yeast and the general lack of need for secondary fermentation.

The current general consensus is 3 weeks primary but taking gravity readings to be totally sure it is done and then go straight to bottle or keg

[quote=“mmessier2”]and the specific gravity as measured with a hydrometer is stable, proceed to the next step.[/quote]This is the main indicator of the earliest opportunity to rack the beer - “stable” means consistent readings over a couple of days and most beers will take at least a week and probably closer to two to reach this point, so taking a gravity reading earlier than the 10-day mark isn’t really helpful. There are ways you can speed this up - pitch a lot of healthy yeast, keep the OG on the lower end of the scale, and ferment in the upper 60s instead of the lower and you can turn a 1.050-ish APA in two weeks, but as 560sdl posted, three weeks in primary is a good rule of thumb.