Which way is less risky to save yeast for bottling and future brewing

[jmarshall]

So, I am brewing a belgian tripel and pitched two wyeast 1214 smackpacks. I plan on a semi-long secondary and crash-cooling so I want to have some yeast to re-pitch when bottling. I am considering two ways to keep some yeast for this and for future batches and want to know which way is better in terms of lower infection risk and better yeast condition.

Option A: With the second pack I pitched the vast majority, then saved the last few drops. I added a little pre-boiled and cooled water to the pack and poured this into a starter. I plan to grown through a few starters. Advantage is that I start with healthy, non-selected yeast but a very low cell count, thus my worry is letting a small inoculum of other organisms have a chance to grow as well.

Option B: Wash yeast from the primary fermenter and grow a starter a generation or two. Advantage is large amount of yeast to start with. Disadvantage is that this batch has a lot of trub and yeast aren't as healthy to start.

Whichever I choose, I will pitch part of it for bottling and put the rest in old White labs tubes to save for a dubbel in a few months.

Thoughts?

 

[bionicbrew]

have you read the "yeast washing illustrated" sticky thread in this section? that's good if you will be keeping it around a little while. if you will be brewing and using it within a week, grow a starter. that's my vote. the harvesting/washing is still good yeast. I've done it many times up to 2-3 generations. I can't use it quick enough to go more.

 

[Revvy]

I use mason jars as shown in the yeast washing sticky and have kept and used yeast for years.

 

[jmarshall]

Thanks guys, yes I have read the sticky on yeast washing. I will probably do both. The starter I made with the drops out of the original container looks good, so I will probably build that up a few times and store until bottling the current batch. I will wash yeast too and use in future batches (I plan to do a dubbel in a month or two to be ready this fall).

 

[SethMasterFlex]

Washing is the way to go. You get very healthy yeast for your next beer, and you drastically reduce your yeast cost if you wash strains that you use often.