Stretching My Yeast Money

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Johnwongfat

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I use a lot of the White Labs California (WLP001) yeast and I was wondering if I could stretch it out a little further. My plan was to do a starter as I normally do (1000ml), and then swirl it to suspend it and pour half into another container and stash it in the fridge until my next batch is ready to go. If the yeast has doubled after 24 hours then theoretically won't I have as much as I started with in my tube when I split it and stick it in the fridge? After splitting I was going to top it off with more wort and I would have another starter going right? I'm sure there are holes in my marvelous plan here, would someone point them out to me please? :) I'm thinking I should probably let the starter settle out rather than split at full krausen, which is generally when I would pitch it, so I should actually have more than I started with, even after splitting. If this is an acceptable plan how many times would it be ok to split? I know I kind of shot a lot of questions out there, any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
Yeast doubling time is about 2 hours, so after 24 hours, you'd have lots. Your idea will work fine for 4-6 batches. Eventually the yeast mutates or gets contaminated. Another approach is to make a starter and bottle it in 5-6 bottles or old yeast tubes.
 
I had read about this in a book. You know the only thing I am thinking is that there is soo many varieties of yeast. I started at a time when there were very few to choice from. We had dry yeast and a couple of liquid.. not much really... there was not much of a decision involved. When I went to get my brewing stuff there must have been 20-25 different yeast in the fridge. Does picking different ones make a real big diffeence?
 
I think liquid yeasts give a cleaner taste and are more repeatable with results. I would suggest staying with 2 or 3 types, one ale, one lager and maybe one for strong brews. Even dry yeasts come in more varieties. Hops are another thing giving almost too many choices.
 
Yes, choosing the right yeast for your brew is important.

Yeast gives beer it's particular flavor.

Now that does not mean you can only use one type of yeast for a particular style/flavor, but there are specific yeast for styles also.

Some types have several choices of yeast that are within the style. For instance, there is more than one type of Hefe Weizen yeast strain. Each produces it's own flavor. Some flavors overlap between 2 or even 3 strains. Some yeast are capable of producing 2 flavors, depending on the fermenting temp.
 
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