Yeast and 1 Gallon Batches

I want to test out a few recipes with 1 gallon batches and had a few questions about using and harvesting the yeast. I have two recipes, one using a White Labs liquid yeast and one using a Red Star dry yeast.

1) Anyone heard of Red Star? It's a sweet mead yeast and was my only option at the LHBS.

2) Is there still a benefit in making a starter or should I just dump in half or a third of the package?

3) I'd like to harvest the yeast for future use, especially the liquid one. I have vials and glycol, but what's the most efficient way to do it? Poor the extra yeast into the vial and seal or should I make a starter and harvest the traditional way?

Thanks all.

great question and one I was considering recently as well.....


bump......

1-Are you brewing mead? I don't know about using mead yeast for beer. Could you use the White Labs for both? Here's where you may have to Google the Mr Malty Yeast Calculator and see if you need a starter to be split into two batches. My guess is the one tube could cover both 1g batches without a starter.

2-No starter needed for the liquid yeast, unless the original is really old and/or poorly handled.

3- The basic method is harvest from the yeast cake from the fermenter on bottling day. But I don't do the glycol/vial thing.

Yeast Washing....

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/

Don't make a starter with the dry yeast, but do rehydrate it before pitching. Dry yeast is cheap, I wouldn't even try washing it. The liquid yeast - use the above method. Like he said above, use this: http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html You might find you don't even need a whole vial for a 1 gallon batch and it might overpitch. Overpitching can cause your beer to be less than it could.... Good Luck! Oh - and I would say for all batches 5 gallon or higher, make a starter with the liquid yeast. Wakes them up and helps them multiply to the most appropriate pitching rate for your beer. That and fermentation temp control are the two most important things in making homebrew.

The two recipes are for two different braggots. The dry red star yeast was the only sweet mead yeast they had in stock, but I have time so I guess I could order the WL or Wyeast versions from somewhere else.

I saw the yeast washing thread, but I was looking to put the yeasts in a frozen yeast bank for longer storage.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/guide-making-frozen-yeast-bank-35891/

So I'm in a catch-22 where the instructions are based on a started, but my batch will be too small to need a starter...

I would only do the frozen yeast as a project/fun type of thing. Unless you're doing strains that are hard to come by. Yeast might cost $7 or $8 a vial, but is important for a good product. I don't think gambling a few dollars on a comtaminated batch is worth it. Not to mention all the time and money for the necessary equipment.