Yeast reusing

[Rowang]

Now im fully temperature controlled, Im dipping my toes in the water of "posh yeast"..

With US-04/5/nottingham, I was always pretty happy just to chuck the yeast away at the end of the brew. With liquid yeast, not at £6 a pop!!!!

How do i reuse the posh liquid yeast?
Any reason why not just scrape some of the yeast from the bottom of the brew im doing now back in the original tube (sterilised), and store in the fridge, or do I need to do something more loving and caring with it?

Cheers!

[filet o fish]

theres other guides, but i found the pics in this one very helpful

http://www.brewersfriend.com/2010/01/30 ... shing-101/

[micromaniac]

wolfy,s got a great set of pic,s and info in the yeast section . look under WASHING YEAST i asked the same question two weeks ago.SO FAR I HAVE ONLY RECULTURED FROM MY BOTTLED BEER BUT IT,S ALWAYS TURNED OUT FINE.sorry about the caps lock.

[Martin G]

Me to, I have been using Thames Valley II yeast slant (except when I forget to put the starter on). I have been filling 4 bottles at the same time as the keg and recovering from this, so it costs less than £1 a go and has got me into re-using. Now I have read the yeast book and realise how crude I've been, but it has worked fine so far. I do plan to become more sophisticated, but one step at a time.

According to the yeast book the yeast recovered from an FV (skimmed from top or from sediment) and washed should last a couple of weeks, but people on here say they have stored it for much longer.

[Dennis King]

You can also grow the yeast when you first receive it and split several ways. There is a lot of information about this on the site but here is a recent threahttp://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=47820d.

[dave-o]

I'm a tightarse, so i even reuse dried yeasts.

-Bottle/keg your batch of ale.
-With just the dregs left in the FV, swirl it around and pour a bottle off into a sterilised bottle.
-Cap the bottle and leave it
-When you come to your next brew, just uncap the bottle and tip it in!

I have been doing this for some time, and have not had any problems. I have only ever reused once per yeast.

[Redimpz]

I'm with dave-o, the difference is that I also add a couple of teaspoons of sugar solution (boiled and cooled), this makes the yeast work a bit and also when I release the pressure in the bottle it forces the oxygen out. with this very crude method I have used a sachet of US-05 for three brews all with good results.
Having said all that I only keep it if I've another brew planned and I only keep it for about a week tops.

[Tattie bogle]

I also have re-pitched the slurry a number of times. I tend to do a brew every 2-3 weeks the timing works well with racking a beer then re-pitching into the next brew. Typically, I get about 100mL of slurry and pour it in to the next brew. I did this 5 times in a row from one packet of Nottingham without a problem. I guess this is ok if you want to use the same yeast but not if you fancy a change.

[Rowang]

I like the sound of doing a bottle of slurry, and just waking it up with a starter, and lobbing it in the next brew..

How long should this keep? Im working away for a bit, so it would be sat in the brew fridge for 2 months...

[Normski]

I like the sound of doing a bottle of slurry, and just waking it up with a starter, and lobbing it in the next brew..

How long should this keep? Im working away for a bit, so it would be sat in the brew fridge for 2 months...

Hi Rowang
Chucking in a bottle of slurry after 2 months sounds like pushing your luck. Do it if you want to find out if it works for you, but go and have a look at Wolfy's post on washing yeast. Its really not difficult. You just rince it with pre boiled and cooled water to flush out the nasties. its quite simple and would give you chance of lasting a few months.
If you only brew every few months it might be a better idea to culture up from your own bottles.

[Rowang]

I have opted for scooping some back into the tube....

This is massive corner cutting, i know - but it cant hurt, and I can test the starter and see quite how rotten it is after a couple of months... best keep some safale to hand!!

[guypettigrew]

Rinsing and storing yeast in the 'fridge is the easiest way to go.

I rinse the slurry at the bottom of the fermenting vessel in tap water, as in Wolfy's instructions. Then I store the the rinsed yeast in 100ml bottles from Boots.

It keeps for at least 3 months in the 'fridge, probably longer.

When I want to use it I just warm it up to room temperature over a period of 4 or 5 hours and pitch direct into the wort. Seems to work OK for me.

Here's a picture of how the yeast and the liquid settle in the little bottles after a day or two in the 'fridge.

Guy