Reusing and Saving yeast

[100million]

Can someone give me a good start on how to reuse or save my Wyeast?

I am tired of buying it and would like to know how people are doing it.

All the help would be nice

Thanks

Chris

 

[JonGrafto]

Search function is your friend.
Search "yeast washing"

 

[cehoudek]

There is a sticky on yeast washing. It is an easy to follow set of directions including pictures. Try searching for 'washing yeast' or similar. I haven't figured out how to post a link to another thread on the mobile app (sorry).

 

[100million]

But how do i do
"All that's left to do is label the jars and put them in the fridge. Then when it's time to make a starter, you just pull one out, let it warm to room temp, and decant most of the liquid out of the jar, give the rest a good shake, and pitch it into your starter.."

 

[ResumeMan]

Making a starter for yeast is a separate technique from recovering used yeast, and is actually something you should seriously consider doing even when using a new Wyeast pack.

I don't have time to go into a lot of detail and there's about 3 million threads on it on the forum, but briefly you boil up some DME in water to make a mini (around 1-2 L) batch of beer, and grow yeast in it, and then pitch the yeast from that into your wort. Easiest thing for you to do is just search the forum for "Make a Starter" or similar keywords and you'll have a month's worth of reading available to you...

 

[100million]

Thanks MAN

I was hoping not to read for a month

Chris

 

[100million]

I got a question:

Can i make a wash out of a new wyeast bag? and how many can i make if i buy one wyeast and make a starters and then keep them in refer?

I am tired of spending 6.95 a bag

 

[neko]

You don't wash yeast with a new bag since it's all yeast.
When you have a new bag you will pitch the whole thing into one starter. Once you harvest the yeast from a previous batch you keep those jars in the fridge until you need one for another batch.

 

[944play]

Can i make a wash out of a new wyeast bag? and how many can i make if i buy one wyeast and make a starters and then keep them in refer?

I'm not sure what your first question means.

When you harvest the yeast cake properly, you'll have enough yeast to properly pitch several batches (probably 2-3 for a lager, half a dozen for ales). The yeast will stay viable, direct-pitchable, in the fridge for a few weeks, after which you should wake it up in a starter before pitching a full batch of meticulously-brewed wort.

 

[jwalker1140]

For brand new yeast, make a starter and use the entire thing on Batch 1. Chill and decant if you want, but add all of the yeast to Batch 1. Best to not split yeast until after Batch 1 is done.

At which point, if you intend to reuse yeast from Batch 1 within 0 to 7 days, read this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/why-not-pitch-your-yeast-cake-166221/

And if you intend to reuse yeast from Batch 1 after 7 days, read this:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/