Bugeater wrote:In general, you don't want to reuse a yeast from a beer that had an OG higher than 1.060. I start to feel uneasy reusing yeast that had been in a beer over 1.055. On the other hand, you will find folks that had what they thought were satisfactory results from reusing a yeast from a barleywine. You just need to use your own judgement and consider how much you want to risk it.
Wayne
Not trying to argue, but this is mainly a theoretical position; I've not found that to play out in practice. I repitch from beers over 1.060 all the time with great success, as do many commercial brewers. The general rule is to pitch up and/or across. Examples: Pale ale to pale ale. IPA to double IPA. Amber ale to equal or higher gravity stout. Pilsner to maibock to dopplebock. You get the idea. Also, the resilience of each yeast strain is different. Cal ale is particularly hearty and I've found it gets stronger with each repitch (to a point). In fact, my b-wines and RISs tend to finish out fastest and with a hearty degree of attenuation when I repitch from my regular IPA, which is 7.3% and over 120 (theoretical) IBUs. Many craft brewers will give their yeast 5-6 generations before replacing them. I'm usually done with them by the 4th gen at the most.
That said, I would not repitch from anything that was on the "imperial" side of things malt-wise or hop-wise. The problem with pitching down (as proposed) is that it may result in an overpitch or giving the yeast an easy meal that won't shift them into the proper metabolic gears, resulting in reduced ester formation and possibly other positive biproducts that result from "upward" growth. What does that mean? Potentially a beer with a somewhat flat or lifeless flavor profile.
