Alrighty, Im going pick the brains of the best here at HBT. I've been reculturing yeast the sloppy way for a while now, getting about 5 good brew days out of recylcing the yeast before I wuss out and throw it out. Im afraid it's going to turn on me, get infected, etc and ruin a perfectly good batch. Here's what Im currently doing:
Get the yeast from my LHBS.
Make a starter in my clear (and extremely over the top sanitized) .5 gallon growler. 1 cup light DME to 1 cup water
Pitch the yeast at appropriate temp and fix with mini rubber stopper and bubbler.
Stir constantly, everytime I walk by it and keep yeast in fermentation cooler at 70 degrees exactly.
Once decent amount of yeast has accumulated for pitching on brew day, I swirl the concoction up and pour a small amount through a funnel into the tube the yeast came in from my LHBS. Everything obviously having been sterilyzed.
Pitch the remaining yeast and put the new yeast filled tube upright into fridge.
And now I use this small sample to repeat the process next time Im ready to brew. Only once has this method bit me and the yeast was about 4 months old. The only thing that happened was the fermentation stuck and I cant blame this exclusively on the yeast. Could be temp, sugars, etc.
Ive read on the PROPER way to recycle yeast and it appears I need to get a chemist's degree. People mention gellatin and test tubes, agars, etc. How is everyone out there recycling their yeasts if you dont mind dropping some knowledge my way. I dont mind my method, but ultimately I want a fridge full of yeasts I can pull from and not have to buy anymore for a while. And then also come up with my own hybrid strains! References for my info are below:
Yeast Culturing
The Art of Culturing Yeast
And this months issue of Brew Your Own magazine.
Its the weekend so get to brewin!
Get the yeast from my LHBS.
Make a starter in my clear (and extremely over the top sanitized) .5 gallon growler. 1 cup light DME to 1 cup water
Pitch the yeast at appropriate temp and fix with mini rubber stopper and bubbler.
Stir constantly, everytime I walk by it and keep yeast in fermentation cooler at 70 degrees exactly.
Once decent amount of yeast has accumulated for pitching on brew day, I swirl the concoction up and pour a small amount through a funnel into the tube the yeast came in from my LHBS. Everything obviously having been sterilyzed.
Pitch the remaining yeast and put the new yeast filled tube upright into fridge.
And now I use this small sample to repeat the process next time Im ready to brew. Only once has this method bit me and the yeast was about 4 months old. The only thing that happened was the fermentation stuck and I cant blame this exclusively on the yeast. Could be temp, sugars, etc.
Ive read on the PROPER way to recycle yeast and it appears I need to get a chemist's degree. People mention gellatin and test tubes, agars, etc. How is everyone out there recycling their yeasts if you dont mind dropping some knowledge my way. I dont mind my method, but ultimately I want a fridge full of yeasts I can pull from and not have to buy anymore for a while. And then also come up with my own hybrid strains! References for my info are below:
Yeast Culturing
The Art of Culturing Yeast
And this months issue of Brew Your Own magazine.
Its the weekend so get to brewin!