I have only a little experience of this practice which has worked well for me on the few occasions I have dared to try it.
Mostly I follow what I think everyone believes is a "safer option", & I pitch a new sachet, (actually generally two sachets so that's either 10 or 14 grams) with each new 5 gallon batch.
Mostly with the dry sachet direct pitching (IE no pre-hydration or "starter") I see bubbling from the airlock after between 4 & 16 hours. I can't explain that variability.
On the last occasion I re-used a batch of yeast, I halved it & pitched into a new brew within about 2 hours.
Bubbling occurred in 2.5 hours, the fastest I have ever seen; pretty soon the airlock was overpowered & so it became necessary to clean the overspill every 2 hours or so, quite a chore!
Final result was great.
My questions are:
Can you preserve the yeast sediment/lees by refrigeration & if so for how long.
Is it wise to try & wash the yeast, say by repeated addition of filtered water, allow to settle, pour off fluid, & repeat etc ................
Does this technique not offer a significant advantage in allowing a large quantity of healthy yeast to very quickly take over fermentation & so reduce the potential for infection. Obviously you would only consider yeast from a batch which gave every indication of having fully fermented with no indication of infection or undesirable off flavours.
Look forward to any enlightened comment, thanks
Peter O
Mostly I follow what I think everyone believes is a "safer option", & I pitch a new sachet, (actually generally two sachets so that's either 10 or 14 grams) with each new 5 gallon batch.
Mostly with the dry sachet direct pitching (IE no pre-hydration or "starter") I see bubbling from the airlock after between 4 & 16 hours. I can't explain that variability.
On the last occasion I re-used a batch of yeast, I halved it & pitched into a new brew within about 2 hours.
Bubbling occurred in 2.5 hours, the fastest I have ever seen; pretty soon the airlock was overpowered & so it became necessary to clean the overspill every 2 hours or so, quite a chore!
Final result was great.
My questions are:
Can you preserve the yeast sediment/lees by refrigeration & if so for how long.
Is it wise to try & wash the yeast, say by repeated addition of filtered water, allow to settle, pour off fluid, & repeat etc ................
Does this technique not offer a significant advantage in allowing a large quantity of healthy yeast to very quickly take over fermentation & so reduce the potential for infection. Obviously you would only consider yeast from a batch which gave every indication of having fully fermented with no indication of infection or undesirable off flavours.
Look forward to any enlightened comment, thanks
Peter O
