Growing yeast

I purchased a vial of liquid yeast from my local brew shop for a recipe I am planning on trying. Is there anyway to take a portion of that bottle, split it into another flask and grow more and make my own strands of that yeast? Duplicate it by splitting it and double or tripple the amount of yeast so I dont have to buy that same one again?

There may be a post about this but I am not sure what the process is called.

Thanks!

Yes, you can do just that -- make a large starter, pitch some of it and split the rest into small containers that can be kept viable in the fridge for weeks. You can also make up some vials, add glycerine and freeze them (see my sig for details).

Yes you can do that, do some searching on:

Yeast Starters
Yeast Propagation
And Yeast Slants

Basically you make a starter and allow your yeast to grow, then you do it again and again. Following very stringent sanitation practices of course. Also a side note that it is recommended that you only use yeast 5-6 times so the yeast doesn't start mutating.


Cheers

Its also really easy to just wash the yeast after you use the whole vial on the first batch.
http://www.donosborn.com/homebrew/yeast_washing_the_wyeast_way.htm

do it that way and you can get 4-5 vials worth from the first batch you make.
that's 2nd generation, and you could easily use one vial and wash it to get 3rd gen, etc.

You'd end up with something like 20-25 batches off one original vial before you'd hit the 'worry about mutations' phase...so less than 40 cents for the yeast per batch over time.
You'd want a nice, versatile strain that would work for a variety of recipes, like a dry irish ale (stouts, red ales, porters, browns).

Hold on... everything I have read says anywhere from 5 to 10 generations on yeast before you need to worry about mutation. If you get 5 vials going into the second generation, that would be 25 going into the third, 125 going into the fourth, and 625 at fifth generation... if you take that out to the tenth generation, you have almost 2 million yeast samples.

In other words, the only reason you might ever need to buy that particular yeast again, if you are using proper sanitation and don't end up with contaminated samples, is because you don't have enough fridge/freezer space to hold all the samples.

It would be interesting to take a yeast out to about the tenth generation, and still have all of the earlier generations, and be able to do a split batch and compare and see if it is still producing the same product.

I do that with every smack pack I buy. I smack the pack about 2 weeks prior to brewing and let it expand for a few days. I then bleach-sanitize 2x22oz bottles for initial fermentation, pitching the yeast (about 1/2), with some dextrose and nutrient. Once that is complete, I'll step it up to a 1/2 gallon growler or 1 gallon, depending on the gravity of the batch it's gonna get pitched to.

rabid,

I don't think I explained it right, but I think you understood what I meant.

I did indeed mean to store 4 of the 5 vials of washed yeast, and use the 1 vial through several generations, washing each time.
I'm not sure I'd want to wash 4th gen yeast to 5 vials though...by then it might start acting funny...I dunno I've never gotten that far (yet).
I'm pretty much happy to turn one $8 smack pack into enough batches to make it as cheap, or cheaper, than dry yeast.

malkore said:

I'm pretty much happy to turn one $8 smack pack into enough batches to make it as cheap, or cheaper, than dry yeast.

Click to expand...

I agree completely. I use pint sized canning jars for storing yeast, and Quart size for storing prepared wort. One pint and two quarts fills my 2 Liter flask very nicely. My initial yeast cost is $4.25. If I pour off one pint only from each starter, I am still at less than a dollar per beer for the starter, and that is assuming I only go out to the fifth generation. Take that out to the tenth, and you are down to 50 cents. And that is only saving one sample each time.

Works for me.