Yeast Starter And Splitting Yeast Packs

[thebeemann]

Hey Tony thanx for the info i was going to try making slants but this is a bit easier , 1 question if i used dry yeast how much of the pack would you use per vial ? cheers and happy new year . :super:

 

[QldKev]

Great info Tony, hopefully will get some new brewers into splitting starters and looking at reusing yeast


QldKev

 

[Tony]

I use urine sample jars (80 cents ea from the chemist). You cant boil them for more than about 10 seconds without going out of shape, but ive never had a problem with just sanitizing them with starsan after they come out of the dishwasher...

the vials are 32c each plus freight

Bet if you only ever going to use a few its a good option

Whats the volume of the pee pee jars ?

Hey Tony thanx for the info i was going to try making slants but this is a bit easier , 1 question if i used dry yeast how much of the pack would you use per vial ? cheers and happy new year . :super:

You dont need to do this for dry yeast mate...... just keep the dry yeast packs in the fridge.

Its for splitting a liquid yeast pack to get more use from the pack (cause we are tight arse home brewers) and gives you a bit of a "yeast library" to chose from when brewing.

Great info Tony, hopefully will get some new brewers into splitting starters and looking at reusing yeast


QldKev

That was the plan mate...... i get a lot of questions and its hard to give a "good" answer on how to do it with little spare time

Im glad people are finding it useful..... makes the work worth it.

It may not be the perfect method for some, and there are variations on how to do this, but its the basic theory of how its done i wanted to portray to less experienced brewers. Seeing something in images can really crarify text i think.

Cheers

 

[Phoney]

the vials are 32c each plus freight

Bet if you only ever going to use a few its a good option

Whats the volume of the pee pee jars ?

No idea. diameter = 5cm, height = 6cm, so 80 - 100mL at a guess?

 

[Steve@PMF82]

I use the piss jars from chemist the ones i have are 60ml to the mold line below where the thread for the lid starts.

I rinse them with boiling water that has been boiled repeatedly then starsan, not the ideal way to store yeast but have not had any problems as yet. They are good size for storing washed yeast samples for reuse in a starter later on.

 

[Joshisgood]

Hey Tony, just about those vials you use, they're 30 ml right? And you split your yeast pack between two of them and the starter your making but a standard yeast pack is 125 ml (I think). So couldn't you put the yeast into 3 vials and still have a roughly equal amount for the starter? cheers mate great article, just what I was looking for.

 

[thebeemann]

You dont need to do this for dry yeast mate...... just keep the dry yeast packs in the fridge.

Its for splitting a liquid yeast pack to get more use from the pack (cause we are tight arse home brewers) and gives you a bit of a "yeast library" to chose from when brewing.


So i can use what say a third of a dry yeast pack at a time ? i am also a tight arse home brewer lol i pay 10 bucks for good dry yeast but it costs 30 in petrol to go to my local home brew shop , i might have a look at some liquid packs online but i have no experience using them , anyone know what an = to Vittners CY17 and SN9 would be ? cheers for all the info.

 

[bradsbrew]

You dont need to do this for dry yeast mate...... just keep the dry yeast packs in the fridge.

Its for splitting a liquid yeast pack to get more use from the pack (cause we are tight arse home brewers) and gives you a bit of a "yeast library" to chose from when brewing.


So i can use what say a third of a dry yeast pack at a time ? i am also a tight arse home brewer lol i pay 10 bucks for good dry yeast but it costs 30 in petrol to go to my local home brew shop , i might have a look at some liquid packs online but i have no experience using them , anyone know what an = to Vittners CY17 and SN9 would be ? cheers for all the info.

Mate you would be better of collecting and washing some of the yeast in the bottom of the fermenter when its done.

Great article Tony, enough detail to make it a simple process.

Cheers

 

[pk.sax]

beeman, just use little bits at a time and try to search for stepping up starters. Essentially, if you skip the whole liquid yeast part of this guide and just use your source wort/must in a small volume to aid the yeast to grow that would be same as stepping it up before pitching into the main brew.

Great info Tony. I'm lazy as so I just drop the vials into the electric kettle and give it a couple of boils before straining them out and using immediately. Bottle the wort hot so no need to reboil before pitching to make a starter. Starsan is all my starter flask gets. Prolly not a good thing though...

 

[TidalPete]

Mate you would be better of collecting and washing some of the yeast in the bottom of the fermenter when its done.

Great article Tony, enough detail to make it a simple process.

Cheers

Agree with Bradley,

There's no problem farming the spent yeast of a brew fermented with a dry yeast. I've done this a few times to stretch out the $$$$'s spent on "twin packs" with no hassles but only go 2 x generations to be safe.

TP

 

[Nick JD]

Agree with Bradley,

There's no problem farming the spent yeast of a brew fermented with a dry yeast. I've done this a few times to stretch out the $$$$'s spent on "twin packs" with no hassles but only go 2 x generations to be safe.

TP

I find 4 generations is fine - but I always have a paper towel and rubber band over the jerry fermenter's oulet when bottling to stop dust getting sucked in when transfering. This IMO is where you can run into issues when storing trub.

 

[Mattress]

ordered some vials last night.

Tahnks for this article. Anyhting that makes brewing a bit better and a bit cheaper has got to be good

 

[thebeemann]

Agree with Bradley,

There's no problem farming the spent yeast of a brew fermented with a dry yeast. I've done this a few times to stretch out the $$'s spent on "twin packs" with no hassles but only go 2 x generations to be safe.

TP
[/quot


Probebly the wrong place to ask so is there a thread on how to wash / culture yeast i have searched with little result cheers

 

[Steve@PMF82]

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=55409

There you go.
Are you using the site search? use the google box its much better

 

[thebeemann]

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=55409

There you go.
Are you using the site search? use the google box its much better

Cheers Mate .

 

[TidalPete]

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=55409

There you go.
Are you using the site search? use the google box its much better

Wolfy's thread is excellent & informative just as is the much older info from Chiller who taught me this stuff.
View attachment Chiller__s_Yeast_Farming_etc.doc

TP

 

[Tony]

Hey Tony, just about those vials you use, they're 30 ml right? And you split your yeast pack between two of them and the starter your making but a standard yeast pack is 125 ml (I think). So couldn't you put the yeast into 3 vials and still have a roughly equal amount for the starter? cheers mate great article, just what I was looking for.

Hell yeah you can !!!

I used to make 3 vials but ended up with a lot of vials because i use a lot of different yeasts. It was then a 12 month struggle to use up all the vials before they got too old. A lot of them at 2 years of age still fired up. Slowly and the starters needed stepping up but they went and worked perfectly.

For me, 3 batches (50 liters a batch) is enough but if you only usually use 2 or 3 different yeasts, 4 from the pack and 1 repitch each is 8 from a pack with ease!

 

[JDW81]

Dedicated bottom shelf in the kitchen fridge. All your tubes\vials should be tightly sealed & impervious to contaminents but why tempt fate? Put your sourdough culture somewhere else.

TP

I would move it elsewhere but at present only have one fridge. I'll give it a shot and see what happens. Worst case scenario I only get one brew from a pack.

 

[tiprya]

Is there any reason you wouldn't collect the yeast vials after growing the starter?

If you collected the vials of yeast from the starter just before pitching, wouldn't that yeast have grown more cells, and thus you're able to pitch more to your current beer?

Thanks - this is a very good article.

 

[Tony]

Is there any reason you wouldn't collect the yeast vials after growing the starter?

If you collected the vials of yeast from the starter just before pitching, wouldn't that yeast have grown more cells, and thus you're able to pitch more to your current beer?

Thanks - this is a very good article.

Yes you can but the idea here isnt to pitch more cells from the vial..... its to save the first gen yeast from the pack to build up before pitching.

If you ferment it in the starter, then save it, then fermeent it again in a starter, then add it to your brew..... its done a bit more, and if you have a small bug in your starter...... your entire system of vials for that yeast is ruined.

Strait from the smack pack is safe.

strait from the smack pack means its as fresh as your going to get it.

Another thing to remember is that each time yeast ferments, the stronger of the bunch survive and the weaker die....... its life! For the brew this means each time you repitch the yeast..... it will be a bit different. we call it mutation.

with some yeasts, it may get better over a few brews, but with others like some belgian and wheat yeasts that produce complex esters which are important to their use....... the usually stop producing these esters and flavours because the yeast mutates, and the weaker cells that made the funky flavours we love soooo much reduce in volume, while oter stronger cleaner or worse... blander cells get stronger.

So thats why i save from the pack. Its one less ferment closer to perfection!

cheers