Yeast Reuse Question

[lavinjj]

I always hear you talking about saving off yeast from a previous batch or creating a yeast library. What is wrong with pulling yeast from the starter and saving it off to propagate a new starter like you do with sour dough breads?

[Westco]

Probably because if you were to make lets say a 2 litre starter and keep 200ML of it and pitch the rest, it would take way more effort (more chances to contaminate it) to build up that 200ML then it would to just pitch and wait till your batch is done fermenting. At that point you will have more healthy yeast then you could use. The beer does the work for you and its safer, you still have to be hella clean though.

[jared]

I sometimes do that lavinjj.
If a beer is going to be too big or hoppy for reusing the yeast then I just pitch a portion of the original starter into another starter for keeping. Make sure to make the original starter extra big to compensate for the amount you don't put into your beer.

[robert4136]

The main advantage that you get from re pitching yeast from an actual fermented beer is that the yeast get "used to their environment" and become better at fermenting beer whereas at about the third time you repitch the same yeast will be at its best.

There are all sorts of genetic selections that are occurring while the yeast are fermenting. The way i see it, the yeast are basically evolving right before your very eyes.

rob

[llamabox]

at about the third time you repitch the same yeast will be at its best.

I had heard this on the archives and now I can't seem to find the show I heard it in. The quote was something like re-pitched yeast would be at it's best between the 3rd and 10th re-pitch.

Anybody know which episode this might have been in?

[Tygo]

I think it's in the Repitching episode:

http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/492