fluxcapacitor
Member
I recently got tired of paying $8 for a new vial of yeast for every batch so I've started harvesting yeast by scooping a bit of the krausen into pint jars with a large sanitized spoon. My first brew using harvested yeast came out well, but now I'm wondering how much yeast I should be collecting when I harvest. I drop few scoops of krausen into pint jars and then fill the jars with cooled boiled water. After water clears and the yeast flocculates, the volume of yeast I end up with varies anywhere from just a 1/8" thin layer up to a 1/2" layer at the bottom of the jar. I always make a starter before pitching to get my cell count up and get the yeast moving, but is there a general rule of thumb for the volume of yeast I should be harvesting to pitch into a starter for a future batch?