Recycling Fermentis W34/70

Bulin's Milker Bucket Brews

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Racked 7 gallon a batch out of the fermentor after 13 days(yesterday), racked in 8 gallons of fresh wort an hour later, sanitzed the lid and sealed it back up. VERY vigorous fermentation rocking out today. Is this typical of this yeast?

I've never tried to reuse one before.
 
Racked 7 gallon a batch out of the fermentor after 13 days(yesterday), racked in 8 gallons of fresh wort an hour later, sanitzed the lid and sealed it back up. VERY vigorous fermentation rocking out today. Is this typical of this yeast?

I've never tried to reuse one before.
I'm guessing using a whole yeast cake would give you plenty of yeast count so I don't see why not as Hawkbox would say let her buck!
 
That's the best way to use that yeast, IMO. Hopefully you lowered your fermentation temperature so that you'll get a nice clean flavor out of it. The reason it's going crazy is that, even if you used one packet for the 7 gallons (under-pitched count for lager), you ended up with about 2.23 billion cells per milliliter/Plato gravity point for the second batch. Good lager yeast count at cold temps is 1.5 billion c/ml/P. That's a 50% overpitch at lager temps and well over 100% overpitch if you're fermenting at ale temps (over 60 degrees). If you used 2 packets, obviously you're 3 to 5 times overpitched.
When I use that stuff, I do a 5 gallon fermentation with 2 packets and let it run at ale temps just build up yeast. The resulting beer from the starter batch is lager-y but not without some fruity yeast contribution (more like a Kolsch or a very clean Blond Ale). Then I use the resulting slurry for a 1/2 barrel batch fermented cold. It's just barely the count I need according to the calculator, but it works like a charm.
 
Racked 7 gallon a batch out of the fermentor after 13 days(yesterday), racked in 8 gallons of fresh wort an hour later, sanitzed the lid and sealed it back up. VERY vigorous fermentation rocking out today. Is this typical of this yeast?

I've never tried to reuse one before.
Why reuse? The stuff is dirt cheap.
 
Why reuse? The stuff is dirt cheap.
Have you checked the price of lager yeast lately? It's $6.50 a packet at a lot of places. $5 is pretty routine. Considering 2 packets is the required pitch for a 5 gallon batch of lager, it adds up. Besides, it always ferments better on the 2nd and 3rd generation.
 
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