Haha ya you might have broke that record. So basically if your harvesting yeast, it would be wise to re-use that yeast in the same or similar beer. I guess that is kinda common sense.
Anyone make 10 gallon batches? I kno your gonna say look at mrmalty for starter sizes, but just in general how big of a starter is needed to pitch a 1.065-ish beer in a 10 gallon size? I'm looking at ordering a stir plate and flask and what not so I would like to be able to accommodate my equipment to make a large enough starter for 10 gallons.
I harvested US-05 (WLP001, WY1056, same basic strain) for quite a while as mostly I was making Pales, IPA's, ESB's (even this yeast works fine for this style), etc. These beers are about the malt and/or hops, not as much about the yeast, so anything remotely clean works.
Belgians are an example of a beer that has a yeast characteristic in the final flavor, usually a clove/spice and/or plum/dark-fruit quality. You'd have to manufacture those flavors with actual spices and secondarying on fruit in order to get them otherwise...and it wouldn't be the same.
I'd get a 3L flask if you only get one. Get a stir-plate, which is on my list. If you're using fresh yeast (vials or packs) you'll need to make a starter, probably one starter with dry yeast and with liquid you'd need to step it up (make a starter, cold-crash it, pour off clear liquid, then add more wort to make another larger starter with the yeast.) DO check Yeastcalc for stepped up starters.
With cake, mrmalty will tell you how many ML of thick yeast slurry you need, likely 200-300ML for a 10g batch of cake harvested within the last month or so. These are all reasonable guesses only.