Starter Questions

I'm planning on using liquid yeast for the first time this weekend and I had some questions regarding the starter and saving some of the yeast slurry.

1) How large of a starter (water and DME quantities) do I need to make in order to pitch 75% and save 25% for future brews (walker-san's method)?

2) Do I need to keep some wort in the bottle with the stored yeast? If so, what's the best way to accomplish this given that the starter wort is either poured off before or during pitching?

3) Can I keep the stored yeast in the bottle I made the starter in or should I transfer it to a new bottle? Can I cap said bottle?

4) If I want to brew on Sunday, should I make the starter Friday or Saturday?

5) How long before making the starter should I remove the vial from the fridge (white labs)?

Thanks

#1. Make your starter 1 liter. Use 4 oz DME and boil for 30 mins then cool down to 70 degrees for pitching.

#2. I like to use White Labs yeast because it comes in a resealable tube. You can shake it up good and only add half of the tube to your starter. Then you can seal up the tube and store the rest for later use. And it is still the first generation yeast in the tube. Starter contains second generation.

You can reuse the yeast cake from the first batch 3 times. then you can make a starter with the rest of the yeast in the original tube and use it 3 more times.

#3. Use a Mason Jar or flip top beer bottle to save the yeast cake from your primary. Make sure you crack the seal everyday so that it does not build up pressure and burst.

#4. Make your starter friday night for Sunday brewing.

#5. I always remove yeast from the fridge at least 2 hours before you use it. It needs to warm to room temp before pitching.

In terms of saving the yeast cake, do you take any steps to wash the yeast or are you just repitching the whole thing? It was my understanding that there was a procedure for washing the yeast that had to be followed.

I only wash the yeast before the 3 and 4th use.

I always use the yeast to make the same type of beer so hops mismatches and other flavor mismatches do not worry me during the second use....where I pitch the whole yeast cake.

But washing is simple. Use distilled water.

Put your yeast cake in a quart/half gallon jar and fill with distilled water(same temp as the yeast cake...it works better if you do it cold @ refridge temps). Shake up the jar and let it sit for a min so the big particles settle but the water still has small yeast floating in it. Now pour off the liquid leaving behind the big dark trub. The good yeast will be floating in the water....and in a lighter looking layer on top of the dark trub.


Now let that liquid sit for a while and all the yeast will settle.....then pour off the majority of the water and you have clean yeast ready for a starter.


If you do not put loose hops in your primary then you should be OK to pitch the yeast without washing. Especially if you do not try to brew a lighter beer with the yeast cake. If you brew the same beer or something darker then you do not need to wash the yeast.

Yeast Washing for the Home Brewer
Objective:

To recover yeast from a finished batch of beer for repitching or storage for future brewing.

Materials:

One primary fermenter after beer has been siphoned or removed.

Three sanitized 1 quart mason jars with lids, filled half full of sterile or boiled water which have been cooled and chilled to refrigerator temperature (38 F)


Procedures:
Sanitize the opening of the carboy.

Pour the water from one of the quart jars into the carboy. Swirl to agitate the yeast, hop residual, and trub from the bottom.

Pour carboy contents back into the empty jar and replace the cover.

Agitate the jar to allow separation of the components. Continue to agitate periodically until obvious separation is noticeable.

While the viable yeast remains in suspension, pour off this portion, into the second jar, being careful to leave as much of the hops and trub behind as possible.

Agitate the second container to again get as much separation of yeast from particulate as possible. Allow contents to rest, then pour off any excess water from the surface.

Pour off yeast fraction, which suspends above the particulate into the third container. Store this container up to 1 month refrigerated. Pour off liquid and add wort, 2 days before brewing or repitch into a new brew straight away.