I’m going to transfer a porter to a secondary soon and I want to reuse the british ale yeast. I won’t brew again for about a week after and wondered if I can just sanitize a 1/2 gallon growler, funnel in the yeast from the fermentor, cap it tight and let it sit in the fridge to be used again? Let me know if it’s that easy, haha! I’ll of course sanitize everything that comes in contact with it. I’m making an oatmeal stout with roughly the same grain bill so I’m sure it would be decent.
You might consider giving the yeast a rinse by boiling and chilling a quart or so of water, dumping that on the yeast cake and swirling that around to loosen it up and make it easier to pour out. Pour that out into a larger (I use a two quart cambro to wash) sanitized holder. Cover toss in the fridge and let the trub/yeast/“beer” stratify out for an hour or two. Decant off the “beer”, pour the middle layer of good creamy yeast into your growler or jar and leave behind the dark trub.
I quit rinsing yeast. I don’t see any benefits. You probably need less than one cup of slurry. One cup into five gallons is too small to notice. I’d pitch from a porter to a cream ale. It’s not noticeable with normal pitch rates. I think leaving it in the beer may be better. The alcohol and lower pH help keep the contaminates from multiplying. I just rack the beer and dump the cake into a quart jar. I prefer to use it within two weeks. 1/2 cup works about as well as a pack of dry yeast.
Does anybody use ziploc bags? I thought I remembered reading about some guys dumping the cake into a freezer bag then just cutting the corner of the bag when going into the next fermenter. The Idea was that they didn’t need to be sanitized but I’ve never done it myself.
-J.K.L.
If you use a growler, don’t cap it too tight. Refrigeration will slow down the yeast, but it won’t stop it. You don’t want to be picking glass out of your fridge!
I’ve done it a few times - works fine, IMO.
I just have so many mason jars I use those by habit. Plus if there’s something I can wash and reuse rather than use plastic, I prefer that.
Also wouldn’t just covering it with foil work? I’m planning on doing this for my next string of brews.
Yeah, that would be fine. I put a rubber band around the foil just to be sure it stays put.
Right on! I’m there!