How many generations?

[Brian_S]

Hey all, just thought I'd check in to see who is re-using yeast cakes and how many generations are you pushing it before starting again?

I've just dropped a rauchbier onto a 3rd generation US-05 yeast cake (crazy active within 2 hours).  Normally I plan my brew days to coincide with kegging the previous batch, so one comes off the yeast, fermentor is left as is, and the next batch is dropped on it.  (Saves cleaning and sterilizing as I'm

Thanks,
B

[mikegraham]

Hey all, just thought I'd check in to see who is re-using yeast cakes and how many generations are you pushing it before starting again?

I've just dropped a rauchbier onto a 3rd generation US-05 yeast cake (crazy active within 2 hours).  Normally I plan my brew days to coincide with kegging the previous batch, so one comes off the yeast, fermentor is left as is, and the next batch is dropped on it.  (Saves cleaning and sterilizing as I'm

Thanks,
B

i do this all the time i have had uso5 up to 9 or 10 generations.  i am doing an experiment now with a double batch half with new 05 and 6th gen i am almost ready to do a fg reading to compare a than a taste test in the end but i only use about a 500 ml jar from the old batch i would have had a older gen but sometimes i get lazy when doing it.

[Tim]

i've typically only harvested and repitched up to 4-5 gens and usually end up throwing it out after an IPA with all the dry hops added. Anybody have a technique they use for repitching yeast from IPA other than bagging the dry hops?

[Roger]

I've used the yeast washing technique with great success but for the cost of US-05 it's just too much work unless it's a special yeast you want to reuse. If you do a web search on washing yeast you should find plenty of info about how to do it.

[Tim]

Thanks Roger. I was hoping maybe there was an "easy" method. I almost always use dry yeast so washing is not worth it.

[robcoombs]

I simply over grow my starters and put some aside for the next brew day.

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[ECH]

I have a fast ferment, so a little easier to collect the yeast.

Depending on how much trub there is, usually enough to fill 2 standard size mason jars. I just pour off what is in the collection ball into 2 sanitized mason jars and store in the fridge.

Currently on 2nd gen Yeast Bay Vermont Ale. Pitched a 1.5L starter and the beer went from 1.051 to 1.008 in about 2 days flat. Fermentation started almost immediately, barely had time to throw in some hops during fermentation.

[feldmann]

I was washing but I don't even bother with that now. If its something I know I'm going to reuse soon I'll make a larger starter the day before and keep some of it. If its a rare strain that I just want to keep I just take it from secondary (since its usually cleaner than primary) and put it straight into a mason jar and into the fridge.

Every couple brew days I'll rinse the grain a second time to produce about 2-3 Gal of 1.020ish wort, bring it to a boil with a few hop pellets, cool it down and feed some of my yeast thats been sitting in my fridge for awhile. If I don't see any action in 3 days, I toss it and after about 4-5 pitches I usually toss it.

Dry yeast is so cheap and plentiful that its not worth the effort for me to reuse unless I happen to be brewing on the same day that I'm racking off a fresh cake (only happened once). Space in my beer fridge is also limited since I probably have 10-12 mason jars taking up space that I'd rather keep for strains that aren't readily available in stores.

[Tim]

I've not been making starters the last several years, but that makes sense if I was using a more expensive yeast worth keeping to do a larger starter and keep some for next time.

[Kyle]

To revive this for a new generation, lol. I used to do about 5 re-pitches with 1056 (US 05), 1214, s-04, Nottingham, and saison yeasts with no problems. With wb-06, 3 seemed to be the safe limit before unpredictability.  Last few years tho, I just buy US-05 (1056) and s-04 from Fermentis, by the 500g  brick. Sometimes I re-pitch, but not usually more than once, as I don't brew too often anymore.