Huge yeast starter or yeast washing?

[urg8rb8]

I am planning to make three beers that use the same yeast but I don't plan to do them back to back to back. So I have two options:

1) Make a huge starter and divide the yeast up into three jars, one for each beer.

2) Wash the yeast from the first batch and store them into two or more jars.

Which would you choose?

 

[ChefRex]

Being the frugal **** I am I'll make a starter, cold crash it, pour off the "beer" but save it to build the next starter.
Plenty of yeast in it.
If you use a mash tun I also drain out the wort from the dead space, let it settle and boil, free food for that hungry yeast.

 

[gromitdj]

I use the yeast starter tool on Brew United's website and overbuild my starter by 100B. Then divide my starter as necessary, saving the overbuild to do the same on the next batch.

The website gives you the ratio to pitch/save in volume. I find it easier to do it by weight.

 

[flars]

I am planning to make three beers that use the same yeast but I don't plan to do them back to back to back. So I have two options:

1) Make a huge starter and divide the yeast up into three jars, one for each beer.

2) Wash the yeast from the first batch and store them into two or more jars.

Which would you choose?

The simplest would be to brew your first beer and pour off the remaining beer and yeast into three or four sanitized pint jars. The yeast will be healthier for your next beer or starter being stored under beer rather water.

Good thread here on harvesting yeast.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/simple-yeast-storage-procedure-with-photos.579350/

This is a picture of frig compacted WY 1056 just poured from the fermentor if you aren't sure about using this technique.

 

[ong]

I basically do a slightly oversized starter, and pour the unused half cup or so into another liter of starter wort. Crash that, decant, and store. Repeat for each beer in the series.

 

[brandonlovesbeer]

I would stay away from washing. A yeast starter is MUCH easier.

Just keep adding more starter wört every few days.

 

[urg8rb8]

The simplest would be to brew your first beer and pour off the remaining beer and yeast into three or four sanitized pint jars. The yeast will be healthier for your next beer or starter being stored under beer rather water.

Good thread here on harvesting yeast.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/simple-yeast-storage-procedure-with-photos.579350/

This is a picture of frig compacted WY 1056 just poured from the fermentor if you aren't sure about using this technique.
View attachment 582328

This looks like a simple method! How does one separate the yeast from the other junk like proteins?

 

[urg8rb8]

I would stay away from washing. A yeast starter is MUCH easier.

Just keep adding more starter wört every few days.

Yes, much easier but takes up DME and time.

 

[VTX1300]

I am in the "over build starter" camp. IMHO you get clean yeast with very little effort. Easy and cheap. Just have to plan ahead.

 

[flars]

This looks like a simple method! How does one separate the yeast from the other junk like proteins?

It is not necessary to separate all the trub from the harvested yeast. There is so little spent hop debris that flavors are not carried over to the next beer. I reduce cell count per milliliter as trub volume in the harvested yeast increases. I do strain as I pour from the boil kettle to the carboy to reduce the amount of hop debris from the boil for harvesting cleaner yeast. I don't worry about the dry hop debris which hasn't been over two ounces of pellets.

I lay my carboy on its side after I swirl up the contents of the carboy. (I use rolled up towels to block the carboy from rolling off the work bench.) Let the solution settle until there is a thin line of beer on top then pour.

 

[Miraculix]

Yeast washing is a bad idea from many perspectives. Just store the slurry under beer, as already suggested

 

[Sadu]

This looks like a simple method! How does one separate the yeast from the other junk like proteins?

You don't need to.

All that matters is that the "other junk like proteins" doesn't end up in your glass. Which it doesn't, because it falls out to the bottom of your fermentor before you bottle or keg it.

Washing yeast concentrates the yeast which means you can store the same amount of yeast in a slightly smaller jar compared with storing the slurry directly. Which is definitely helpful, but I can't think of any other benefits. The downsides are the considerable amount of work involved, and the sanitation risk from all the extra 'touching' of the yeast. Plus I suspect the layer of acidic beer on top of the yeast is a better barrier to infection than storing under a layer of water.

 

[Miraculix]

You don't need to.

All that matters is that the "other junk like proteins" doesn't end up in your glass. Which it doesn't, because it falls out to the bottom of your fermentor before you bottle or keg it.

Washing yeast concentrates the yeast which means you can store the same amount of yeast in a slightly smaller jar compared with storing the slurry directly. Which is definitely helpful, but I can't think of any other benefits. The downsides are the considerable amount of work involved, and the sanitation risk from all the extra 'touching' of the yeast. Plus I suspect the layer of acidic beer on top of the yeast is a better barrier to infection than storing under a layer of water.

Plus the yeast can still get nutrients out of the stuff in the beer and the extra solids, meaning it will not die as quickly as it would in plain water.

 

[small_b_brewing]

Overbuilding starter!
I usually re-suspend everything in my starter, pitch 2/3rd of the starter into my beer, and then top up my starter container and let it go for a couple of days before cold crashing and decanting the yeast at the bottom on the container into smaller vials. Before brewing again I make a fresh starter to build up my saved vial (and make sure the yeast is alive and happy before pitching).
This method has a nice effort/clean yeast ratio.

 

[urg8rb8]

Well, I decided to just pitch the yeast and collect the yeast after fermentation. I've also decided not to worry about dry hopping because I will do that in the keg.

 

[urg8rb8]

So I collected a few jars of the yeast slurry at the bottom of the fermenter. It looks so thick. Is this what it is supposed to look like?

 

[urg8rb8]

So I collected a few jars of the yeast slurry at the bottom of the fermenter. It looks so thick. Is this what it is supposed to look like?
View attachment 587577

So I pitched this entire pint of sludge into the wort today. I assumed it had enough yeast in there that I didn't need to make a starter. How quickly will this go off? It's US05 by the way.

 

[bpgreen]

So I pitched this entire pint of sludge into the wort today. I assumed it had enough yeast in there that I didn't need to make a starter. How quickly will this go off? It's US05 by the way.

That'll probably take off in a hurry. A pint has a lot of yeast even after a couple of months.

 

[Abrayton]

It will compact down nicely so you can decant the beer on top. I usually pitch a pint into lower gravity beers and it seems to work well. The fresher the yeast the quicker it seems to take off

 

[urg8rb8]

That'll probably take off in a hurry. A pint has a lot of yeast even after a couple of months.

Hopefully!

 

[urg8rb8]

View attachment 603850
It will compact down nicely so you can decant the beer on top. I usually pitch a pint into lower gravity beers and it seems to work well

I didn't have much to decant. It was packed to the rim.

 

[rodwha]

Many years back someone recommended to me to wash the yeast the first time (or just make a larger starter initially) and make a 1 1/2 sized starter saving the 1/2 for the next one. Making a low gravity wort with no hops leaves nothing essentially. And the idea was that there’s little to effect mutations as quickly. Plus it’s easier with less gear to clean.

 

[urg8rb8]

Many years back someone recommended to me to wash the yeast the first time (or just make a larger starter initially) and make a 1 1/2 sized starter saving the 1/2 for the next one. Making a low gravity wort with no hops leaves nothing essentially. And the idea was that there’s little to effect mutations as quickly. Plus it’s easier with less gear to clean.

I just split a 2L started for a brew I made yesterday. I saved the other half.

 

[urg8rb8]

I just realized I might done something stupid. When I dumped the pint of yeast cake into the wort, I left some of it floating. Should I have stirred it in? I'm wondering if it is worth opening the fermentation bucket lid again.

 

[rodwha]

I’d say you are just fine. They’ll do their deed.

I do stir in my yeast, but not because I’ve heard it’s best to do so.

 

[urg8rb8]

I’d say you are just fine. They’ll do their deed.

I do stir in my yeast, but not because I’ve heard it’s best to do so.

I just dumped and closed the lid, to avoid infections. Yeast will probably eventually sink anyway.

 

[rodwha]

Dry yeast is often just sprinkled along the top.

I rehydrate mine and stir it.

 

[urg8rb8]

Dry yeast is often just sprinkled along the top.

I rehydrate mine and stir it.

Yeah you're right. I won't worry about it. Hopefully by tomorrow morning the yeast is awake and chewing down all the sugars!

 

[Miraculix]

Yeah you're right. I won't worry about it. Hopefully by tomorrow morning the yeast is awake and chewing down all the sugars!

It will take just a few hours to form a kraeusen and stirring it is not necessary. The yeast spreads perfectly well on its own.

 

[urg8rb8]

It will take just a few hours to form a kraeusen and stirring it is not necessary. The yeast spreads perfectly well on its own.

It's been about five hours now and no airlock activity. Hope the yeast aren't dead or something.