Starting Wyeast

[cdbrown]

2. About 12 -24 hours before is about right to ensure the pack is fully swelled - basically your allowing the packet to reach high krausen before pitching into the bottle
5. I found squeezing the air out of the bottle as much as possible and then putting on the cap works well, the bottle expands as fermentation is progressing, you just relieve the pressure every now and again. Leaving it a bit too long will distort the bottle.

Thats about the right process.

 

[raven19]

5. Cap and shake like hell, then remove cap and stretch glad wrap over & close with rubber band. (or is an airlock in the lid necessary?)

I have used clean PET bottles of late for my starters, and either use an airlock, or even just use the PET lid but just have it on fairly loose so the pressure can be released.

Similar to a fermentor, once you have positive pressure from build up of CO2 in the vessel you should be fine.

Another alternative is a piece of foil over the top to keep airborne nasties out.

 

[Interloper]

Sorry to dredge up this old thread, just looking for some confirmation. Normally I would just pitch onto my yeastcake to get double the value from my smackpack but my last yeastcake didn't fire (as posted this morning - and it still hasn't so I'm re-pitching)

anyhooo - I digress.

My 1762 Abbey II arrived from craftbrewer today and I'd like to get two brews out of it so here's the plan:

1. Take my Wyeast packet out of the fridge, warm to room temp
2. Smack it, wait for puffiness
3. Boil up 2L of water with 200g of LDME, place in freezer and cool to about 20C
4. Put a litre of this into two sterilised containers.
5. Spilt the smack pack evenly into the two containers
6. Cap and shake, glad wrap over
7. At high krausen, pitch one bottle into a wort and one into the fridge for later
8. When ready for next brew pull it out of fridge, up to room temp and straight into wort.

Any probs with this?

Will a half a smack pack in a litre of LDME be enough to chew through 22L?

Would I need to feed the fridged one more LDME?

Thanks peeps.

 

[cdbrown]

Just the other day I did something similar
1. Smackpack out of fridge to warm
2. Gave it a good smack and then a shake
3. Following evening boiled up 300g LDME in 3L water 15mins and then cooled
4. Poured the lot into a 3L sterilized OJ container
5. Poured the smackpack in, capped and shake container
6. Poured 1L off into a 2L container (to be used as a starter the following evening)
7. Squeezed the air out of both and put in ferment fridge
8. Checked next morning to find both working away (bigger more so) and squeezed the produced CO2 out
9. That evening shook up the 2L container and pitched onto new brew
10. Once the 3L container is finished fermenting will shake and then split into stubbies
11. Cap and store in fridge until needed (at which time will make a 2L starter for the stubbie)

 

[Interloper]

Choice, just what I wanted to hear.

About what temp was your LDME/water at when you pitched the smackpack in? Cool? Room temp?

Just the other day I did something similar
1. Smackpack out of fridge to warm
2. Gave it a good smack and then a shake
3. Following evening boiled up 300g LDME in 3L water 15mins and then cooled
4. Poured the lot into a 3L sterilized OJ container
5. Poured the smackpack in, capped and shake container
6. Poured 1L off into a 2L container (to be used as a starter the following evening)
7. Squeezed the air out of both and put in ferment fridge
8. Checked next morning to find both working away (bigger more so) and squeezed the produced CO2 out
9. That evening shook up the 2L container and pitched onto new brew
10. Once the 3L container is finished fermenting will shake and then split into stubbies
11. Cap and store in fridge until needed (at which time will make a 2L starter for the stubbie)

 

[Batz]

Hell this thread goes back to Feb.2004, time I updated it really , pictures have been deleted due a silly mistake I made a few years back.
Perhaps I or someone else should do it again, good information here but needs the pics .
Batz

 

[Interloper]

Hell this thread goes back to Feb.2004, time I updated it really , pictures have been deleted due a silly mistake I made a few years back.
Perhaps I or someone else should do it again, good information here but needs the pics .
Batz

Well I just smacked the pack of Wyeast Belgian Abbey - might go snap a pic right now and document the rest of the process - but I am no expert.

Interesting to note that even on the pack it says to "sterilise this package before opening"... Which I would have probably done anyway...

 

[bullsneck]

The bloke at my LHBS said just save the slurry at the bottom of the fermenter. Chuck that in a bottle, cap it, fridge it. More yeast for next time.

Does that sound right or is that bum steer?

 

[mwd]

The bloke at my LHBS said just save the slurry at the bottom of the fermenter. Chuck that in a bottle, cap it, fridge it. More yeast for next time.

Does that sound right or is that bum steer?

Thats what I do collect a few cupfuls of slurry into steralised glass pots with lid and store in the fridge, lasts for months. Take out one day before give a good shake and pour into the next brew when the temp is down to about 20C.

I use the 435g Black Olive glass containers from the supermarket 1/4 full of slurry seems to be pretty good for a standard 23l batch.

Forgot to add I only cycle yeast about 4 times before starting again with a fresh pack. No problems or infections yet touch wood.

 

[Bribie G]

With my latest Wyeast brew (Ringwood) I took a leaf out of Graham Wheeler's book (CAMRA brew your own real ales) and as I approached the end of the bottling session I swirled the fermenter a bit and ran off the last two bottles as a cloudy beer, primed as normal, and they are now sitting in a dark cupboard where they stay at a mild temperature. They are basically a nice clear beer amongst the other beers but have a far thicker layer of sediment on the bottom. When I decide to do another Ringwood beer I'll drink one of them and if still sound and delicious, then I'll do a Coopers style yeast culture-up and go from there. No need for special vessels, slants, etc.

Graham Wheeler often does a whole brew of bottled beer just to create a yeast bank, the theory being that yeast kept on the beer is in its ideal environment that the good Lord of Brewing intended for it. So if you have a fave yeast such as US-05 that you use all the time then you could do a purpose made brew, say a simple single malt, bottle in glass and keep in a cool dark place, that would keep you in yeast for a year without ever buying one in. And you get to drink the beer as well. Win win.

 

[RdeVjun]

Same thing occurred to me recently as BribieG mentions, what will I do with this Wyeast PC strain I just bought to a. use it and b. store some for future use when it becomes unavailable? I was considering farting around with some slants or freezing with glycerine (found some useful tubes and racks at work- in the bin as usual...) but that's a heap of work, perhaps some just straight out of the pack into those Schotts... then the penny dropped- yeast actually stores quite well in tallies full of beer! Culturing the dregs has been done since the dark ages.

Its such a relief now this is squared away, really the only worry is if they accidentally get drunk, but I'm sure I can control myself just for once.

 

[Gavo]

Same thing occurred to me recently as BribieG mentions, what will I do with this Wyeast PC strain I just bought to a) use it and store some for future use when it becomes unavailable? I was considering farting around with some slants or freezing with glycerine (found some useful tubes and racks at work- in the bin as usual...) but that's a heap of work, perhaps some just straight out of the pack into those Schotts... then the penny dropped- yeast actually stores quite well in tallies full of beer! Culturing the dregs has been done since the dark ages.

Its such a relief now this is squared away, really the only worry is if they accidentally get drunk, but I'm sure I can control myself just for once.

Maybe you could store your yeast like TP does here. Surely you could find yourself a few of those. TP did a few instructions up for splitting from the smack pack somewhere, just can't find it ATM.

Cheers
Gavo.

 

[RdeVjun]

Maybe you could store your yeast like TP does here. Surely you could find yourself a few of those. TP did a few instructions up for splitting from the smack pack somewhere, just can't find it ATM.

Cheers
Gavo.

Thanks for the link gavo, have already scored similar kit from the industrial bin at work (as usual). I would like to see that method, I've got a rough idea how it would go though.

See you this arvo!

 

[Gavo]

Thanks for the link gavo, have already scored similar kit from the industrial bin at work (as usual). I would like to see that method, I've got a rough idea how it would go though.

See you this arvo!

Will give you the rundown then.

Cheers
Gavo.

 

[Interloper]

The bloke at my LHBS said just save the slurry at the bottom of the fermenter. Chuck that in a bottle, cap it, fridge it. More yeast for next time.

Does that sound right or is that bum steer?

Not a bum steer at all, I've done this many times - but bear in mind your yeast at the end of the fermenting process is not the yeast in the packet any more.

It's been mutated/changed by growing and consuming your sugars, the fermentables in your wort will have changed its profile, even if only slightly.

If you had maybe a whiff of other bacteria or fungus in the air (wild yeast) then that will have changed it too.

This process is about getting the exact strain of yeast you got in your smack pack and doubling or tripling it - or even more. No mutation or changes.

 

[Phoney]

Just the other day I did something similar
1. Smackpack out of fridge to warm
2. Gave it a good smack and then a shake
3. Following evening boiled up 300g LDME in 3L water 15mins and then cooled
4. Poured the lot into a 3L sterilized OJ container
5. Poured the smackpack in, capped and shake container
6. Poured 1L off into a 2L container (to be used as a starter the following evening)
7. Squeezed the air out of both and put in ferment fridge
8. Checked next morning to find both working away (bigger more so) and squeezed the produced CO2 out
9. That evening shook up the 2L container and pitched onto new brew
10. Once the 3L container is finished fermenting will shake and then split into stubbies
11. Cap and store in fridge until needed (at which time will make a 2L starter for the stubbie)

This is exactly what ive done. Only after step 5 I left it for 48 hours until the krausen started dying down, then shook it up again to raise the sediment and then poured off into 12 urine sample jars I bought from the chemist @ 90c ea, stuck them in the fridge and I still had a litre or so left which I pitched into my fermenter.


Now ive got at least 12 months supply of 3068 Belgian wheat yeast

 

[Bubba Q]

at the moment i have a starter i made on friday night using a 12 month old pack of 1338 and a 100g/1l starter

when i opened the smack pack i thought i might have detected a whiff of vegemite (autolysis)

so far the starter doenst appear to have fired, no krausen at all. should i leave it for a few more days or just get my hands on a fresh yeast?

 

[Bubba Q]

still no krausen, the starter is starting to separate a bit with a clearish layer on top, murky layer in the middle and dark brown crap on the bottom of the flask

i havent done a lot of starters and dont know whether or not i should tip this down the sink or just leave it for a few more days

 

[Interloper]

Well this went perfectly...

I will post pix this week when I get a chance to, but so far it all seems to have been as easy as pie.

I smacked my pack up and went to bed.

Next morning it had swelled up a treat.

I sterilised the hell out of everything, boiled 200gms of malt in 2L of water for about 10 minutes.

Let it cool quite a bit to almost room temp.

Split the smacky between two 2.5 litre containers

Poured the room temp malt solution between the two containers.

I proceeded to shake it every time I went past it.

24 hours later there was a nice little yeast cake at the bottom of each bottle and it was carbing up nicely.

Now every time I shook it I had to release some pressure.

48 hours later I pitched one bottle into a brew, and then split the other bottle in two, and I'll just repeat this process next time I want some Belgian Abbey Ale yeast.

---Update: after pitching the yeast into a wort that was around 19-20C I had fermentation within 6 hours and the yeast is going crazy.
(The 1762 from wyeast smells very bready and biscuit-ish to my nose)

Annoyingly I had already filled the fermenter to 22L, so this means when you add a litre of yeast/malt starter to this I ended up with 23L in the fermenter which might mean a weaker than desired brew - so tip for young players: Remember to account for volume of the starter before you fill your fermenter.

Anyhoo - pix to come this week.

 

[manticle]

The bloke at my LHBS said just save the slurry at the bottom of the fermenter. Chuck that in a bottle, cap it, fridge it. More yeast for next time.

Does that sound right or is that bum steer?

If you're prepared to take the small risk of infection you can also top crop. I've done this once recently with 3787 at high krausen using a sterilised plastic serving spoon (reserved for beer related things) a sanitised funnel and sanitised longnecks. I filled with boiled, cooled water then capped the longnecks with a crown seal and they seem to have cultured up well. The yeast should be less tired at this point and I can't imagine that that point of vigourous fermentation is going to allow too much else to grow in the brew (you obviously have to open your fermenter to do this).

Someone steer me in the right direction if this is remarkably dumb for some reason I'm missing.