noob yeast farmer

**hopdawg** · 09-08-2009, 05:07 AM

I need someone to help clear up a few uncertainties I have about yeast starters.
I gathered and washed a sample from my last batch per John Palmers instructions, seems simple to this point. Making a starter from this sample seems simple enough as well. My question is will this little sample multiple into a a big enough starter and how do I gauge it?

Parker36 · 09-08-2009, 05:13 AM

Theoretically you could start with a single cell and build it up to a full starter, it just depends on how careful you are. Looking at your picture, it looks like you have a fairly small sample collected (but that just might be the angle) so you have some work to do. I suggest reading here: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/, great how to with pictures and everything

avibayer · 09-08-2009, 01:58 PM

So, i have just started washing and "stealing" yeast from my friends beers. I hate sediment, so i have been letting the wash sit in the fridge, and as the yeast settles to the top (of sediment, not liquid) after a week or so, i gently swirl the jar, stirring up only a little yeast and not much sediment. then go through two rounds of starters to really up my cell counts.

it seems to be working well for me, though i end up going through more DME than i would like.

anyone else have suggestions or comments?

**Homercidal** · 09-08-2009, 02:59 PM

From the Yeast Washing instructions I have read (above), I have made a starter, and then let the heavy stuff settle and pour the liquid off the top. The heavy stuff is supposed to be more trub than yeast. Then place the remainder in the fridge to chill out and after a while the yeast settles out of the liquid (beer), and you can easily pour this liquid off the yeast. Then mix a small bit of water into yeast slurry and slosh around to loosen it from the bottom of the jar at pitching time.

**hopdawg** · 09-08-2009, 07:41 PM

That is a very simple and useful write-up, thanks.

Question still remains is, how much of a starter with this make? 10 cells, 1 billion, 100 billion, 10 zillion?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parker36

Theoretically you could start with a single cell and build it up to a full starter, it just depends on how careful you are. Looking at your picture, it looks like you have a fairly small sample collected (but that just might be the angle) so you have some work to do. I suggest reading here: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/, great how to with pictures and everything

**Randar** · 11-26-2009, 03:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by faststage1

That is a very simple and useful write-up, thanks.

Question still remains is, how much of a starter with this make? 10 cells, 1 billion, 100 billion, 10 zillion?

As much as you want it to... you should build it up in volume in steps. If you pitch that much yeast into 100ml starter, you can then build it up to 1L or more like if you were pitching from a smack pack.

mordantly · 11-26-2009, 03:53 AM

i just made a starter of 1728 from a loop dipped in my smack pack set-aside (<.5M cells). put it in a beaker with the "smack" pouch ~1 oz of sterile wort. put on stir plate with inverted larger beaker to keep contaminants out. 12 hrs later dumped into 1L starter and back on plate for 24 hrs at 600 rpm. the yeast cake was probably ~200mL !