[filipp]

Hi guys, I have a problem too. I'd like to reuse the yeast from a batch of beer. Without washing it. Just save a small part in a jar and use it directly in the fermenter in a few days. And do this job in series about four or five times.
I was wondering if there was a problem with the trub and the dead cells. Or with the phenomenon of autolysis. Especially if I'm going to do it in series.
Thanks.

[denny]

I've done that for years without issue

[ravenwater]

I've done that for years without issue

Denny, what has your personal experience been as to how long you have kept or would think you could keep a yeast slurry in the fridge before re-pitching it like this? I know what I've read from various sources but would be interested in hearing from you from your years of experience recycling yeast for multiple generations. Thanks!

[HopDen]

No worries. I always collect in this fashion. You can proceed in one of two ways. 1) Pour most of the beer that stratifies on top of the yeast away then give what remains a good swirl and pitch or, 2) Swirl all contents and pitch. I also pitch cold, direct from my fridge. I found no reason to let it warm to ambient temps especially if you are making a lager. That is based on my brewing experience only. Another thing you may want to keep in mind if you are not already aware is that when storing collected yeast in your fridge, leave the lid loose so co2 doesn't build up pressure. It may cause autolysis when stored for longer periods. Again, just my experience.

Cheers!

[denny]

I've done that for years without issue

Denny, what has your personal experience been as to how long you have kept or would think you could keep a yeast slurry in the fridge before re-pitching it like this? I know what I've read from various sources but would be interested in hearing from you from your years of experience recycling yeast for multiple generations. Thanks!

I've gone as long as 5 months, making a starter with a bit of it rather than pitching directly.  I don't recommend keeping it that long but it worked for me.

[Joe_Beer]

I was wondering if there was a problem with the trub and the dead cells. Or with the phenomenon of autolysis. Especially if I'm going to do it in series.

I recently did this. One batch with some harvested Kviek Lutra,  and another batch with some Verdant IPA. I didn't do the washing and rinsing and boiling.. I dunked my mason jars in fresh star san and dumped trub and all into the mason jars. Couple weeks later, I made a starter from the contents of an entire mason jar. It seems fine and I re-harvested that batch the same way. Not sure how many uses I'll get out of it. I saw a video on Kviek (on this site somewhere) made in the Netherlands and the old guy was using a jar of yeast that they called "great grandpa's yeast" or something like that because it's literally been around for several generations. I don't plan on making an heirloom out of my yeast but I guess technically it's been done?

From what I understand about autolysis, it's just not an issue until you start getting into huge batches (50 gallons?) where the sheer weight of the beer on top of the yeast cake can start squeezing the "guts" out of the cells. It's not something 5 and 10 gallon brewers need to worry about. If I'm wrong, someone please correct me. Correction by Sacchromyces is below

[ctharth]

Not entirely in scope, but with regards to handing over yeast from generations, that was practice in many northern european countries for centuries.

The yeast was collected on a wooden yeast collector added just before the end of the brew, hung  for drying, and then just by brushing of the dried yeast it was carried to the next brew.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/Gaerkrans.JPG/1024px-Gaerkrans.JPG

The yeast collector could be passed on in a family.

I guess brewing was a bit more based on luck in the olden days

Best regards

[Joe_Beer]

The yeast was collected on a wooden yeast collector added just before the end of the brew, hung  for drying, and then just by brushing of the dried yeast it was carried to the next brew.

That is super interesting. The process has certainly become more involved than just drying the yeast on a wooden chain in the shed. But, as you mention, luck. We still need it, just maybe not as much as days gone by.

[ctharth]

The yeast was collected on a wooden yeast collector added just before the end of the brew, hung  for drying, and then just by brushing of the dried yeast it was carried to the next brew.

That is super interesting. The process has certainly become more involved than just drying the yeast on a wooden chain in the shed. But, as you mention, luck. We still need it, just maybe not as much as days gone by.

If you are interested i found this article in english, which very briefly covers the use of the “yeast ring”

https://www.garshol.priv.no/blog/291.html


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[Bel Air Brewing]

As stated elsewhere on this forum, we have re-pitched the same yeast (harvested) for multiple generations.

Never washed. Pitched the entire slurry from a previous brew. Sometimes (like Denny), as much as 5 months old. No problems. None.

[Saccharomyces]

From what I understand about autolysis, it's just not an issue until you start getting into huge batches (50 gallons?) where the sheer weight of the beer on top of the yeast cake can start squeezing the "guts" out of the cells. It's not something 5 and 10 gallon brewers need to worry about. If I'm wrong, someone please correct me.

Cells undergo autolysis when they get old.  The word "autolysis" is formed from the Greek roots "auto," meaning "self," and "lysis" meaning "break apart."  Autolysis is not the result of an external force.  It is the result of the cell wall breaking down and releasing the contents of the cell.  While environmental stress can hasten this process, it is not the sole cause of this process.  Yeast cells undergo a morphological change where their cell walls thicken in order to postpone autolysis for as long as possible after fermentation has finished and quiescence has been entered.  However, given enough time  without a consumable carbon source, all yeast cells will lyse.  Drying and freezing at -79C (the temperature of dry ice) merely slows down metabolism.   In order to put yeast cells in a state of suspended animation and prevent any kind of genetic drift, they have to be frozen at -196C (the temperature of liquid nitrogen).  I am fairly certain that White Labs has both -80C and -196C freezers.

[Saccharomyces]

Hi guys, I have a problem too. I'd like to reuse the yeast from a batch of beer. Without washing it. Just save a small part in a jar and use it directly in the fermenter in a few days. And do this job in series about four or five times.
I was wondering if there was a problem with the trub and the dead cells. Or with the phenomenon of autolysis. Especially if I'm going to do it in series.
Thanks.

One should never wash yeast with boiled water because it removes the low pH, alcohol laden protective environment that a yeast culture builds for itself.  It is best to store a yeast culture under green beer taken from the same batch as the crop.  The best way to bottom crop is to leave about a liter (or quart) of liquid when raking to beer to a keg (which is why a lot of brewers formulate recipes to yield 5.5 gallons to the primary).  The contents of the fermentation vessel are swirled up into suspension before allowing the fermentation vessel to rest to allow the trub, dead cells, and any hop material to settle.  After a couple of minutes, the liquid fraction is poured off of the settled solids.  This technique will yield a bottom-cropped culture with a very high percentage of yeast cells.  The culture shown below was cropped using this technique.

[Saccharomyces]

One thing that we need to remember about kviek yeast cultures is that they are multi-strain in their native form.  Attempting to dry a pure culture using the same technique is not going to maintain a single strain's purity.

[Wilbur]

I've usually overbuilt my starters and saved a jar or two. I've been trying to reuse and have had success with 3-5 month old jars (stored on beer). I tried an 8 month old jar of Bayern lager but that failed. The mini fridge that was in lost power for a day in the summer though.

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