Yeast Starters

[wobbly]

Hi

I have checked out the three topice on Yeast Starters under "Frequently Requested Topics" without success.

My question relates to making and storeing first generation starters.

I am currently in the process of "bulking up" a Wyeast XL pack to around 2.5lt with the objective of then splitting this into say 6 by 400ml first generation starters.

My thoughts are to then take one of these starters and use it for say four or five brews by growing and saving a portion for the next brew etc. etc. After say 5 brews ditch it and start using another of the first generation starters etc etc.

Question 1. Is this a vaible proposition?

Question 2. Can these starters be stored in the beer wort or should they be stored in sterilised water? If sterilised water how do you go about doing this?

Question 3. How should/can I adequatley long term store the other five first generation starters?

Question 4. How long can you effectively store these starters and under what conditions?

Any assistance comments would be appreciated

Cheers

Wobbly

 

[Stuster]

Perhaps this thread will help, as well as this one.

 

[pint of lager]

Have a read through the links Stuster posted. If you still have questions, post them in those threads rather than appending to this one.

How many brews do you want your yeast to do?

Yeast is the soul of most styles, and trying to make one yeast do all styles will be limiting the end result.

If you aim to get your yeast to do 6 brews, that works out cheaply per brew. Even better is to find someone who lives close to you who is the same skill level and swap yeast starters. So if you do 24 brews a year, you could buy 4 liquid yeasts, split them six ways and should have a good range of yeasts to cover beer styles.

Make sure you understand what sterile is. All organisms, bacteria and spores are dead. For homebrewing, this means using a pressure cooker. Then, as soon as you open the pressure cooker, the contents are exposed to airborn contaminants and is no longer sterile. Boiling a sample for 15 minutes does not render it sterile.

 

[wobbly]

Thanks

Wobbly