keeping yeast

[agezzi]

I just started thinking if i make a starter and keep part of it. can i use it to re grow another starter to put back in tube. along with that if I can how many times can I re grow the same yeast.....UPDATE... I did it the other night and have two tubes now. but I can c some darker spots is that just dead yeast cells......please help and just to say i was clean and very sanitized
:rockin:

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

yes, you can make a very large starter and keep a portion of it to make another starter. Most info says to only go out to about 5 generations, but I think you could probably up that if you are making starters from the original or primary starter since you have not put any other ingredients into your wort other than the DME, and maybe some yeast nutrients.

I'm sure someone else here will chime in with a better explanation, but I have recently been making a double sized starters from fresh vials and saving ~1/2 of the yeast for later.

 

[agezzi]

ok sweet....so then now i have two more whitelab tubes for two more starters. ill try it out, and make two more next time. i might just stick with the normal number of 5. since thats what ive read most as well. anymore info would b great

 

[Beyowka]

i was thinking about this a few months back, and so i made a double starter of my French Ale yeast so that I could use it more than once. I used half, then bottled half and threw it in the fridge, thinking that it would be okay in a bottle because the cold would keep the yeast dormant. This worked for one week, at which point i pitched into another double starter, using half and bottling half again. The second time i used the bottled starter (last weekend), it had been about a month after that, and when i went to take the cap off the bottle, the solution sprayed all over the room, most of the yeast was lost, so I went to Plan B. so, somewhere between a week and a month is the limit for that starter storage option. it probably would work very well for a good amount of time if you were brewing with the same yeast frequently enough.

 

[northernlad]

^^ I don't think this is necessarily true. Unless the yeast was given time to completely convert the sugars you will see a build up of CO2 that has nothing to do with how long you can store yeast.
Those of us who wash yeast have few problems with this as the yeast has done its work before we store it. I recently opened a jar that had been in my fridge since January.

 

[Beyowka]

^^ I don't think this is necessarily true. Unless the yeast was given time to completely convert the sugars you will see a build up of CO2 that has nothing to do with how long you can store yeast.

my idea was to store part of my starter, not washed yeast, for simplicity. the CO2 built up as the yeast continued to work in the bottle, contrary to my expectations; the longer i kept it, the more CO2 was produced. when i used the bottled starter within a week, there was no CO2 buildup issues. when i used it after a month, there were issues. what's to dispute?

 

[northernlad]

I used washed yeast to illustrate the fact that yeast can be kept succcessfuly if you have allowed it time to complete its work. The same can be said for starters.
So, to say that there is a maximum time a starter can be held is not completely true, especially if you are aware that there may be buildup and vent it from time to time.

 

[Beyowka]

got it - i would agree that the yeast can be kept longer with venting and washing. my "maximum" was based on my experience trying to see how long it could go without taking the extra steps. i think my experiment shows to me that these extra steps buy the extra storage time I need.

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

Plus I usually let my starters ferment all the way out, unless I have a time constraint I will pitch at high kreausen.

Chilling, decanting, and then adding chilled sterilized water to the yeast that you are going to save is a very easy way to increase storage time, and help the yeast go dormant.