small batch yeast quandary.

Please excuse my naivete here, but I have a small 1 gallon batch waiting to be made and it calls for wyeast 1968, so the yeast will cost twice as much as the grain bill, what are my options here, buy there yeast and only use half or less?, can I save the rest? Can I sub for the cheaper us-05, not the same style I know. Any advise?

 

Instead of subbing with US-05, I'd sub with S-04. It'll be much closer to Wyeast 1968. And doing a 1-gallon batch, you can easily use a partial packet of the dry yeast and save the rest for later.

I have heard of people using a partial Wyeast pack or White Labs tube, then storing the remainder in a sanitized tube. I think you'll want to use the remainder within a week or two - that's the advise I've heard, not having tried it myself.

 

If it is a high gravity batch it might need a fair amount of yeast. Mr. Malty's website has a yeast pitch rate calculator you could consult. Splitting dry yeast packs is easier, but splitting a smack pack would be a headache.
Another idea, if it isn't a massive overpitch you could use the full smack pack and save the yeast slurry from the bottom of the batch in multiple jars to split and pitch at a recommended rate in the future. There are stickies on yeast washing on HBT you can consult.

 

Thanks guys,
So the differance between 04 and 05 is what?