Mastering Yeast Rescue: Tips For Saving Your Beer's Fermentation

Collecting and reusing yeast from a fermented batch of beer is common practice among home and professional brewers. Records show it has been done since the 12th century, with some saying it likely occurred thousands of years before that. For the modern homebrewer, harvesting and repitching is a way to save money—as you won’t have to purchase first-generation yeast strains—and there’s the added benefit of pitching lots of viable yeast cells ready to work in your next homebrew batch. With proper technique and sanitation, ale yeast can be reused anywhere from five to 10 generations from the initial culture, with a smaller range for lagers (three to four generations).

Wash and reuse yeast to save money and jumpstart the next batch

Collecting and reusing yeast from a fermented batch of beer is common practice among home and professional brewers. In fact, records show it has been done since the 12th century, with some saying it likely occurred thousands of years before that. For the modern homebrewer, harvesting and repitching is a way to save money—as you won’t have to purchase first generation yeast strains—and there’s the added benefit of pitching lots of viable yeast cells ready to work in your next homebrew batch.

When you transfer the beer to package it (or to a secondary) simply leave a little beer behind in the fermenter. Use that beer to swirl up the slurry in the fermenter and pour it into 2 sanitized containers. Store those in the fridge. Each container should have enough yeast to ferment an average batch of beer.

Instead of buying a new yeast every time you brew a new batch of beer, you wash the yeast that’s left in your fermenter and reuse it up to 10 times. Those are some serious savings! And the best part? It’s very easy to do. You don’t need to be an advanced brewer to wash and reuse yeast. Here’s how you do it: To make sterile water, bring 1 litre of water to boil for 15 minutes and then set it aside to cool to room temperature. Store the water in the fridge (in a sterilized jar) to speed things up.

There are two main methods for collecting yeast for reuse, depending on whether you pull it from the secondary fermentor or the primary. Each has its advantages, offering a trade-off between simplicity and predictability, with neither choice being wrong. Ale yeast can be reused anywhere from five to 10 generations from the initial culture, with a smaller range for lagers (three to four generations).

Collect yeast from primary or secondary fermentor

Collecting yeast from your primary or secondary fermentor is a common practice among home and professional brewers. It is a way to save money and jumpstart the next batch with a much larger pitching volume.

The two main methods for collecting yeast for reuse, depending on whether you pull it from the secondary fermentor or the primary, each has its advantages.

When you transfer the beer to package it (or to a secondary) leave a little beer behind in the fermenter. Use that beer to swirl up the slurry in the fermenter and pour it into 2 sanitized containers. Store those in the fridge. Each container should have enough yeast to ferment an average batch of beer.

Pouring it out with the trub when your beer has finished fermenting wastes a valuable resource. Reusing yeast will save you a few bucks, but the greater advantage is that you can jumpstart the next batch with a much larger pitching volume.

With proper technique and sanitation, ale yeast can be reused anywhere from five to 10 generations from the initial culture, with a smaller range for lagers (three to four generations).

Swirl up the slurry in the fermenter and pour it into 2 containers

Saving yeast is easier than some make it out to be. When you transfer the beer to package it (or to a secondary), simply leave a little beer behind in the fermenter. Use that beer to swirl up the slurry in the fermenter and pour it into 2 sanitized containers. Store those in the fridge. Each container should have enough yeast to ferment an average batch of beer.

Collecting and reusing yeast from a fermented batch of beer is common practice among home and professional brewers. In fact, records show it has been done since the 12th century, with some saying it likely occurred thousands of years before that. For the modern homebrewer, harvesting and repitching is a way to save money—as you won’t have to purchase first generation yeast strains—and there’s the added benefit of pitching lots of viable yeast cells ready to work in your next homebrew batch.

There are two main methods for collecting yeast for reuse, depending on whether you pull it from the secondary fermentor or the primary. Each has its advantages, offering a trade-off between simplicity and predictability, with neither choice being wrong.

When you transfer the beer to package it (or to a secondary), simply leave a little beer behind in the fermenter. Use that beer to swirl up the slurry in the fermenter and pour it into 2 sanitized containers. Store those in the fridge. Each container should have enough yeast to ferment an average batch of beer.

Store those in the fridge for future use

Collecting and reusing yeast from a fermented batch of beer is common practice among home and professional brewers. In fact, records show it has been done since the 12th century, with some saying it likely occurred thousands of years before that. For the modern homebrewer, harvesting and repitching is a way to save money—as you won’t have to purchase first-generation yeast strains—and there’s the added benefit of pitching lots of viable yeast cells ready to work in your next homebrew batch.

When you transfer the beer to package it (or to a secondary) simply leave a little beer behind in the fermenter. Use that beer to swirl up the slurry in the fermenter and pour it into 2 sanitized containers. Store those in the fridge. Each container should have enough yeast to ferment an average batch of beer.

Instead of buying a new yeast every time you brew a new batch of beer, you wash the yeast that’s left in your fermenter and reuse it up to 10 times. Those are some serious savings! And the best part? It’s very easy to do. You don’t need to be an advanced brewer to wash and reuse yeast. To make sterile water, bring 1 litre of water to boil for 15 minutes and then set it aside to cool to room temperature. Store the water in the fridge (in a sterilized jar) to speed things up.

Pouring it out with the trub when your beer has finished fermenting wastes a valuable resource. If you brew on a relatively regular basis, you won’t need to buy a new package every time. Reusing yeast will save you a few bucks, but the greater advantage is that you can jumpstart the next batch with a much larger pitching volume. There are two main methods for collecting yeast for reuse, depending on whether you pull it from the secondary fermentor or the primary. Each has its advantages, offering a trade-off between simplicity and predictability, with neither choice being wrong.

Use sterile water to wash the yeast and reuse it up to 10 times

When you transfer the beer to package it (or to a secondary), simply leave a little beer behind in the fermenter. Use that beer to swirl up the slurry in the fermenter and pour it into 2 sanitized containers. Store those in the fridge. Each container should have enough yeast to ferment an average batch of beer.

To make sterile water, bring 1 litre of water to boil for 15 minutes and then set it aside to cool to room temperature. Store the water in the fridge (in a sterilized jar) to speed things up.

Instead of buying a new yeast every time you brew a new batch of beer, you wash the yeast that’s left in your fermenter and reuse it up to 10 times. Those are some serious savings! And the best part? It’s very easy to do. You don’t need to be an advanced brewer to wash and reuse yeast.

Ale yeast can be reused anywhere from five to 10 generations from the initial culture, with a smaller range for lagers (three to four generations).

Pouring it out with the trub when your beer has finished fermenting wastes a valuable resource. If you brew on a relatively regular basis, you won’t need to buy a new package every time. Reusing yeast will save you a few bucks, but the greater advantage is that you can jumpstart the next batch with a much larger pitching volume.

Frequently asked questions