[redrocker652002]

Well, I went for it. Dang, this was fast. There was activity in the airlock within about 3 hours and by 6 to 8 it was going crazy. Overnight and it has not stopped. The smell coming out is really good, so I am hopeful. I may get a few more bigger jars so I can do this more often. I guess the next question is, can this yeast cake be saved as well? The only problem is I don't have a brew day coming up now for a few weeks as this batch and the batch before will hold me for a while. But, I might throw it in a jar and see what happens in a few weeks. I can make a starter and see if it is useable then I guess. It was a fun attempt, see how the final product goes. I think the end game though is still doing the freezer bank.

[denny]

Well, I went for it. Dang, this was fast. There was activity in the airlock within about 3 hours and by 6 to 8 it was going crazy. Overnight and it has not stopped. The smell coming out is really good, so I am hopeful. I may get a few more bigger jars so I can do this more often. I guess the next question is, can this yeast cake be saved as well? The only problem is I don't have a brew day coming up now for a few weeks as this batch and the batch before will hold me for a while. But, I might throw it in a jar and see what happens in a few weeks. I can make a starter and see if it is useable then I guess. It was a fun attempt, see how the final product goes. I think the end game though is still doing the freezer bank.

Yes, you can save that slurry,  too. The ROT is 5 uses. Sometimes more, sometimes less.

[HEUBrewer]

So I always repitch on the yeast cake.  My brewing regime is to brew a batch with fresh yeast, smack pack or pure pitch.  Ferment about a week, keg and brew a batch the following day or two and pitch onto the yeast cake.  For the 2nd ferment I use a blowoff tube

A few specifics:

I ferment in 6 gal glass carboys
After racking into my keg I cover the mouth of the carboy  with sanitized Al foil.
I rack my new beer on top of the yeast cake
I DO NOT dry hop in the fermenter
I brew up to 1.050 ish and mainly 1.040-1.045
I only reuse 1 time as I only can serve 2 beers (I get 2 batches from one yeast package)

I never thought of yeast harvesting or washing etc as I feel the more you muck around the higher chance of crap going wrong.   

Been doing this for 20 years


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[nJAYneer1999]

Something that I'm thinking of looking into is freezing yeast after watching a recent Brulosophy video. It looks like it wouldn't take much to save enough so that you would (almost) never need to buy yeast again.
https://youtu.be/uxnUrDIqN5g

I started doing this last December.  I now have 4 strains alive and well in my freezer.  Just entered a beer into a comp that used frozen yeast from my bank.  I live in Cape Coral FL and the nearest homebrew store with liquid yeast is over 2hrs away.  I prefer liquid yeast, as there are so many great options.  So, I started freezing.  Makes a long drive or an overnight delivery for a few pouches worthwhile if I can get many many batches from a single pouch.  But, then multistage starters are needed to get the right pitch rate.  I resorted to pressure canning wort also to keep my amortized yeast costs down to a few bucks per 5G batch (including starters).  Lower cost is a benefit, but the largest driver was availability.

[HighVoltageMan!]

Something that I'm thinking of looking into is freezing yeast after watching a recent Brulosophy video. It looks like it wouldn't take much to save enough so that you would (almost) never need to buy yeast again.
https://youtu.be/uxnUrDIqN5g

 I resorted to pressure canning wort also to keep my amortized yeast costs down to a few bucks per 5G batch (including starters).  Lower cost is a benefit, but the largest driver was availability.

I started freezing liquid yeast about the same time for the same reason. It's hard to get liquid yeast in the winter due to freezing and in the summer due to heat, if it has to be shipped. I have brewed one beer with it so far and it's just as good as a fresh yeast source. I also can wort and build the yeast up. I first started canning wort starter because I had some old malt, but it worked so well that I now do it regularly.

[denny]

I did yeast ranching on slants, plates, and frozen for maybe 6 years. Eventually decided it was more hassle than it was worth for me.

[HighVoltageMan!]

I did yeast ranching on slants, plates, and frozen for maybe 6 years. Eventually decided it was more hassle than it was worth for me.

If I had source nearby that I could run down and get, I would be of the same mind. But I don't have that option anymore now that NB closed it's retail store. It's a lot more work trying to keep yeast around for a long period than just grabbing some fresh from NB. But my favorite yeasts are all liquid, so I spend a lot of time working on keeping yeast alive. 

It's not all bad, it kind of fun in a geeky way and it keeps me out trouble.

[ynotbrusum]

If you can schedule your brewing and you know that the fermentation will complete (or be near to completion) before the next brew day, you can brew the next batch and pitch directly from the primary with very fresh yeast.  This limits the type of yeast for the second batch, but if that recipe calls for a similar yeast, it works out pretty conveniently.  I have gone out 25 re-pitches as a maximum, when I was brewing light lagers routinely.  Anymore I go out 5-6 re-pitches at most to limit my concerns about petit mutants and contamination.  I haven't had a problem with this approach in many years.