Harvested yeast or new package - taste difference?

[Sol_Om_On]

Hello all!

I have a friend who has been making mead for a while, and he claims that yeast becomes better at fermenting honey if you harvest it and use that for your next batch. He claims that this harvesting and re-usage of yeast gives the mead a much better taste. But when I scroll this forum I never see harvesting mentioned, everyone seems to use new yeast packages for every batch.

The ones of you who brew a lot mead, do you harvest and re-use or do use new yeast every time?

Thanks!

 

[Chris_The_Rogue]

people do use the lees from one batch to start another. Look up " washing yeast ". As to wether it changes the flavor or not, I have no idea.

 

[TeeJo]

I could see the flavor being affected if you were under-pitching when you added the yeast at the beginning, vs having an abundance of it when you used yeast saved from a previous batch.

But that is just a theory.

TeeJo

 

[loveofrose]

I do both. Reusing a yeast cake from a freshly made mead (<2 months old) is fine. It is true that this batch of yeast is already acclimated to high alcohol, so it does tend to ferment well.

As to taste, well that really depends. No matter how sanitary we are, we always introduce some stray bacteria/yeast to each batch. Let's call it "local flavor". Anyway, a little local flavor makes your brew unique. A lot of local flavor could be good or bad, but not the original yeast you were using. My personal limit is 6 reuses without overwhelming local flavor. YMMV


Better brewing through science!

See my brewing site at www.denardbrewing.com

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html

 

[threeway]

I do both. Reusing a yeast cake from a freshly made mead (<2 months old) is fine. It is true that this batch of yeast is already acclimated to high alcohol, so it does tend to ferment well.

As to taste, well that really depends. No matter how sanitary we are, we always introduce some stray bacteria/yeast to each batch. Let's call it "local flavor". Anyway, a little local flavor makes your brew unique. A lot of local flavor could be good or bad, but not the original yeast you were using. My personal limit is 6 reuses without overwhelming local flavor. YMMV


Better brewing through science!

See my brewing site at www.denardbrewing.com

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html

Do you wash or just re-use lees, or a combination of? I assume if you are storing it for 2mo you are washing it to store?

 

[loveofrose]

Make a BOMM. After ferment is done and starting to clear, I rack the clear mead off. At the bottom the container you have very cloudy light colored yeast above a very dark layer of autolysed yeast. Pour the light colored part into your new batch while avoiding the dark clumpy part. That's it. No washing. No fuss.


Better brewing through science!

See my brewing site at www.denardbrewing.com

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html

 

[Sol_Om_On]

Thanks all! Am I right when I interpret all your info that new yeast for a mead is just as fine as re-used? So the only advantages to re-using is that it ferments a bit better from the start (but not so that it affects flavour) and it's cheaper?

 

[loveofrose]

After 5-7 reuses, you may get some "local flavor." Basically stray bacteria that got in your mead. Some folks strive for this while others avoid it. I avoid it because I like consistency.


Better brewing through science!

See my brewing site at www.denardbrewing.com

See my Current Mead Making Techniques article here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/current-mead-making-techniques.html