Starter from home brewed bottle?

[SugarMushroom]

I was thinking that this should be a very simple way to make a starter:

Several days before you wanted to brew, sterilize the top of a bottle of homebrew containing the desired type of yeast. Open it with a sterizlized bottle opener. Decant the beer into a glass without contaminating the top of the bottle. Leave a few mL of beer in the bottle, swirl and pour into the starter. Drink the homebrew while the starter does its thing. Since the cell count and viability of the beer bottle yeast may be low....several days may be necessary to get the numbers up--but it should work. You'd really have to be careful with sterility obviously. Anyone do this routinely? It would certainly be a nice way to go if it is reliable.

 

[pjkutah12]

This can absolutely be done if you maintain good sanitation habits. You might need more than a few days to properly grow a healthy starter for brewing your next batch. I would consider stepping up from a small vial to 2L in multiple steps and be sure you are using a stir plate. The yeast you are harvesting have already been through a lot and are beat up pretty bad. You might want to consider harvesting the yeast from your prior batches, washing them, and saving them in glass jars. They will remain relatively viable for some time and you will already have more than you need to pitch another batch. If the yeast has been sitting around for awhile then create a 2L starter and pitch a small amount, 50ml's of slurry, and put it on a stir plate for 20 hours. the yeast will grow and be pretty healthy to ferment your next batch. I hope this helps!!