Makin' Yeast...

[dhickey]

I'm new to yeast stuff, but I have been trying to figure out stretching the yeast cost out. Why not make a yeast starter, increase up to 2.0-2.8B cells. Divide into 4 containers. Essentially, reducing the cost from $12 to $4 per batch? I see threads talking about washing and pitching trub, but I'd rather just use "clean" yeast.

Am I missing something?

 

[day_trippr]

imho, nope. There are many ways to farm yeast from an initial investment and save quite a bit of $$, even when accounting for the malt extract needed for propagating to pitchable levels. I have both 1056 and 1318 running since February...

Cheers!

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

I went down that rabbit hole myself, I would buy 5 pounds of dme and I have 2 large flasks, just swap them out and keep one running all week, take a small amount of the original and add to the next, the problem I ran into is I produced too much yeast and after 6 months I couldn't trust it so I just started buying a brick of dry but it does work

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

I went down that rabbit hole myself, I would buy 5 pounds of dme and I have 2 large flasks, just swap them out and keep one running all week, take a small amount of the original and add to the next, the problem I ran into is I produced too much yeast and after 6 months I couldn't trust it so I just started buying a brick of dry but it does work

the best thing to do is is research freezing yeast

 

[day_trippr]

My farming strategy is rather simplistic but it has worked for years. Starting with the original bought package I do a 5 liter starter, pitch two thirds (10 gallon batches) and save the last third for the next round. I use the Brew United yeast calculator to come up with cell counts and make adjustments when necessary. I've been able to keep that going for up to a year before starting over, and I've never have had an unsuccessful pitch. An extra up side is I'm just a couple of days from a pitch without leaving the house

Cheers!

 

[IslandLizard]

What @day_trippr says.^

Why not make a yeast starter, increase up to 2.0-2.8B cells.
[...]
Am I missing something?

Not up to 2.0-2.8 billion cells.
The starters we typically make from homebrewer packs easily increase cell counts by 200-400 billion cells or even higher.

 

[day_trippr]

Exactly. I prefer a 1M cells/ml/°P rate for comfort and thus aim for 350B cells per 5g pitch, roughly 1T cells in a 5L starter, setting aside around 300B for the next run...

Cheers!

 

[wepeeler]

What @day_trippr says. Start with a smack pack, overbuild a starter, harvest some off from starter and use for next starter. I've been doing it for years.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Am I missing something?

What you describe is essentially an "overbuild yeast starter." A search here or in the internet will find more info. The most common practice is a starter that will build up 300B cells, with 200B cells pitched into a batch and another 100B cells saved for a future starter. I have done this a couple times. I helps to have a stir plate and a vessel to support a 3L starter (I use a 1 gallon glass jar).

My most common reuse strategy is to harvest yeast slurry from the fermenter after fermentation. For me this is an easier process, but you have to deal with trub in the fermenter, and avoid harvesting from dry hopped beers and high ABV beers. A general rule is that a 5 gallon batch of ale will end with 800B cells of yeast, so pitching 1/4 of the total slurry into the next batch is a great pitch (for a moderate gravity ale...more for cold lagers and high gravity beers). I have gotten up to a dozen batches out of one pack of yeast.

Also, 80% of my beers these days are dry yeast. There are some very solid dry yeasts that cost less than $5 per pack, though you can also do the same starter or harvesting strategies for dry yeast.

 

[DBhomebrew]

I'm top cropping these days. Cleaner slurry than when I harvested post fermentation from the bottom cake. Don't need to over build the starter. Produces much more yeast than I need by orders of magnitude.

 

[hotbeer]

Consider if you are really brewing that much that going to all the effort will save you that much money. Dry yeast is still pretty inexpensive. And the variety today is great compared to a couple decades ago when all the yeast harvesting and saving techniques became somewhat of a must for the home brewer.

Certainly it's a interesting aspect of home brewing. But not entirely necessary unless it's just something you want to do for your enjoyment.

 

[MaxStout]

Consider if you are really brewing that much that going to all the effort will save you that much money. Dry yeast is still pretty inexpensive. And the variety today is great compared to a couple decades ago when all the yeast harvesting and saving techniques became somewhat of a must for the home brewer.

Certainly it's a interesting aspect of home brewing. But not entirely necessary unless it's just something you want to do for your enjoyment.

I get what you're saying--I'm a dry yeast user, as well. I brew mainly ales, and US-05/S-04/Notty set me back about $3 a packet. I've been thinking more and more about reusing yeast, but not when I can buy a fresh pack for a few bucks. Just not worth the work, DIY "adventure," notwithstanding.

But I brew a few lagers and those yeasts run more like $6 a packet, and I often have to pitch more than one. For those I might be tempted to reuse. Trouble is, I don't brew lagers that often and normally don't follow one with another. (If I did, I'd just rack the new wort onto the cake.) So I'll have to save yeast and freeze it for later. Never done that, but it could be my next little project.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Top cropping: no more effort than spooning some barm(krausen) off the top into a sanitized jar. Done. I don't spend more than $1 a batch for yeast. As always, YMMV.