3

I've recently taken advantage of White Labs switch to year-round availability of WLP090, as this rocket fuel of a yeast strain is very attenuative, very clean, fast, and floccuates beautifully. I love it.

I just brewed a wonderful double IPA (recipe is here, seriously, go brew this beer), using two vials of WLP090 in a whopping starter, and the trub/yeast at the bottom of this carboy is massive. I would have enough yeast to be set for months. Problem is, it's ~10-11% ABV (attenuated past the 9.4% I expected, I won't complain). White Lab's description of the yeast says that it's alcohol tolerance is "high", so I assume it can take a beating past the typical 13%, but I doubt that I want to push it up towards it's limits before washing it.

Is there a general rule of thumb, a safe percent of alcohol by volume for when the yeast is just too stressed to wash and re-use it?

Improve this question

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

The ROT is to not reuse yeast from an OG higher than 1.060. I've succesfully pushed that to 1.073. That assumes a healthy pitchin the first place. I've also taken a bit of slurry from a higher OG and used it o make a new starter. At the OG of your beer, I'd be leery. You should use some to make a starter and carefully assess its health before using it.

Improve this answer
3
  • 1
    I suspected that any beer starting with the words "Double", "Imperial", "Russian", or any mix of those together would mean the yeast is toast. Thanks for the verification.
    – Scott
    Commented Aug 2, 2013 at 14:29
  • Coincidentally I just read this today. The author attempted to harvest the yeast from a bottle-conditioned 11% ABV beer. He was not able to culture the yeast due to the cells being non-viable.
    – FishesCycle
    Commented Aug 2, 2013 at 16:27
  • I've read that same article. I saw another video on youtube recently where someone was able to successfully reuse that same yeast (from Heady Topper's The Alchemist), pulling from an 8% ABV beer. Even at that point though, it took him a couple of days to see any activity in his starter. I don't know if I'd trust the yeast past one fermentation at that rate.
    – Scott
    Commented Aug 3, 2013 at 15:58
0

German author Hagen Rudolph claims to have brewed a 25% ABV beer (http://www.hagenrudolph.de/Dokumente/Superstarkbier.pdf (in German)) with WLP099 (http://www.whitelabs.com/yeast/wlp099-super-high-gravity-ale-yeast).

Improve this answer
1
  • I can't read German, but I am well aware (by experience) of WLP099. Does White Lab's high gravity yeast allow for a higher tolerance before it isn't worth it to re-use the yeast?
    – Scott
    Commented Aug 19, 2013 at 4:49

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.