splitting starters vs washing yeast - best method?

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haeffnkr

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Hi,
Just as the title says... I have been reading a lot and seems that folks like to wash yeast and use slury and pitch on yeast cakes, but I dont see to much mentioned about splitting starters for storage/propagation.

I am a noob but -
Seems to me buying a vial, building/building up a, say, 2L starter, divide that into 2 1L starters.
Pitch one starter and store the other in the refrigerator until you do the above again.
I would guess this always gives you first generation yeast, sort of and seems easier then getting used yeast out of a fermenter/carboy and all.

What am I missing with this line of thinking?

thanks Kevin
 
I do this. Make a large starter, cold crash, decant and then split into two mason jars and cover with distilled water. Much easier for me since I do half batches though. The downside is that you'll pay for DME to make starters, whereas your batches are essentially big starters that you're going to pay for anyway. Also in some cases people prefer working with 2nd or 3rd gen yeast I think.
 
I essentially asked the same question not too long ago and got a lot of great feedback that encouraged me to do just that. I've got my first starter going right now on my homemade stir plate in anticipation of brewing this weekend. I'll split it before I pitch.

The thread is here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/saving-yeast-starters-319774/

I think it makes tons of sense and I love the idea of maintaining a healthy stash of yeasts I plan to use again.

3 lbs of DME is only about $8, and should make several starters.
 
thanks for the replies thus far -

GrandpasFridge - thanks for the link, I searched for split yeast and divide yeast with minimal results...

Kevin
 
haeffnkr said:
Hi,
Just as the title says... I have been reading a lot and seems that folks like to wash yeast and use slury and pitch on yeast cakes, but I dont see to much mentioned about splitting starters for storage/propagation.

I am a noob but -
Seems to me buying a vial, building/building up a, say, 2L starter, divide that into 2 1L starters.
Pitch one starter and store the other in the refrigerator until you do the above again.
I would guess this always gives you first generation yeast, sort of and seems easier then getting used yeast out of a fermenter/carboy and all.

What am I missing with this line of thinking?

thanks Kevin
Click to expand...

Your starter is nothing more than a scaled down batch of beer though.... If I was going to use DME, time, more steps to rins infection, etc. I would just rather make a bach of beer and wash it.

I see where you are going with this and it is a good idea... But, I personally would choose not to do this.
 
Why not?
I do it every time, in fact I make starter and split it in several vials for freezing.
When its time for brew I step it up to pitching rate.. this is great way to save some $. Just be sure that you have everything properly sanitized.
 
I am experimenting with making yeast go farther. I bought a vial of white labs San Diego made a yeast starter pitchched about 3/4 of it and then started another starter with some canned wort and let it go for 3 days. Then stopped the stir bar let it settle. Poured off the "beer" added water let it run 20 min then let it settle. Poured off the most of the water shook and poured back into the sanitized vial put in the fridge. I will let you know if it is enough for another starter when I get that far but I don't know why that wouldn't do it.
 
There is infinitely number of routes you can go.
To be sure you"ve got right cells number go to mr-malty.com or yeastcalc and get your numbers in. This way you can play with initial cells number, step sizes etc...
 
When I make my wort, I make an extra 2 liters. Then I remove that 2 liters prior to boil, and freeze in a Mason jar.

Then when I need a starter, I thaw out the wort, cool, and pitch my washed yeast.

Now I am going to try the OPs method for the yeast, sound like a perfect combination.
 

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