Making multiple yeast starters from a vial or smack pack?

I have a stir plate on the way, so I can get into making starters. What I am wondering is, can I stretch out a a vial of yeast I may use often, like an American or London Ale, by making multiple starters from the same vial, or by saving some of the starter by making a little more than I need and saving some to make the next starter?

I'm not sure if that would create problems such as under-pitching the starter or anything else I'm not considering.

No problem at all, in fact a very good way to save $$$. Instead of making a 1L starter for a regular ale, make a 2L starter and pour half into a (sanitized) quart jar before pitching. Put jar in the fridge and next time you need it make a new starter from it and the circle continues. Best way is to plate your new strain, never have to count generations.

k_mcarthur said:

No problem at all, in fact a very good way to save $$$. Instead of making a 1L starter for a regular ale, make a 2L starter and pour half into a (sanitized) quart jar before pitching. Put jar in the fridge and next time you need it make a new starter from it and the circle continues. Best way is to plate your new strain, never have to count generations.

Click to expand...

Awesome, thanks!

What exactly do you mean by 'plate your new strain'?

Also, once I have that 1L in the jar and I want to use it, how much of it would I use to make the next starter? I would assume all of it to make another 2L and repeat?

If you brew often enough, divide the "extra" starter into multiple small jars. That reduces your generation count. Treat the small jars as vials when making more starters. When you get to the last one, repeat the process.

Have a look at my Yeast Harvesting - a non-slant method.

MC

I just did this with a pack of Wyeast 1728 so i could use it in a beer and in a cider. Worked like a charm. For the beer half, I used a 1 pint starter as the first step, the stepped it up to 1.5 L. That was probably overkill, but two fermenters are happily chugging along right now.

I'm definitely going to check that out. I assume I could do the same thing if I wanted by starting with the washed trub of a US-05 or Nottingham batch (I use those a ton), or would it be best to start with a liquid equivalent?

dave8274 said:

Awesome, thanks!

What exactly do you mean by 'plate your new strain'?

Also, once I have that 1L in the jar and I want to use it, how much of it would I use to make the next starter? I would assume all of it to make another 2L and repeat?

Click to expand...

Search "plating yeast" on this forum, there is a really good step by step pictorial here. Basically you are making petri dishes and growing isolated yeast cultures.

I always decant spent wort and pour yeast slurry into new starter. Dividing into smaller jars is a better idea, I was just trying to simplify.

k_mcarthur said:

Search "plating yeast" on this forum, there is a really good step by step pictorial here. Basically you are making petri dishes and growing isolated yeast cultures.

I always decant spent wort and pour yeast slurry into new starter. Dividing into smaller jars is a better idea, I was just trying to simplify.

Click to expand...

I found this thread with pics called "Slanting Yeast" https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/slanting-yeast-133103/, is that what you were referring to, or possibly the link above called Yeast Harvesting - a non slant method?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/entries/plating-yeast-selecting-colonies.html

here is the tutorial I was referring to.