# starting new wine kit on yeast from last batch?



## William_Stout (Apr 8, 2012)

I have been brewing beer for a while and I like to reuse my yeast cake by pouring the wort directly on to it after racking out of my secondary. Just did my first kit (Winery Series Super Tuscan) the guy at my LHBS said I could do the same with wine, so I racked the wine out of my primary into the secondary. There really wasn't much of a yeast cake, just a small amount of residue and some leftover wine. I made the kit as per instructions and simply didn't add the pack of yeast in the kit (A Barolo). Should there have been a bigger amount of residue in the bottom of the primary or am I ok? I know people do this with skeeter pee, so I'm hoping it works out, if not, I will pitch the pack of Yeast from the starter kit. It was Wyeast Chianti, thats why I wanted to reuse and not buy another package as it cost more Moolah.


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## robie (Apr 9, 2012)

Other than with SP, most of us just start a new batch of wine with a new packet of yeast. There is no reason why you can't try to reuse from the last batch. Give it 48 to 72 hours to get going. If it won't, pitch some fresh yeast.


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## DoctorCAD (Apr 9, 2012)

Wine yeast is like $1! A kit is $60 to $150. Why cheap out?

Now, if you are trying it just because, no problems.


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## g8keeper (Apr 9, 2012)

DoctorCAD said:


> Wine yeast is like $1! A kit is $60 to $150. Why cheap out?
> 
> Now, if you are trying it just because, no problems.


 
i don't think it was a matter necessarily of cheaping out....he said it was a kit, which in turn, comes with a packet yeast....i think it might have been an experiment, unless i am missing something....lol...


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## cpfan (Apr 9, 2012)

Wyeast is a specialty yeast, and is not $1/packet. Using the yeast slurry from one batch to start another is a way to save a few bucks.

Steve


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## robie (Apr 9, 2012)

DoctorCAD said:


> Wine yeast is like $1! A kit is $60 to $150. Why cheap out?



Cheap out? What kind of an answer is that?!!!
The person had asked a pretty straight forward question.


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## William_Stout (Apr 10, 2012)

Yah it was Wyeast Chianti smack pack, about $12 dollars, which isn't a lot of money, but I also wanted to do an experiment. Fermentation started in about 16 hours and its going pretty strong  plus I now have 2 packets of dry yeast left over from both kits that I can experiment with as well


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## robie (Apr 10, 2012)

William_Stout said:


> Yah it was Wyeast Chianti smack pack, about $12 dollars, which isn't a lot of money, but I also wanted to do an experiment. Fermentation started in about 16 hours and its going pretty strong  plus I now have 2 packets of dry yeast left over from both kits that I can experiment with as well



Nothing wrong with that! Let us know how it turns out.


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## JohnT (Apr 11, 2012)

The only issue I see here is that the slurry contains a large proportion of dead yeast. This is not a great thing for wine.


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## cdjohnston (Apr 16, 2012)

The lees you speak of contains lots of autolyzed (dead) yeast hulls which can contain nutrients for new yeast to use for growth. But it may not contain enough viable cells to form a critical mass of colony forming cells. If the lees do not smell badly like a swamp or other sulfur aromas, it should work. I would keep a packet of fresh yeast handy just in case... 

FYI - when i tried using recovered yeast from small batches, I added about 1gram/gallon of Fermaid-K to help out.

For commercial batches, i dont bother with yeast recovery. I DO, however, keep my lees after racking, and if they are healthy I return them to the wine to let it age out. Lees can offer you the benefit of reducing oxidative properties in your wine as well as add a nutty/tangy texture to it.


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## pioneergirl (Apr 16, 2012)

William_Stout said:


> Yah it was Wyeast Chianti smack pack, about $12 dollars, which isn't a lot of money, but I also wanted to do an experiment. Fermentation started in about 16 hours and its going pretty strong  plus I now have 2 packets of dry yeast left over from both kits that I can experiment with as well


 

As you stated in your initial post; this weekend we poured new wort over an existing yeast cake too (for an additional batch French Saison)! And yes, it saved a few dollars and it started fermenting very quickly. We are kind of "daring" this way too....

I am glad to hear that you had good success doing this. I would have probably harvested some yeast/lees and made a starter with fresh juice and maybe a little yeast nutrient with the wine before going for it and pouring the new juice over it - only due to the cost of the juice. It does make sense that it would all work itself out.


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## robie (Apr 16, 2012)

cdjohnston said:


> The lees you speak of contains lots of autolyzed (dead) yeast hulls which can contain nutrients for new yeast to use for growth. But it may not contain enough viable cells to form a critical mass of colony forming cells. If the lees do not smell badly like a swamp or other sulfur aromas, it should work. I would keep a packet of fresh yeast handy just in case...
> 
> FYI - when i tried using recovered yeast from small batches, I added about 1gram/gallon of Fermaid-K to help out.
> 
> For commercial batches, i dont bother with yeast recovery. I DO, however, keep my lees after racking, and if they are healthy I return them to the wine to let it age out. Lees can offer you the benefit of reducing oxidative properties in your wine as well as add a nutty/tangy texture to it.



Are you talking about returning the lees for reds, whites, or both?

Do you wash them first then "return" them? I guess I don't quite understand what you mean. What do you mean by "return them"? I leave the lite lees on some of my whites for lees aging and stirring, but I don't take them off then return them.

I am interested in knowing more about your process, but I don't want to hijack this person's thread to start another subject. Maybe you could start another thread and explain the process.


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## bzac (Apr 22, 2012)

I understand that with skeeter pee , the reuse of the lees is used to mitigate the difficulty in starting a highly clarified , high acid low nutirent must.

but even with skeeter pee , there are far better, safer , less h2s risky ways to get a difficult must started than reusing lees. I never reuse lees even when I make skeeter pee. much safer to build a starter and build the must into it.
for a kit , use a fresh packet of yeast every time.


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