Yeast harvesting?

[Beamer]

Hey all,

I have just bought my self a 5l flask for making yeast starters.

I have had a thought though and im not sure itll work havent bee able to find a thread on it.

I wish to make three litre starters using one vial of whitelabs yeast.
I am hoping to use two litres in two seperate 20l batches and then keep the other litre in a mason jar in the fridge.
My main concern is would I have to make another starter for the remain litre or would I be able to let it raise to room temp give it a shake and then pitch? (Say a fortnight from original starter)

Any thoughts or experience greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Beamer

 

[Rocker1986]

That's exactly what I do although I only make starters for one batch at a time. I simply make it bigger than necessary to account for that 800-900mL I steal for the mason jar. The jar sits in the fridge and then next time it goes into another starter and the process is repeated. Super simple way of harvesting and re-harvesting yeast, which for me works bloody well.

Whether or not you'd need another starter for the harvested jar I guess depends on how long it sits in the fridge... I usually calculate that I end up with around 130-150 billion viable cells in my jar; if it sits there a month then obviously that number will drop. But, even if I use it in 2 or 3 weeks I still make another starter so I can harvest it again.

I usually don't bother letting the yeast warm up either... it just goes straight from the fridge into the wort. Feldon posted in a thread on here recently about doing that and the reasons for it so I thought I'd give it a go. Quickest lag times I've ever had and nice healthy fermentations too. I'm a convert.

 

[Yob]

Another 3l starter and save 1l

Repeat

 

[Beamer]

Another 3l starter and save 1l

Repeat

Thanks guys! Just one more question how many times can this be repeated?

 

[Yob]

until you notice a change you don't like

 

[Beamer]

Awesome, thanks again!

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

What I do is make a 1lt starter initially, then split this into 5-6 smaller starters on small coke bottles.

Then take one initial starter and make a 2lt starter, and save 500-600ml and make another starter...do this about 6 times untill the yeast changes

Then take the next initial starter and repeat..

This way you have 6 initial starters you can use, giving you about 30-35 starters in total

The bonus is if part way thru one set of starters it gets infected then you can go back to your initial ones and start again.

If your initial starters get infected then your screwed

 

[Beamer]

Thanks all, it sounds alot easier and more efficient than washing yeast to re use.

 

[Rocker1986]

Yep, that's why I started doing it myself. I've bought two Wyeast packs since about this time last year, simply to experiment with different strains. The others I use regularly are up to about 6 or 7 generations now. I only keep 2-3 strains on hand, if I have too many then some of them will end up forgotten about and die.

 

[mstrelan]

How soon after pitching the fresh yeast in to the starter do you split it? Immediately? After 24 hours?

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Give it a a few days to a week for best results..then split

or you can split and refrigerate immediatly

 

[mstrelan]

After a few days the yeast falls out of suspension. Do you just shake it up again to split it evenly? Or decant then split?

 

[Benn]

Att: Rocker,
Any chance you can link that article of Feldons you mentioned earlier in this thread?

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

After a few days the yeast falls out of suspension. Do you just shake it up again to split it evenly? Or decant then split?

Decant the spent wort, then fill will fresh wort, shake, then split

yeast starters will keep for ages in the fridge if kept under wort. But ...BEWARE...It will still slowly ferment out even in the fridge. I once sent a w1728 yeast starter in a 1.25lt PET bottle to Tony in the mail that I had in the fridge for prob 9 months or so. When he got it and opened t after he put it in the fridge for a while it went off like a fire extinguisher and covered his carport roof with yeast. True story B)

 

[Chridech]

The overbuild starter method Rocker describes is similar to that touted by Brulosophy.

https://brulosophy.wordpress.com/methods/yeast-harvesting/

I've only just started doing this but seems to be working well so far. Heaps easier than washing yeast and less chance of introducing infection IMO. Keep an extra 100 billion cells or so in a Mason jar in the fridge to use as a starter for the next brew. I split the overbuilt starter when I chill it to settle out the yeast prior to decanting and pitching. Ducatiboy Stu's method ensures you have a back-up in case of an infected batch, but I think the mini-starters might get old before I got round to using them. Maybe just build an extra 2 or 3 mini-starters? Need to negotiate some extra fridge space!

 

[Parks]

I haven't read the responses here thoroughly but I think I'm pretty much doing like everyone else here now. I got sick of the work rinsing trub was.

I use this calculator which you can plug in over-build amount.

Basically, if I need a 1L starter I may make a 1.5L starter and split 500ML off into a reagent bottle / mason jar to give me 100B cells for next time. Unlike Stu I don't have room to store 6 bottles of every yeast plus I don't want them getting too old in the fridge. That 100B then becomes the yeast for my next starter with over-build etc.

I split my starters about 24-48 hours after I start them once growth has completed. I split them straight away so the total volume is homogenous.

 

[Parks]

Took me an hour to write my post and Chridech beat me to it!

 

[Chridech]

Decant the spent wort, then fill will fresh wort, shake, then split

yeast starters will keep for ages in the fridge if kept under wort. But ...BEWARE...It will still slowly ferment out even in the fridge. I once sent a w1728 yeast starter in a 1.25lt PET bottle to Tony in the mail that I had in the fridge for prob 9 months or so. When he got it and opened t after he put it in the fridge for a while it went off like a fire extinguisher and covered his carport roof with yeast. True story B)

Thanks for this tip! What is the reason for topping up with fresh wort? Does this improve the yeast's long term viability? Do you think you could be selecting for more cold-tolerant ale yeast (with different characteristics) with successive generations?

 

[Chridech]

Took me an hour to write my post and Chridech beat me to it!

Ha ha! Yep Parks, I'm doing the same thing, except am varying the starter size based on the yeast viability calculator to target pitching amount plus 100B cells. This is usually a 2L starter for me, as my yeast can be at least three months old.

 

[Parks]

Yeah - exactly the same Chridech. I just used that amount as an example. Sometimes it's an extra 500ML, sometimes it's a litre to get that extra 100B cells.