If you want to build up a lot of yeast for a large batch of high gravity beer, I can see two potential options:
1. Brew a small beer and pitch on yeast cake.
2. Do controlled starters and step up continuously until you hit your desired number.
I have been doing a lot of step up starters recently and it is always disappointing to decant off the starter wort (which does not smell/taste good). I would much rather have a small batch of good tasting beer and then use it's leftover yeast to make a bigger beer.
So my real question is:
Is yeast from a starter healthier than yeast from a brewed beer? Or in other words does highly over pitched/non hopped beers (I.e. Starters) produce a higher quality yeast with easier to predict growth rates.
I'm considering changing my brewing rotation to make a small batch session beer followed by a full batch of higher gravity. For example, I would make 3 gallons of ordinary bitter, save the yeast and pitch it into a 10 gallon batch of ESB. Do you think the quality of my ESB will be lesser than if I just built up that yeast with starters.
FWIW, I don't think yeast washing is a good idea, so I would only pitch yeast that was very recently harvested (I.e. Fresh yeast cake, not stored for more than 5 days).
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1. Brew a small beer and pitch on yeast cake.
2. Do controlled starters and step up continuously until you hit your desired number.
I have been doing a lot of step up starters recently and it is always disappointing to decant off the starter wort (which does not smell/taste good). I would much rather have a small batch of good tasting beer and then use it's leftover yeast to make a bigger beer.
So my real question is:
Is yeast from a starter healthier than yeast from a brewed beer? Or in other words does highly over pitched/non hopped beers (I.e. Starters) produce a higher quality yeast with easier to predict growth rates.
I'm considering changing my brewing rotation to make a small batch session beer followed by a full batch of higher gravity. For example, I would make 3 gallons of ordinary bitter, save the yeast and pitch it into a 10 gallon batch of ESB. Do you think the quality of my ESB will be lesser than if I just built up that yeast with starters.
FWIW, I don't think yeast washing is a good idea, so I would only pitch yeast that was very recently harvested (I.e. Fresh yeast cake, not stored for more than 5 days).
Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew