Propagating sweetwater ipa

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So I'm trying to get some yeast from a 6 pack of sweetwater ipa. I've never tried this nor have I ever made a yeast starter. I've always just pitched the smack packs.

I don't see anything happening in the wort I added to the sweetwater. I didn't see any sludge at the bottom of the bottles though. Are things happening that I just can't see or is this a dumb idea and I should just try a yeast starter for the vial of white labs yeast I have. I was hoping to brew on Tue or Wed of next week.

This yeast stuff is fascinating but so new to me.
 
harvesting yeast from bottles takes some time, and you'll likely have to step up the starter once or twice before seeing activity, even though it may be happening. There are some good threads on this. Not positive, but I think Sweetwater might just be using the Chico strain (1056, 001, US05). I'd look into it.
 
ok. I see some results now at the bottom. Seems like I can decant the liquid and add more starter to the slurry. It seems there are a bunch of different methods to this madness.

Would it be better to measure gravity and wait till it is steady to add more wort?
 
Thanks Shadow69. I have a vial of wlp008. I have a lot of sediment at the bottom of my growler now after 1 step up. I have yet to see it get a layer of krausen on it though. I am kind of nervous to brew with it. I really don't want to ruin a batch of beer with not enough yeast. Should I keep doing step ups until I get a krausen layer? So far I have only made wort with a pretty low OG. Perhaps now I can step up to a higher OG wort now that I have some activity?
 
You should be fine, you will not always get a layer of karson. I assume your shaking it every so often to mix up the layers of yeast? I always have a pack of dry yeast on hand just in case.
 
harvesting yeast from bottles takes some time, and you'll likely have to step up the starter once or twice before seeing activity, even though it may be happening. There are some good threads on this. Not positive, but I think Sweetwater might just be using the Chico strain (1056, 001, US05). I'd look into it.

We use Wyeast 1968 on our year-round beers...
 
Shadow, yes mixing it about every 4 hours when home and awake. Working on finding the parts to make a stir plate.

dedhedjed, thank you so much! the Sweetwater IPA is my wife's favorite so she is a fan of trying to harvest more yeast. I think she may be sabotaging my efforts so I will buy another 6-er tonight.
 
Well now that I have the answer to my question (just buy wyeast 1968 in the future) I figured I would throw out my propagating yeast but when I went in this am to do just that I see a layer of krausen on top. Pretty cool. I've never seen that before as I ferment in plastic buckets and didn't know anything about a starter till I started reading about yeast on here while stuck with a broken down car one day.
 
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