Planning for next brew

[Sokrateez]

Alright so I'm praying that the fermentations isn't stuck on my current beer and am planning my next brew. What I want to know is about starters and washing yeast (I didn't even make a starter last time, heh).

I don't have any LHBS around me, so I can't get DME easily without ordering it. And since Canada Post is on strike, shipping is by courier and very expensive right now. I'm planning on brewing the same day I bottle my currently fermenting beer, so my yeast will be coming from that cake. How long do I need to make a starter?

My plan, if possible, is to wash the yeast from the fermenter around 10 in the morning, begin the mash sometime after noon, and use a bit of that wort to make a starter from. Then after the boil and chilling is done, and the batch has gone into the fermenter (I'm guessing some 2-3 hours later?), pitch the starter. How viable is this? I'd really prefer not to pay ~$15 to have a $3 pack of yeast shipped to me if I can prevent it.

 

[TrainSafe]

You should be fine using the yeast from this last batch.

Starters usually only need 12-18 hours to take off. I often make it up the night before a brew day.

You didn't specify what beer you plan on harvesting the yeast from. The only caution I'd offer is to avoid pitching yeast from a previous high gravity beer into a much lower gravity.

 

[Sokrateez]

Well if they need 12-18 hours, I don't think my plan will work unfortunately, since the only wort I will have to make a starter out of will be the wort I make that day :/

And it's a pale ale, 1.049ish OG, next brew is gonna be a brown around the same gravity.

 

[Billybrewer09]

I wouldn't worry about washing your yeast or making a starter....just transfer your cooled wort right on top of the yeast cake..

 

[kingmatt]

I wouldn't worry about washing your yeast or making a starter....just transfer your cooled wort right on top of the yeast cake..

Exactly. It will be much easier, and less of an infection risk, to just rack your wort right onto the yeast cake from your old batch in the same fermenter.

Just make sure that after you rack your beer to your bottling bucket you seal the fermenter back up and keep it cool until you are ready to add the new wort.

It will take off like a rocket

 

[Sokrateez]

Oh I hadn't thought about that. Will there any effects with regards to flavour if I do that though? And would I still be able to get some yeast out for later use? Like say take a couple quarts out for making starters, but leave the rest of the cake and dump on top.

 

[kingmatt]

How different are the beers you are making? If they are similar styles, which I guess they probably are if you are using the same yeast, then you shouldn't have to worry about it. Just make sure you carefully rack as much of the beer off the cake as you can.

As far as washing the yeast, I would just wait until your second beer is finished and then wash and jar all of the yeast then.

 

[Sokrateez]

The beer in the fermenter right now is a pale ale and the next brew is gonna be a brown ale. It's White Labs British Ale Yeast I'm using, so I figured similar enough to use the same yeast.

So I guess then fermenting on the old yeast cake and washing the yeast are mutually exclusive? Problem is I only have 1 vial of yeast (which went into the currently fermenting beer), and am planning to brew back to back to back (to back) so by the time the first beer is carbed and ready to go I'll have a nice long chain of beers waiting.

 

[Billybrewer09]

You should be fine with that one vile of yeast.
You should be able to get all of your brews done with it. Unless you decide to go back to a lighter colored beer after your brown.
I personally have not done it but the owner of the LHBS uses one wyeast activator pack to do a five gallon batch and 5 10 gallon batches. He just transfers the next batch right on top of the cake and adds a blow off tube.
just go from light to dark and you will be fine.

 

[Calder]

You can pitch onto the full cake if you like, but many (including me) would advise against it. Pitching to a full cake is over-pitching; the yeast will not reproduce fully and what you have will be stressed. The result will be a loss of yeast flavor (formed during reproduction), and old stressed yeast that might not fully ferment.

A better option is: Get four one-pint mason jars and sanitize them. When you have racked/bottled your beer, swirl up the yeast cake in the fermenter (get the lumps into a consistent liquid), and pour into the 4 mason jars.

When you brew your next beer, just pitch 1 of the jars of yeast/trub.

The other jars can be stored in the refrigerator. They will create pressure, so leave lids slightly loose.

If you use them within 2 weeks, don't worry about a starter, just straight pitch. If using after 2 weeks, I'd recommend using a starter just to ensure yeast viability.

There is no reason to worry about the prior beer. No problem going from a dark beer to a light beer. If you drain the liquid from the settled yeast, there will be no detectable color transferred. The only caution is to not re-use yeast from a high gravity beer (around 1.075 and above); the higher the gravity, the more likely the yeast will mutate and you will lose the character of the original yeast.

 

[Sokrateez]

Okay so what you are saying Calder is a little more helpful for the plan I had in mind that I posted initially. To restate, basically; 1 week from now, Sunday morning, I will be bottling the brew in the fermenter currently. I want to wash the yeast so that I have multiple yeast jars from the same generation, but I also need to use that same yeast for the next batch (being brewed that very same day) since I don't have any other vials available to me. My problem was one concerning time, since a starter takes more time than the couple hours it takes to brew a fresh batch.

But, if I'm understanding you correctly Calder, I could wash the yeast, brew, then take one of those jars I washed a few hours prior and pitch that whole thing straight into the fresh brew? Would I just leave that jar at room temperature then, to prevent shocking the yeast as well?

edit: also, should I aerate/shake the living hell out of the jar like with a normal yeast pitch?