Starter transfer question

[jivy26]

So I made my first starter the other day and it is residing in the fridge in my 1 gal mason jar. However, I'd like to dump a good bit of the beer on top off and transfer the yeast cake to a smaller quart jar. Anyone do this and will it kill any yeast cells?

 

[flars]

Decanting the spent starter wort and saving the yeast is a common practice. Leave enough beer in your gallon jug to swirl the yeast into and almost fill the smaller jar. The yeast stores better under wort. You won't have any viability loss, but may need to make a new starter if you store the yeast long term before the next use.

 

[jivy26]

Yeah gonna use it tomorrow thanks just wanted to make sure!

 

[DurtyChemist]

You can also swirl up the entire batch and store a portion in a small mason jar then save the rest for fermentation. It's an easy way to keep a yeast on hand without having to go through washing and make sure you're getting as homogenous of a sample as you can. I started doing this with lager strains and storing them in the fridge instead of doing the boiled water/cool/swirl/decant/decant again stuff.

Look up Homebrewdad yeast calc. He has a website where you can calculate how big of a starter you need if you want to have 100 billion extra cells AND the volume you need to save.

 

[jivy26]

So I have got this after transferring my starter and throwing it back in the fridge yesterday.. I planned on using it this morning. Is this layer on top normal or should I decant it and only use the bottom cake? Also the cake on the bottom looks fairly small.

 

[flars]

Looks like a yeast I have never used before. All of the solids in your jar should be yeast. Is this a low flocculating yeast?

 

[eadavis80]

I would just decant off most of it on the morning of brew day and leave the starter on the counter and then pitch that starter after the wort is cooled. Why transfer it to another container?

 

[jivy26]

So the solids finally fell this morning yeast looks healthy no gray yeast on the bottom decanted and pitched. I will be picking up some yeast on the way home today as a backup incase this one doesn't work. My first attempt at a yeast starter so we will see.

Transferred to a smaller container because I needed the 1 gal jar to pour my yeast into from the carboy so I could wash and store.

 

[flars]

So the solids finally fell this morning yeast looks healthy no gray yeast on the bottom decanted and pitched. I will be picking up some yeast on the way home today as a backup incase this one doesn't work. My first attempt at a yeast starter so we will see.

Transferred to a smaller container because I needed the 1 gal jar to pour my yeast into from the carboy so I could wash and store.

Read this sticky before you harvest.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=579350
Don't wash, just pour.