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I’m not real sure what you mean by saving all the yeast. Isn’t that sort of what I’m doing?

I add about 3/4 gal water to the yeast cake after racking, pour everything into a 1 gal jug, let settle for a half hour and then decant off the trub into (3) 1 qt mason jars. I’ll leave the jars in the fridge overnight and decant again, leaving a little liquid for swirling purposes and about...

I’ve just heard repeatedly how hard it is to overpitch as a homebrewer, so I figured I’d dump it all in for kicks.

For me, it’s tough to plan a brew day several days in advance so I kind of miss the step where I can crash the starter long enough to decant. Something about pitching even a 1.5L starter that skeeves me out.

I probably won’t be able to brew for a few months so this will probably be the end of the line for this particular yeast. I find that washing and quickly reusing the yeast is easier than making a starter. They’ve always been a PITA for me for some reason.

Hmm not sure what you mean by saving the trub and skipping the washing. Would you care to explain further? Also, it is probably overkill to pitch as much as I have been doing. I just hate dumping any out.

Hello all. Quick background info. I’ve been doing lots of ales (~1.050) lately (blondes and ambers) using the wyeastII American Ale strain. I’ve reused the yeast (washed) four times now. I salvage as much as I can from the previous batch, decant and just pitch everything I salvage into the new...

Thanks for the reply. I did pretty much what you did. 3/4 gal of water, boiled, cooled and added to primary. Then swirled up, dumped into a 1 gal jug and left to settle for about an hour. Decanted off as much as I wanted to keep and set in fridge for 24 hours. I just now decanted off the liquid...

Hello all. I just went through my first yeast washing process. Seemed to go pretty well. I ended up stashing what I saved in 3 (1 quart) mason jars. I’ve had the jars in my fridge for about 24 hours now. The picture below is what I’m seeing now. Am I right in thinking that the white layer on...

I think I think I’ll just go and buy a stir plate. Seems to be the preferred method. Will probably do a 2L starter with 1 yeast pack, let it ferment out, crash, decent and do another 2L starter. How does that sound?

Also, what’s your method for chilling the starter? Do you wait until the krausen falls and just throw it right in the fridge or so you step cool it? And how long in the fridge? 24 hours?

I used to do all my brews with dry yeast. Switched to liquid not long ago, mostly for the variety of strains available, especially for lagers. Definitely much easier to go the dry route, but I feel more like I’m actually brewing with liquid yeasts. As far as my next lager, I may go the step...

Lots of great info here, thanks. If I’m reading that chart, are the ‘s 2’s and 3’s packets of yeast I need to add to the starter size?

I’m all malt, very low on speciality malts. Maybe 10% of a light caramel, that’s pretty much it. 8 days is still kind of early for a lager, I did raise the temp yesterday, hopefully in a few days it can get closer to FG

I haven’t had any issues with wort fermentability in all my time brewing. I take gravity readings pre and post boil and haven’t noticed any issues with fermentability.

Would using a stir plate be enough to avoid having to do the extra starter steps? I have a difficult time planning out a brew day a week in advance, I usually only know a few days in advance if I can brew. If not using a stir plate, would you just suggest putting one yeast pack in a 1L starter...

I should clarify, I did wait for the krausen to drop before placing in the fridge. I may just be overloading with 2 packs, depleting the wort sugars too quickly.

I gave the flask a good shake probably 4-5 times throughout the starter fermentation. It was definitely going strong in the flask. Lots of activity (could see bubbles moving rapidly), and even th krausen was bubbling. It seemed pretty healthy in the flask. As far as temps, I guess it’s possible...

I recently got into doing starters for all my 5 gallon batches. So far I’ve done 3, 1 Ale and 2 lagers. Had no issue with the Ale, but had to dump the first lager (a maibock) due to not pitching enough yeast and I’m afraid I’ve done the same thing with this most recent lager (OG:1.054 FG:1.013)...

Oh well, sounds like I screwed it all up haha Guess I'll just have to buy more yeast and try again!