Dave Greenbaum
South Jersey FC Member
During the pandemic, I've made some changes to my brewing process. One is to modify recipes to use what I've got on-hand to minimize trips to the homebrew store. Part of this includes reusing yeast. In White and Zainasheff's "Yeast", it is advised not to reuse yeast without washing it. IOW, once a batch finishes fermentation and is siphoned out of the fermenter, don't rack a new batch directly onto the same yeast sitting at the bottom of the fermeter. I've been ignoring this advice and having tremendous results. Since being furloughed on Fridays, I've been brewing every other Friday. The first batch was a Jarrylo Pale Ale with US-05. I left it in the fermenter for two weeks and on that third Friday, I made a batch of Russian Imperial stout. After flame-out, I started the chiller and racked the Pale Ale into a keg. Once the RIS was chilled, I racked it into the same fermenter. On the fifth Friday, I did the same with an Irish Red Ale, and yesterday, the seventh Friday, followed with an Old Ale. The fermentations (except the first) have been monstrous. The only special precaution I've taken is to taste the prior batch for off-flavors, of which there have been none. Of course, I realize an infection could derail a plan like this, but having a huge population of yeast has worked wonderfully.