Starter Inquiry

Historically I've been lucky enough to get free Yeast from my local brew house. In an effort to reduce my laziness I finally wanted to kick things off with a decent starter as my last batch of witbier was ruined by trusting a weak smack pack. Out of 20 batches I guess one is bound to fail..

My Question:
I've got 1,000 ml bubbling away on my stir plate. I'm brewing one 5 gallon batch tomorrow and one next week. Is it possible to somehow use 2/3 of the current starter, put the other 1/3 in the fridge and then use that to make ANOTHER starter next week? In other words can I simply pitch the the remains and create an additional colony? Will this somehow reduce the strength of the strain?

you should be able to just pull some of that wort to do a starter with witbier

You could do that, but be careful on under pitching your current batch. If you only pitch 2/3 of your starter you are only at about 660ml. When I get a yeast strain I know I can use for upcoming batches I like to make a starter about 400 ml bigger than I need, then I just put the extra 400ml into a sanitized mason jar and pop it in the fridge.

You could also wash and re-use the yeast from your current batch after it is done fermenting. It's preference I guess. I just find it easier to make over sized starters and reserve some. I often get 4 to 6 batches from a vial this way if I am brewing requently and have a common strain of yeast.

sadly the witbier has gone down the drain, and I'm brewing a california golden tomorrow and an IPA next week. Are you saying simply pull some wort from tomorrow's batch and use it next week?

Thank you Zen brew, lesson learned for sure.

Zen_Brew said:

You could do that, but be careful on under pitching your current batch. If you only pitch 2/3 of your starter you are only at about 660ml. When I get a yeast strain I know I can use for upcoming batches I like to make a starter about 400 ml bigger than I need, then I just put the extra 400ml into a sanitized mason jar and pop it in the fridge.

You could also wash and re-use the yeast from your current batch after it is done fermenting. It's preference I guess. I just find it easier to make over sized starters and reserve some. I often get 4 to 6 batches from a vial this way if I am brewing requently and have a common strain of yeast.

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i'd listen to zen brew before i listened to me, that's for sure. he knows a helluva lot more than me

what i'm suggesting is that you can pull some wort 2-3 days ahead of needing it from the batch you have going, adding some dme to it to get it roaring again, then pitch it.