Repitching Yeast

The Why, the How and

Three Essential Steps Explained

Latest Update:
September 28th, 2022

Publisher:
Oculyze GmbH, Hochschulring 1, D-15745 Wildau, Germany

Disclaimer:
You may find contradicting information about the topic of this guide on the internet.
However, the main reason why we wrote this guide is because we found a lot of
information online which is incomplete, confusing, partly wrong or misleading. Often we
get the feeling that many guides are just copy-pasted from different sources without
checking the content properly. Therefore, we seek to provide you with a guide you can
follow while applying best practices proven by experienced craft brewers. If in doubt,
please contact us at info@oculyze.net
Contents

Yeast repitching: YES or NO? 4

Advantages to repitching yeast 4
Challenges to repitching yeast 7
Repitching complications 8

Step 1: Yeast Harvesting (or cropping) 9

When to harvest the yeast 9
How to harvest the yeast 13
Rinsing vs washing the yeast 14
Yeast harvesting best practices 15

Step 2: Yeast Storage 16

How to store the yeast after harvesting 16
When to dump the yeast 17

Step 3: (Re)Pitching the Yeast 18

How the pitching rate can impact your beer 18
How much yeast to pitch 19
A yeast starter: do you need one? 21
(Re)Pitching Method 1: pour directly 23
(Re)Pitching Method 2: inject the yeast 24

Conclusions 25

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Yeast repitching: YES or NO?
Yeast may have the single biggest impact on beer. In terms of flavor and aroma profile, of
course, but also in terms of length of fermentation, CO2 production, and of course alcohol
content.

Given the weight and gravity of the role yeast plays in beer, it can be tricky to determine
which type of yeast to use, how to pitch it, and if you should repitch it (as well as how to do
that).

So it is only natural that you should first decide whether you want to repitch your yeast at
all. Is it worth the hassle? To help you decide, we’ll take you through advantages and the
challenges (with solutions) to repitching yeast.

Advantages to repitching yeast

It’s not a wonder that most breweries out there do decide to repitch. The advantages are
myriad for a brewer.

Cost reduction

If you use dry yeast for your beer you are probably paying around $0.15 per gram. With a
recommended dosage of between 50-80 g per hl, that can add up to anywhere between
$7.5 and $12 per hl. Every time you reuse your yeast, you can save hundreds and up to
thousands of dollars.

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Let’s say that you’re a small to medium-sized brewery, producing 20.000 hl of beer per
year. At an average price of 10$ in yeast per hl, that means that you’re paying 200.000$
just on yeast alone.

So the primary advantage to repitching yeast is in cost. Yeast can typically last up to 5-8
generations of repitching, and oftentimes even more, saving you a ton of money on
pitching fresh every single time, either dry or liquid.

Consistency

The next advantage, and this is a big one, is consistency. If you have a batch of brew you
love, odds are great that it is largely because of the yeast. Reusing that yeast then over and
over again, checking your cell counts and viability along the way, of course, is more likely to
get you a spot-on match to that original batch.

Quality: Repitched yeast often performs better

Another advantage of reusing yeast is that repitched yeast often performs even better in
the second or third pitch in terms of fermentation and flavor compounds. If you liked that
first batch, you’re going to love the second one.

Innovation

It was once believed that dry yeast was only for novice brewers experimenting with first
batches. Liquid yeast was the only way to go for serious brewers, and dry yeast was for
amateurs. Those days, fortunately, are past.

Still, there are advantages and disadvantages to both.

Dry yeast has become quite the darling of some brewers, and for good reason. It is
cheaper, easier to use, and it comes packaged already sterile, strain-pure, and ready to
pitch.

It is also durable and has a long shelf-life. Dry yeast can be stored in a cool, dry place for
up to 3 years.

The downside to dry yeast, though, is that only certain strains of yeast can be dried, so dry
yeast will always be limited to fewer strains, which means less experimentation and variety
for brewers. Indeed, all commercial brewers use liquid yeast, and most smaller brewers are
fashioning their beers after at least some rough version of those commercial brewers.

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Wet (or liquid) yeast then has the obvious advantage of having far more options in terms
of strain, which allows brewers to experiment and explore, cross strains, and find that
perfect batch to match every time. Consistency, after all, is key.

The downside to liquid yeast is that it does take more knowledge and experience to work
with, which takes time, patience, and dedication to your craft. It also has a much shorter
shelf life, only lasting 3 months from the time it is cultured, and losing viability the whole
time.

It is critical with liquid yeast that you keep a consistent cell count throughout its time on
your shelf and not in use.

Finally, liquid yeast is more expensive than dry yeast, making it one of the pricier
ingredients on the brewer’s list.

Alas, there is a solution to that expense: repitch your yeast.

Bottom line, by reusing the yeast you’ll be able to afford to use liquid yeast more often, if
not replace dry yeast altogether, as you’ll be harvesting and reusing it, saving costs with
each repitch. This means that you will be able to experiment more, innovate and expand
your portfolio of beers.

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Challenges to repitching yeast
As you’ll easily notice, the benefits by far outweigh the challenges, but even so, there are a
few things you should be aware of if you decide to take the repitching route.

Contamination

The number one concern of naysayers to repitching yeast is the potential for
contamination. But here it is important to note that contamination only occurs in the beer
due to outside factors such as unsanitary equipment, exposure to oxygen, or other
contaminants in ingredients. Then, the beer contaminates the yeast.

The easiest way, then, to avoid contamination of your yeast for repitching is to ensure
proper sanitation and procedures during the brewing process.

And the truth is if you have a contaminated batch of beer, you will have much more to
worry about than contaminated yeast. You will have to toss a whole batch of beer!

So let’s avoid contamination at all costs.

Yeast Vitality and Viability

The argument here is that yeast vitality (which indicates the health of the living cells) and
yeast viability (a measurement of how many cells are alive) drop each time you repitch the
yeast.

This worry is far from true.

The trick to handling the yeast vitality and viability issue is to ensure you have the proper
equipment to track your yeast cell count and assess your yeast’s viability. Storing the yeast
properly is also key to keeping the yeast alive and happy.

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Repitching complications
The only pitching complications you will hear of, and they will be the same with a first pitch
or a repitch, with liquid yeast in general, will be with yeast vitality and viability.

The primary concern is that if you have second or third (or beyond) generation yeast, the
yeast viability could be affected. So, basically, you would end up with fewer and fewer alive
yeast cells. This would mean that while you think you are pitching one amount, you are
actually underpitching. And, of course, the danger of trying to compensate for that error is
in overpitching.

There is an easy solution to either of these concerns, though, and that is to have the proper
lab equipment on hand to measure your yeast cell counts and yeast viability.

That way, with any generation, you can ensure a consistent pitch. It’s a minor investment to
make and you can choose between manual and automated, although the latter is preferred
by most brewers once they start to repitch.

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So you’ve decided to repitch your yeast. Here are the next steps:

Step 1: Yeast Harvesting (or cropping)

The first step to repitching yeast is called yeast cropping. This is where you harvest your
yeast from a previous fermentation.

There are two major ways to crop (or collect) yeast from your beer once it’s done its job
fermenting.

● For ales, you will crop from the top of the tank.
● For lagers, you will crop from the bottom of the tank.

But, as always, things are a bit more complex than that. So let’s go through it step by step.

When to harvest the yeast

There are two ways to save yeast from the fermenter; you can do it either after primary
fermentation or after secondary. Either way, you will end up with a thriving yeast population
eager to get to work on the next batch.

While many brewers have suspected for some time that fermentation kills yeast, the
contrary is actually true. During the fermentation process yeast will reproduce, so at the
end of either primary or secondary fermentation, you will have plenty of fresh, vital, viable
yeast to work with.

Cropping after Primary

The main reason to crop and save your yeast after primary fermentation is that the yeast
will be fresher and closer to the original culture.

The downside is that this yeast will be much fuller of trub, the brown sediment left over
after filtering out your beer, or racking it to secondary fermentation.

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Cropping after Secondary

This is why many brewers find it easier to simply wait to crop until after secondary
fermentation. You will find less trub than in primary, so you can simply rack your fresh wort
right on top of the cropped yeast cake.

Of course, you know you want to crop your yeast after fermentation (either the first or the
second stage) is complete. That one is a no-brainer. But how soon after fermentation
ends?

Common wisdom says to crop your yeast once your beer has chilled to 40 degrees
Fahrenheit, ideally within 48 hours. Waiting for longer or harvesting too soon may lead to
lower viability.

In an open vessel, cropping should begin when gravity has dropped at least 50% of the
original gravity.

You can measure your gravity with a hydrometer. Your slurry (the mixture of yeast and
beer) should look creamy and be light in color, with no off flavors or aromas.

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How to harvest the yeast
Going back again to the difference between ale and lager, ale yeast (S. cerevisiae) will
flocculate at the top of your vessel once fermentation has completed. You will notice large
colonies of yeast collected, gathered on the surface of your liquid, lulled to sleep by the
completion of the fermentation process and the higher concentration of alcohol. It is at
this point that you can collect your yeast and save it for future use.

With lager yeast (S. pastorianus), your yeast will ferment at the bottom of the tank. You
will of course still notice activity, bubbling and fizzing, in the tank, but the vast majority of
the activity will take place beneath the surface.

Then, when fermentation in lager is complete, the yeast will flocculate at the bottom of the
tank. And that’s where you’ll be collecting it from.

How you actually harvest the yeast, though, also depends on the type of fermenter you’re
using.

Top cropping

If you’re using an ale strain that forms a dense head and you’re brewing in an open
fermenter, you’ll be top cropping. In this case, you will be skimming what’s known as
“krausen” and the most important recommendation is to ditch the first and final skim and
only harvest the middle one.

As previously recommended, you’ll have to wait until the beer has been chilled and the
gravity has dropped by at least 50%, as high gravity can stress the yeast.

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Conical bottomed fermenters

Cropping from the bottom, when brewing in a conical bottomed fermenter, can be much
easier because the yeast can settle in the conical fermenter cone after fermentation and
cooling.

That layer that settles at the bottom of the cone, once the beer has cooled, is further divided into three layers:

Bottom Layer: Trub

That first, bottom layer will be dark brown and beige in color. You want to dump this layer
entirely as it is mostly dead yeast cells and leftover proteins.

Middle Layer: Ideal, Healthy Yeast

Layer 2 is the layer you want. It will be light beige to tan in color, and it is full of healthy and
fit for fermentation yeast. This is the yeast you want to crop and reserve for future
pitching.

Top Layer: Poor Flocculating, Thin Yeast

That top layer is very light, and it is the thin, poor flocculating yeast that is not good for
repitching. You can toss that.

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To crop from the middle layer, simply drain out the trub until you get to the white stuff.

Collect that into a secondary, sanitized, container, leaving off as much of the slurry as
possible and allowing it to drain out as well.

When yeast cropping, ensure you don’t have tunneling, which is when the yeast allows for
a tunnel to bore into the cake and allow the beer to pass through.

Begin your cropping very slowly, which will force tunnel collapse and proper collection of
the healthy yeast and removal of the rest.

If tunneling does occur, stop the flow immediately, allow it to settle completely and only
when it has settled you can restart the harvesting process.

Shallow or dish-bottomed fermenters

Typically a lager tank, a dish-bottomed (or flat bottom) tank makes for a more difficult
cropping process. The harvesting is typically done manually, with a scoop. And, again, the
middle layer is the one you’ll be aiming at.

After the beer has been transferred (you need to use a standpipe to avoid picking up too
much yeast), you’ll need to scrape the top layer and then harvest the middle layer, making
sure to avoid reaching out into the bottom layer.

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Rinsing vs washing the yeast

The next step after harvesting the yeast is rinsing it. When rinsing your yeast, you are merely
ensuring all (or at least most of the) trub and any unwanted materials have been removed
from the yeast you want to use. This gives you more control over the repitching process.

To rinse your yeast, simply take the container with your yeast slurry and add water to the
container, about twice as much as the yeast slurry you have.

Then swirl the contents around for a couple of minutes and place the container in a
refrigerator overnight.

After about 24 hours, you will notice that the existing trub has settled at the bottom of the
container as it is much heavier than the rest of the contents, and the yeast has settled on
top, with the water above it all, just like it was in your fermentation tank.

To collect your yeast, you can pour the water off the top and then pour your yeast out into a
new container until you get to the trub, which you can discard.

You can repeat this process as often as you like to get rid of all the trub.

Washing yeast is an entirely different process. With washing yeast, you will use a chemical
called phosphoric acid to be sure absolutely no contaminants remain.

To wash yeast, you simply follow the same process as with rinsing and using only as much
yeast as you plan to pitch immediately and mix a food-grade phosphoric acid into the
slurry, swirling it around for several minutes until the pH reaches between 2.2 and 2.5.

Keep your yeast at this pH for 90 minutes to 2 hours, stirring continuously, and then pitch it
into your wort!

Be aware, though, that even washing your yeast will not remove wild yeast or bacteria, as
this is a food-grade chemical designed not to kill off all your yeast. Still, this chemical
process will indeed lower the viability of your yeast and potentially stress it, so be sure to
check the viability of your yeast before pitching.

Thus, the benefits of washing seem minimal compared to the cost, and
you can absolutely reuse your yeast without washing it first. In fact, many
brewers will recommend it.

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Yeast harvesting best practices

● Always harvest from a low gravity beer, as high gravity will stress the yeast, which can
then affect the fermentation. Also, for the same reasons, if you plan to dry hop near the
end of the fermentation, make sure to harvest the yeast beforehand.

● Harvest from the youngest generations to avoid mutations. Harvesting only from the
middle layer of the yeast bed can also help prevent mutations, as you'll avoid repeated
selection of poorly performing cells.

● If you are not certain about the health and purity of a yeast culture, do not pitch it. The
harvested yeast should be creamy and thick.

● Also, make sure it has no off flavors. If it smells like sulfur or has phenolic aromas,
ditch it, as these may indicate either that the yeast is stressed or that it has been
contaminated.

● In brewing in general, but if you want to effectively repitch, in particular, you must have
a yeast quality control protocol in place. Doing regular yeast cell counts and assessing
the viability of your harvested yeast is the only way to ensure that your beer will
ferment as it should and you'll obtain quality and consistency.

● The yeast slurry will continue to expand, so always account for the expansion or
foaminess when filling a recipient with it.

● Stop the flow immediately if tunneling occurs and allow for it to settle completely
before restarting the harvesting process.

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Step 2: Yeast Storage

How to store the yeast after harvesting

The cropped yeast will typically be stored in a container called a brink. A yeast brink is a
sanitized, and sanitizable, container.

In principle, you can also use an adapted beer keg or a Cornelius keg, or even an
unscratched plastic bucket or a stainless steel bucket, as long as you have an airtight lid
and as long as your container doesn’t have the potential for microbial harborage and can
be easily sanitized.

Stainless steel is therefore preferable, because of its non-porous nature

as it is much easier to avoid any kind of contamination.

Ideally, you should use the yeast immediately, or very soon after it’s been harvested, but
you can store it for up to two weeks.

After that, you will start to see significant drops in viability.

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Other recommendations:

● If your brink doesn’t have a way to relieve pressure (such as a hose or a valve), you will
need to “burp” your yeast twice a day to relieve pressure. When subjected to high CO2
pressure, your yeast will start to die and you’ll notice a drop when doing your viability
assessments. So do not underestimate the importance of this step.

● It is also recommended to avoid filling your brink to the rim to allow for slurry
expansion. So leave a ¼ volume of headspace for that.

● Keep your yeast in a cool (34-36 °F / 1-2 °C), dark place. Exposure to oxygen and
warmer temperatures can cause culture degradation.

● Clean and sanitize your brink thoroughly after each use to prevent contamination.

When to dump the yeast

If you have any concerns regarding the quality of the yeast you’ve harvested, dumping it is
a far better course of action than pitching it and risking having to throw an entire batch.

You should dump your yeast if:

● It has a viability lower than 70%. Ideally, the viability should be over 90% (meaning that
over 90% of the yeast cells are alive), but anything under 70% makes it unusable.

● It looks anything else than creamy and light in color.

● It smells like sulfur or has any other off flavors.

● You suspect it may have been contaminated.

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Step 3: (Re)Pitching the Yeast
Two methods exist for repitching yeast. You can either pour it directly into your wort or you
can inject the yeast into the brew during transfer. We’ll take them one by one.

But first…

How the pitching rate can impact your beer

You know that underpitching and overpitching are both bad, so you should aim at finding
that sweet spot. But why is that? Why is it so important to pitch just the right amount of
yeast? Because how much yeast you pitch can make or break a batch of beer.

Proper pitching ensures that the yeast performs well from the start and up until the end of
the fermentation, which has an impact on oxygen consumption but, more importantly,
ester production, which adds to the flavor of your beer.

Underpitching can increase the levels of diacetyl, esters, and volatile sulfur compounds, it
intensifies the hoppiness of the beer, causes higher final gravities and can lead to stuck
fermentations.

Overpitching, on the other side, can cause the beer to ferment too fast, reduce esters
production, lead to low viability and higher cell count, can affect the mouthfeel of the beer
and it will lead to a higher percentage of old cells in the slurry if you want to harvest the
yeast once the fermentation is done.

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The exception to the rule

Now, of course, one man's trash is another man's treasure, so there are quite a few
situations out there in which breweries (and even very well-known ones) have decided to
play with the flavors and textures that can be caused by either underpitching or
overpitching yeast.

And you can do that as well, once you’ve truly mastered the pitching process and probably
when you’ve limited yourself to a few strains you know in great detail and which you feel
comfortable to start manipulating.

But first, we recommend you to master the basics.

How much yeast to pitch

There are three major ways to repitch:

● By Volume
● By Weight
● By Cell Number

Pitching by volume is highly inaccurate, but some brewers do pitch by estimating slurry
volume. A better alternative to pitching by volume is pitching by weight, but that’s seriously
inaccurate as well, as it doesn’t take into consideration cell concentration and viability.

So by far, the most accurate type of pitching is…

Pitching by cell number

Just like with “regular” pitching, the most important question here relates, again, to your
cell count (concentration) and viability. You want to ensure you have more than 70%
viability, and ideally higher, up to 90% or more.

Also, to determine your pitch rate with precision you would need to factor in important
elements such as the beer style, wort density, batch size, yeast strain, etc. However, as
always, there is a general rule of thumb.

First off, the pitch rate, when pitching by cell number, is typically measured in cells per ml.
So what you should do is measure your cell count concentration, aiming for 0.5 million –
1.25 million cells/ml. From there, the rule of thumb is to use 1l of slurry per hl of beer.

Of course, as any rule of thumb, this is highly imprecise. It really depends on what you’re
aiming at, but also on the strain you’re using – some types of beer will do well at the lower
end of that range, while other beers should be pitched at the higher end.

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To get an idea of how much of a difference the yeast strain and beer styles (and their
characteristics in terms of fermentation and final results) can make, just check out these
pitch rate charts provided by Wyeast Laboratories, Inc.:

The truth is, in today’s market you can no longer make it by relying entirely on gut feeling
and rules of thumb. You must have proper quality control measures and tools that allow
you to do cell counts, viability testing, measure the gravity, and ensure that you have all the
data you need to do proper pitch rates that will lead to healthy fermentations.

Otherwise, in a world where consistency and quality are in high demand, you have a
next-to-impossible task.

So that’s the somewhat bad news. The good news, though, is that there have been
astonishing developments in the world of brewing technology – from automated cell
counters to AI brewers’ apps offering access to cool features such as Fermentation
Tracking, Pitch Rate Calculator, etc. So all you need is to make sure you invest in the right
tools.

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A yeast starter: do you need one?
So now you know how much to pitch. Or at least what tools you need in order to be able to
determine the ideal pitch rate for each batch. What’s next? Some will say that the next step
is preparing a yeast starter. But do you really need one?

Well, many brewers will argue that not needing a yeast starter is actually one of the
advantages of repitching, as later generations will perform even better than fresh pitches
and will start the job right away.

However, others will argue that, even when repitching, a yeast starter can only help. And it
makes even more sense if you’re aiming at increasing your pitching rate.

Now, a starter is the most basic method of propagating. What you’re doing is basically
creating a small batch of beer and then harvesting the yeast from it to pitch it to your main
batch.

Essentially, when you’re done you’ll be pitching actively fermenting beer into your wort,
which will supercharge your wort to get started fermenting, rather than pitching just the
yeast and waiting for the action to begin.

Here is what you need to propagate your yeast with a yeast starter:

To begin the propagation, you will need:

● A kitchen scale
● An Erlenmeyer flask (borosilicate glass)
● Dry malt extract
● Yeast
● Canning jars and lids
● Fermcap S foam control
● A stir plate

Yeast propagation steps for your yeast starter:

Step 1: Clean and sanitize your flask. The minimum quantity of yeast starter you’ll typically
be preparing is 1-2 liters, although some brewers recommend going as high as 3-4 liters.
So make sure you choose a suitable container.

Step 2: Weigh your dry malt extract (DME) at 100 grams per liter. Let’s assume you’re
preparing 2 liters of starter. In this case, you’ll weigh 200 grams of DME.

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Step 3: Pour the DME into the flask first, then add 2 liters of warm water, rinsing any
residual DME from the funnel down into the flask. Cover the flask opening with aluminum
foil.

Step 4: Swirl your flask a bit to mix the ingredients, making sure to keep the aluminum foil
in place and that you have the flask stir bar inside the flask, so that it gets sanitized during
the next step. Add a drop or two of Fermcap, which will keep your boiling wort from
foaming over.

Step 5: Bring your wort to a boil for a few minutes, with the foil allowing the steam to
escape. Use a gas stove and make sure that your recipient is heat resistant.

Step 6: Remove your wort from heat and chill it as quickly as possible. Pitch your yeast to
inoculate the wort and leave it for 24 hours on the stir plate. When it’s done, transfer your
yeast starter to the sanitized jars (leave the lids slightly loose so that the air can escape or
just “burp” them from time to time) so that you have it at hand for pitching.

Ultimately, you should see a milky white appearance that means millions of healthy viable
yeast cells are ready to pitch into your next batch of brew.

Again, preparing a yeast starter is optional and may often be unnecessary when
repitching. Especially when you plan to make another batch of the same beer.

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(Re)Pitching Method 1: pour directly

So now you’ve harvested your yeast, rinsed it and maybe did a yeast starter. Now you’re
ready to repitch the yeast into your next batch.

To pour directly does not require much. It is pretty much like it sounds, and is efficient and
effective, particularly for smaller breweries.

Simply ensure your wort has cooled all the way down or your yeast will get overheated and
die. Then, add your wort to your fermentation tank and pour the yeast in over the top
manway.

This method is much more challenging for larger and more complicated fermentation
tanks, at which point you will need to inject the yeast.

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(Re)Pitching Method 2: inject the yeast

To inject the yeast, you must pressurize your yeast brink, usually between 10 and 15 PSI.
Attach a valve to the brink and connect it to the chilled wort as it enters the fermentation
tank.

Sometimes, brewers are tempted to use a pump to inject, which is typically not advised as
it can overpressurize the yeast. Also, you might need to adjust the pressure in the yeast
brink when using a pump to ensure the flow, which actually makes the whole process a bit
more complicated.

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Conclusions

If there is anything brewers can agree on is that reusing yeast is often paramount for a
good return on investment. That much we’ve already established. But is knowing this
enough, though?

The brewing industry is so diverse and there are so many opinions on what constitutes a
high-quality final product, that often breweries get lost in their ways and tend to ignore this
simple fact: no matter the size of your business or the type of beer you’re producing,
assessing the quality of your yeast (particularly, but not limited to, when you’re planning on
reusing it) can make a huge difference in productivity, profitability and, of course, the
consistency and quality of your products.

Not to mention that there is simply no way to efficiently go through the process of yeast
harvesting – storing – propagating and repitching without understanding what’s actually
happening to your yeast

So what happens if you do NOT analyze your yeast?

Well, first off, the quality of your yeast is strongly linked to the quality of the beer you’re
producing which, in turn, will have an impact on the way your product is received by the
customers and, ultimately, your profits.

Inefficient yeast handling can lead to a variety of problems such as:

● Increased fermentation duration or stuck fermentation;

● Increased risk of contamination;
● Issues with diacetyl reduction;
● Longer maturation times;
● Increased turbidity, accompanied by poor foam stability and difficulties in obtaining
sensory uniformity.

Why should you care about these issues?

Because they can make or break your business.

It’s all about quality

Certain microbial contaminants aka “beer spoilers” (mainly bacteria and wild yeast) can
propagate and cause off-flavors, acids, and unwanted haze, which can completely ruin
your product. And while “contaminated beer” is often just another way of saying “bad
tasting beer”, which means that it probably doesn’t pose any health risks, all it takes is one
bad batch to cause irreparable damage to your brand.

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Time is money

In order for your business to prosper, the whole brewing process has to go smoothly and
any delay in production can have a serious impact on your profits. An increased
fermentation duration or longer maturation times translate into more tank occupancy time,
time that you would otherwise dedicate to brewing a new batch. Delays in production can
further cause delays in distribution, with a direct impact on your sales.

Product consistency is key

Beer making is indeed an art, but so is obtaining the same high-quality product every time.
Your customers need to know what to expect when they purchase your product and they
need to know that they can trust your brand. Not analyzing your yeast makes it virtually
impossible to achieve product consistency. This leads us to…

Cost savings

Lager yeasts, or bottom-fermenting yeasts, can be reused up to 6 times, while ale yeasts,
or top-fermenting yeasts, can be reused up to 15 times, without affecting the sensory
profile of the product, provided, of course, that you’re constantly monitoring your yeast.

Brewers embracing technology

Technology has become part of our everyday life. It’s a fact, one that we’ve all come to
embrace. And while some things are worth preserving when it comes to brewing, such as
your secret beer recipes, others can (and should, if you plan on growing your business) be
improved by tech, with yeast monitoring at the top of the list. Yeast cell counting can now
be done automatically, using technology that will not only help you save time and money,
but also mitigate human error and provide reliable data about your production.

If you want to find out more about the Oculyze technology or test it yourself, just drop us
an email at info@oculyze.net

We’ll gladly tell you all about the ways in which Oculyze technology can be integrated to
cater to the needs of your business, whether it’s a small brewery, a brewery that constantly
reuses yeast, or a large brewery that already has a yeast analysis routine in place.

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