How do I make more yeast for my three beers?

[Trimmer]

Hello all,

In my infinite wisdom I purchased three beer kits with the same yeast and only bought one yeast vile. I was thinking, why by three yeast viles when I can just grow more yeast. I never thought about it but I really don't know how to grow yeast the best way given my situation. I figured I need 600 million yeast cells for all three of my beers.

I only have one yeast vile a 2L borosilicate glass flask... I wish I either had more yeast viles or a larger flask, but I don't. According to the chart it looks like I can only make 200 million cells with the 2L flask and one yeast vile? Could I brew a beer and use the yeast at the bottom of the trub for the next two batches?

I obviously don't want to wear out my yeast, so I figured I'd ask the experts. Any suggestion?

 

[Quaker]

If you're ok brewing them in sequence, you can certainly reuse the yeast from one batch to the next. Search for a thread "yeast washing illustrated" for best results. It's a stickie in the Yeast and Fermentation section.

Or if you are brewing the second before the first is finished, then top crop yeast from the krausen of the first one and either take all you need if pitching immediately or use that to make a starter if it'll be a few days. That's more difficult in a carboy than a bucket, but if search on here I'm sure there are some techniques.

 

[Riot]

In your situation I would make a starter for the first beer I wanted to do, and make it about 20% bigger than it needs to be. When you pitch it, leave the extra in the starter flask, and feed it again for the next beer. Do the same for batch 3.

 

[flars]

You can use any type of container for a starter. All it needs is a fairly flat bottom for the stir bar to spin on. Cook your wort in a kettle, cool, and pour into the container.

Here is an excellent starter calculator. http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/

Your first beer will result in enough harvested yeast for three more beers if they are ales. After brewing three beers you will be looking for fellow brewers to give all the extra yeast to.

 

[dobe12]

Line up your brew days 2 weeks apart. Brew the first then collect the yeast (don't bother washing/rinsing, it's a waste of time). Just split the yeast cake up into 3 large mason jars. You now have enough yeast for your other 2 beers and 1 to spare. If you are brewing a bigger big, you may want to use 1/2 the yeast cake.

You can then split up any of those 2nd generation batches into 3 more batches of yeast and so on and so on.

If you decide to rinse/wash the yeast, do a some research first. There's new wisdom out there that rinsing/washing is actually detrimental to the yeasts health and I'm a believer. It's easier, faster, and better for the yeast to just swirl your fermentor after racking the beer off and pouring the slurry into a few sanitized jars.

 

[wilserbrewer]

In my infinite wisdom I purchased three beer kits with the same yeast and only bought one yeast vile. I was thinking, why by three yeast viles when I can just grow more yeast.

Very wise of you! You could simply "steal" or borrow 1.5 liters of wort from your first batch and make a starter, then reclaim the yeast from that batch and use it in your next batch.

Or you could make your first batch a half batch and simply pitch the yeast you have in that, then reclaim moving forward. Collect the yeast slurry in a sanitary quart jar and store in the fridge for your next batch!

If you time it such that you brew and bottle the same day, you can just simply scoop yeast cake from the fermenter to your new beer with a large soup ladle, easy peasy!

With good sanitation, you have enough yeast to make a swimming pool of beer, just need to let it grow, and grow it will!

 

[Riot]

I'm going to second the bottle on brew day and have tons of fresh yeast easily available suggestion. Paying for yeast on every batch is silly when you throw gallons of it away.

 

[masonsjax]

I'd just brew right after you bottle/keg one batch and put the new beer right on the yeast cake from the previous batch. You can dump out some of it first to avoid over pitching but this method is probably the easiest and is what I do for at least 10 batches. Save some of that first cake and you can start the whole process over again and again.

 

[Trimmer]

Quacker- Thanks so much for taking the time to respond. questions though. I've I skim use all the trub from my first beer how much yeast would be in that cake? i don't want to use too much (300 Million) or too little (100 million) for a beer that requires 200 million cells do I? Also if I take some off the top of the krausen from my first batch how much yeast would be in that? I am just a little nervous to take random amounts of yeast and use tit in fear my wort will not ferment all the way or it might taste yeasty...

Flars-- Thanks for the comment and help. If I make it 20 % bigger that would only result in roughly 20million yeast cells. if i step it up from that it would only double to 40 million. I think. So I worry that my yeast count might be low.

Dobe12 - It amazing how many people respond to random posts like this. What a great website. Anyways, this was my original thought, but I had no idea how much yeast would be in the bottom of the fermenter after two weeks. Do you have any idea?

Obviously there is more than one way to do this property but with each option I just want to make sure I have a ballpark amount of yeast before I pitch. If I knew that there would be 600 million cells of yeast in the bottom of my fermenter after the first week that would be helpful because then I could like done12 said divide it in to three separate mason jars resulting in three jars of 200 million each. but I just don't know. Thanks for all the help! let me know if you have any more additional questions.

MUCH MUCH appreciated.

 

[Riot]

You can do much more than double the cell count, though it may take a couple of feedings. People regularly grow enough yeast from a single bottle to ferment an entire batch. It is easier to estimate cell counts from growth predictions than slurry density, at least in my opinion. Check out the yeast starter calculator at brewersfriend to get an idea of how much yeast you can grow.

 

[ericbw]

Quacker- Thanks so much for taking the time to respond. questions though. I've I skim use all the trub from my first beer how much yeast would be in that cake? i don't want to use too much (300 Million) or too little (100 million) for a beer that requires 200 million cells do I? Also if I take some off the top of the krausen from my first batch how much yeast would be in that? I am just a little nervous to take random amounts of yeast and use tit in fear my wort will not ferment all the way or it might taste yeasty...

Flars-- Thanks for the comment and help. If I make it 20 % bigger that would only result in roughly 20million yeast cells. if i step it up from that it would only double to 40 million. I think. So I worry that my yeast count might be low.

Dobe12 - It amazing how many people respond to random posts like this. What a great website. Anyways, this was my original thought, but I had no idea how much yeast would be in the bottom of the fermenter after two weeks. Do you have any idea?

Obviously there is more than one way to do this property but with each option I just want to make sure I have a ballpark amount of yeast before I pitch. If I knew that there would be 600 million cells of yeast in the bottom of my fermenter after the first week that would be helpful because then I could like done12 said divide it in to three separate mason jars resulting in three jars of 200 million each. but I just don't know. Thanks for all the help! let me know if you have any more additional questions.

MUCH MUCH appreciated.

If you go to yeastcalc or mrmalty, you can input the date your yeast was harvested and some other info. It will then help you determine how much viable yeast you're starting with and how much you'll get.

Brewer's friend has an easier calculator for stepping up starters.

In any case, there is some guess work and assumptions, even with a new vial.

Also, most people say about 3-5 generations is the limit, but others go much longer. Just throwing it out there.

 

[flars]

Go to the Brewers Friend yeast calculator site and play with the numbers. Start with the production date of the yeast you have. I use the Pro Brewer 0.75 pitch rate. The explanation of pitch rates is below the calculator.

I estimate one billion cells per milliliter for harvested yeast. This is conservative, as you will read in the Brewers Friend site. It is difficult to over pitch to the point of causing a problematic fermentation. Under pitching will cause problems.

I use the date fermentation started for the production date of harvested yeast. Most mason jars are marked in milliliters. After cold crashing the harvested yeast you will have a good estimate of how many billions of cells in each jar. I collest the harvested yeast in quart jars. I transfer to pint jars after the yeast has settled out

Mark each jar with date and yeast designation. Nothing is more frustrating than unmarked jars and you know the yeast strains are not the same.

Yeastcalc is no longer available. Brewers Friend and MrMalty are the best options.

 

[aryoung1980]

Yeastcalc is no longer available.

An HBT member was able to save it and it is now at www.yeastcalculator.com



Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[flars]

An HBT member was able to save it and it is now at www.yeastcalculator.com



Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

I've tried the link. Nothing but a blue screen.

 

[botigol]

It came up fine for me, after your post. Blue is the background, so the page seems to have loaded. Which browser do you use?

 

[flars]

It came up fine for me, after your post. Blue is the background, so the page seems to have loaded. Which browser do you use?

I'm still using IE8. Considering going to Firefox.

 

[botigol]

Sorry, not sure on that one. I was wondering if maybe it was a compatibility issue, but it really shouldn't be on IE8.

 

[masonsjax]

IE is still around!? Yikes!

 

[thatjonguy]

Chrome!

 

[Bamsdealer]

Brew the least alcoholic beer first as long as they're all not 8+ abv. A fresh yeast cake will have yeast for 3ish beers. If you wash it, I would say 2 beers. It may seem critical if you over pitch by 100 or even 50%, but dont worry about it. It won't taste yeasty. If your beers are all high alcohol, I would shy away from using the yeast cake. Instead, top crop some yeast around day 3 and save it in a mason jar. It won't be as stressed at this point.

 

[MindenMan]

I started re pitching yeast a long time ago. Rack off one beer, and rack on a new one. It got to the point where my yeast had gone agro, and my beers tasted wrong, over attenuated, as I had re used for too many generations. Maybe 10, maybe more. I now have one starter batch of yeast, it was reclaimed from a one generation use, and I build it up, split it, and put the "original" back in the fridge, and build up the rest for the next batch. So, I am not sure if I should be adding generation counts or not as the "original " starter never sees anything other than fresh made wort starter, but after quite a few "restarts", the yeast character hasn't changed, and beers ferment normally so to speak.

Edit: I have looked at the starter calculations, and just gotten confused, so I play it by ear, and have done okay so far.

 

[austinb]

Some good advice here already. If you want the simplest method possible without making any extra starters the yeast is probably still pretty healthy and active right after fermentation has completed in the primary (about 5-9 days). I don't normally do secondaries anymore but in this case you could transfer your first beer to a secondary after you get identical hydrometer readings three days in a row. Then leave just enough beer in the fermenter that you can swirl the yeast. Try and transfer to the secondary the same day you brew your next batch. Some people do just transfer their next batch right on top of the yeast cake from the last but I wouldn't recommend this because it's likely over pitching and could lead to some nasty autolysis flavor and aroma. Instead swirl the yeast and dump about 1/3 of it into a clean sanitized fermenter for your next batch. Or if you only have a couple fermenters you can just dump about 2/3 of the slurry out and reuse your primary from the first batch without cleaning it as long as you have kept the airlock on it the whole time except for taking samples and transferring the previous batch. Also make sure to start with your lightest beer of the 3 batches first and end with the darkest.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew