Brewing Experiment: Reusing Yeast Via Yeast Rinsing

My next brewing experiment was with yeast rinsing, a process where you can harvest active yeast from the sediment at the bottom of a carboy, store it in your fridge, and re-use it to brew another beer. This experiment was in-part born out of necessity as I had screwed up on my last batch of beer and didn't want the Bell's Oberon yeast that I'd harvested from bottles to go to waste. 

I'm not going to post complete instructions here as there are many other sites with great instructions. As in all things brewing: good sanitation is important, and with yeast washing in particular using deoxygenated water sanitized by boiling and returned to room temperature (or the temp of the yeast in the carboy) is key. Again, see one of the sites linked above for details.

Two More BIAB Tips (Learned The Hard Way)

Adding to my original list of 6 BIAB tips:

7. The amount of strike water used for BIAB varies by recipe

...sometimes significantly. And I've erred both ways. For my Oberon clone (which had a light grain and hop bill), I used too much water and ended up with an extra half-gallon of wort. As it was a 2-1/2 gallon batch, that extra made a big difference, and I ended up with a weak and watery beer.

I had the opposite problem for a double IPA I brewed. It had a much higher grain bill and 4 kinds of hops (including some for dry hopping), all of which absorb water. I ended up with a bit less wort than planned, which wasn't that big of a deal apart from not getting the full yield from the recipe.

How much water should you use? That can be easily calculated with online tools. I use the Simple BIAB Calculator, but there are many others. Since I started using a calculator, I've been hitting both my OG and my volume targets on the nose.

Check it out - the specific gravity of Kool-Aid.
Oh yeah!

8. Know your OG and FG -- use your hydrometer!

In my years of extract brewing, I rarely took hydrometer readings. They were cumbersome and unnecessary, and though the readings could confirm when my beers were ready to bottle, I instead preferred to wait until I was reasonably sure the fermentation was complete. Since switching to BIAB, I've changed my thinking and now always get an original gravity and a final gravity reading.

I'm taking hydrometer readings now mostly because of #7 above. If I had taken an OG reading for my Oberon clone, I probably would not have pitched my harvested Oberon yeast into the too-light wort and instead brewed it again another day. (All was not lost -- I did wash the yeast and re-used it in another batch later, but that's the subject of a future post. And though the Oberon clone was not ideal, it was still drinkable.)

So not only do hydrometer readings tell you when it's time to bottle, they also let you know how close you are to your target and how efficient your process is. It also allows you to calculate ABV, a number which never fails to amaze non-brewers. So take your readings!

Brewing Experiment #2: Harvesting Commerical Yeast For Brewing

I grew up in Michigan, and when I was of age I grew to love the beers of Kalamazoo-based Bell's Brewery. Their American wheat ale, Oberon (originally called Solsun), was a particular summertime treat. I'm now living in Maryland, and Bell's beer is available all around us -- but not in Maryland:

So unfair! (Map excerpted from http://bellsbeer.com/brands/brand-finder/)

So I could drive to PA, WV, NC, OH, KY or DC when I want a Bell's. Or I could make my own. According to brewers on the internets, one of the keys to Oberon's unique flavor is the yeast they use.