First time re-using yeast cake

I dont know if these rules are set in stone but here are a few things ive learned along the way:
1) the beer your pitching onto the cake should be of higher OG than the first beer
2) depending on the OG of the beer, you may be in for a rapid and explosive fermentation...be sure to keep fermentation temps on the low side
3) when in doubt, use the yeast pitching calculator at mrmalty.com and set up the parameters for yeast slurry instead....usually 1-2 cups of slurry is enough

 

the easy way to re-use yeast is to have fresh wort ready for fermentation immediately after you have racked from your secondary, or primary if you like to go that route.

instead of pitching yeast into your wort, you are pitching wort onto the yeast. a secondary is a good idea, as this will minimize the amount of trub, hops and other junk that is not yeast from collecting at the bottom of the bucket.

the yeast will take-off.
Cheers.

 

It's as easy as cake. You don't have to necessarily use it the same day you rack your beer away from the slurry. In fact I never have. Clean and sanitize some empty apple sauce jars or any large glass container. Pour the yeast slurry from your fermenter into that glass container trying to fill it up as close to the top as possible so as not to leave much oxygen behind. You may want to also use a sanitized plastic funnel for this part. Some people wash their yeast to remover trub and dead yeast, but I found doing that did not really make a difference one way or the other in terms of how the next beer fermented/tasted.

Store in the refrigerator until use. If it stays in the refrigerator for more than 2 weeks before you use it, you will probably want to do a small starter ~500ml to 1L to get it going again. You don't have to use all the slurry and the amount depends on the OG of your next beer (refer to mrmalty for details).

 

The only problem you might run into is over pitching. If you add too much yeast to the beer than you are going to experience off flavors. It is important to add the correct amount of yeast as someone mentioned above. Other than that I think repicthing is a great idea. Over time you could even develop your own house strain as the yeast change. It also can save you a good deal of money each time you brew.

 

i have to disagree. true, overptiching can be a concern and may cause some problems, but i believe it is well established that homebrewers have very little chance if any of overpitching.
over pitching is something breweries have to be concerned with.

also, i it worth noting that the yeast colony will have grown to a size appropriate for a 5 gallon brew. in other words, he is not going to be pitching a slurry from a 7 barrel fermentation.
Cheers.

 

That's very close to what I do. When transferring from the fermentor to the bottling bucket or secondary, I generally leave a couple of ups or more of wort behind. I stir this wort into the trub, then scoop out a couple of cups into each of two clean containers, and store in the fridge. The wort separates to the top in a few hours and sorta protects the underlying yeast and trub. At least that's my theory, and I'm sticking to it — I've kept yeast this way for a month or more, and it's still as lively as new when pitched.

 

If I'm going to reuse a yeast cake from primary, and pitch directly onto the yeast, how long can my first beer stay in the fermenter? For instance, should I only keep my starter beer in primary for two weeks then transfer to secondary and add the second beer to primary? Or can I keep the starter beer in primary for a month and and add the second beer when I go to bottle?

Will the yeast will be as viable after four weeks as after two weeks?

Thanks.

 

I brewed a series of beers a couple of years ago. I had a ESB(10.50 +-)in primary for 3 weeks, racked it to kegs and put a rye pale(1.065) wort directly in the fermenter. 3 weeks later I racked the rye pale to kegs and racked a robust porter(1.085)wort into the fermenter and left it there a month. Three delicious beers without opening the fermenter. The key for me is to pitch the wort very cool, around 56-58F and let it warm up slowly. Keep a close eye on the temp, it can get high very fast. If that happens leave the beer in primary longer to clean up.

 

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

True, if he doesn't want to over pitch it would need to be a 20 gallon batch.