One yeast vial split between two starters?

I am gonna be brewing a 1.100 OG beer here pretty soon and they suggest 2 litre starter.... Of course I dont have a vessel big enough for that.

So I was wondering if I could use one vial of white labs yeast and split it between two containers of starter wort??

i use 1 wyeast and grow the starter for a few days, then split it into 2 more starters, that way the yeast are active healthy, and not overly stressed.

since the volume of wort is small it might not matter but thats how i do it, its easier to measure and split 1000ml than 10ml

What I would do is get two large containers. then grow the largest starter you can in container 1 over a few days. then when you have a lot of yeast, make up another starter in container two and pour half the yeast from starter a into it...then feed both til you have the volume you want.

In other words rather than split a low cell count, raise the cellcount first, THEN split it off...That is sort of how it works in nature, like with lions...when the herd grows too large for the area it is in, THEN a group splits off from the main colony and strikes out on their own for their own hunting ground. AND then both herds continue to grow....

FWIW - You *could* brew a small ale and pitch on top of the yeast cake. Something not too hoppy or strong, like around 1.040 - 1.050. As long as you are spending time making lots of yeast, might as well get a bunch of beer out of it!

I start with a 1 liter of wort, then step it up a day later to 2 liters, the next day I add another 1/2 liter of wort, then immediately split it up into three Erlenmeyer flasks and let it go another day. This works for me for one vial to 3 batches.

Homercidal said:

FWIW - You *could* brew a small ale and pitch on top of the yeast cake. Something not too hoppy or strong, like around 1.040 - 1.050. As long as you are spending time making lots of yeast, might as well get a bunch of beer out of it!

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Yeah, making a 1 gallon or even better a 2.5 gallon small beer would net you plenty of yeast. You could either just pitch your white labs directly for the small batch or make a small starter, but in this case it would be unnecessary. I have done 2.5 gallon strong belgian ales with one tube of yeast without a starter, and it was 6 month old yeast at that. I just gave it plenty of oxygen and the right temp and it took off like a rocket.

Ferment the starter in a carboy
Better yet, make a small beer with that yeast and then pitch the big one on the yeast cake

I'm gonna make a belgian blonde ale and pitch the dark strong on that cake or just take some of the yeast off of it.