I am looking forward to making two NB recipe kits later this winter. I had planned on doing the Waldo Lake Amber kit first and then harvesting the yeast from that kit and using it on the Conundrum session IPA. However, I've read that when harvesting yeast, it's a good idea to start with the lower gravity beer first. The Waldo kit has an OG of 1.063 while the Conundrum is 1.045. Can I still do the Waldo kit first or should I do the Conundrum first and use its yeast towards the Waldo kit? Does it really matter in this case?
Is lower gravity beer first always a must when reusing yeast?
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ChelisHubby
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Idealy the darker beer would be first. I would bet that you could do it the way you planned tho without problems. Hopefully some one with more brews will speak up , I only have 12 brews so far.
riderkb
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You could do it either way, but you will probably need a starter to do a good job on the bigger beer if you do it first. The smaller beer would not need a starter. If you are set on doing the big beer first you could just pitch two packs of dry yeast and skip the starter.
kadozen
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I've read that is better to do the lighter hopped beer first because of hop debris settling in the cake. I don't have first hand experience with this though. Someone who does a lot of yeast reusing would know better.
shtoive87
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It should be ok. You only get into trouble when dealing with high gravity beers (>1.070)
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ChelisHubby
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Your right I think I might have had a old age slip compounded with a couple of brews!
Renoun
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I routinely re-pitch a particular ale yeast between 12%-14% mead batches without much thought. You'll have enough yeast to be over-pitching. Odds are it will be fine if you practiced decent sanitation and the first batch wasn't contaminated.
There are many opinions on this, but in my experiences, it really doesn't matter which one you do first. However, many people will brew the "smaller" beer first and use that as a starter in its own right for the "bigger" beer. I've done this many times with great success.
Light to dark or dark to light, I've never had any noticeable problems. Likewise with hop intensity. The vast majority of beer is removed from the yeast cake with a fresh five gallon batch on top of it to thoroughly dilute whatever is left behind. My palate is not sufficiently refined to detect problems with this. YMMV.
If I were in your shoes, and assuming both yeasts are the same, I would brew the Conundrum and pitch one packet onto that. Then brew the Waldo and pitch onto the cake, ultimately saving the other yeast packet for future brews.
Light to dark or dark to light, I've never had any noticeable problems. Likewise with hop intensity. The vast majority of beer is removed from the yeast cake with a fresh five gallon batch on top of it to thoroughly dilute whatever is left behind. My palate is not sufficiently refined to detect problems with this. YMMV.
If I were in your shoes, and assuming both yeasts are the same, I would brew the Conundrum and pitch one packet onto that. Then brew the Waldo and pitch onto the cake, ultimately saving the other yeast packet for future brews.
It makes sense, but I just decided to buy another packet of US-05. I now have 2. I'll use one for Conondrum, one for Waldo and then harvest the yeast from the Conondrum for a future Waldo batch and maybe a Dead Ringer down the road since the Conundrum is the lower gravity of the two beers - cheers!
