Starting House Yeast Bank

[ruascott]

Ok, I've decided that I am going to use WY1968 for my house yeast, and use it for vast majority of my beers going forward.

I don't have any to start with, have been using other strains recently.

I'll pick up a smack pack today. I want to brew this weekend, a relatively modest gravity pale ale (1.05). I also want to keep some amount of my starter in a jar in fridge, as I'll want to brew again before this batch is done, and I can harvest.

I've never done a starter to date, but have read how to do so.

I'm thinking I just make a big, say 2 to 2.5L starter from the pack....and then just split it between my brew and what I'm saving?

 

[Johow]

I just did this with some Wyeast 1272. My beer batch is almost fermented out and I have a jar for the next batch in the fridge. It worked great.

I used this yeast calculator to overbuild my starter for enough to save a 500 ml (pint) jar of yeast for the next batch.

 

[ruascott]

I just did this with some Wyeast 1272. My beer batch is almost fermented out and I have a jar for the next batch in the fridge. It worked great.

I used this yeast calculator to overbuild my starter for enough to save a 500 ml (pint) jar of yeast for the next batch.

Great. How long did you let the starter go....and did you decant the beer off or just swirl and pour? Thanks!

 

[Aristotelian]

Or you could ferment with the full pack, and then reuse the yeast cake for your bank. You don't need to do a separate starter.

 

[BeardedBrews]

http://www.brewunited.com/yeast_calculator.php


I try to get ~100B cells in the bit that I save back, so for my 2L starter that's typically about 500mL, then the other 1500mL gets cooled for a few hours, decanted, and pitched into the beer.

http://brulosophy.com/methods/yeast-harvesting/

 

[Johow]

I let it sit on my stir plate for about 36 hours. I just swirled it up real good and poured off 500 ml into a sterile jar that I put in the fridge. Then when I brew my beer batch, I let the starter settle out and decanted most of the beer before swirling again and pitching it.
My starter was just over 1.5 liter as indicated by the yeast calculator, so .5L to save and 1L to pitch.
The advantage I see of doing it this way instead of using the cake from a batch is there are no hops involved in the starter so it's cleaner. Though I'm sure it would work both ways.

 

[RedShirt]

Or you could ferment with the full pack, and then reuse the yeast cake for your bank. You don't need to do a separate starter.

I like this idea too. You could brew up a bitter, pale ale, cream ale, or blonde ale with limited hopping and get a really nice yeast cake.

Also, just wanted to say I think 1968 is a great choice!

 

[ruascott]

Or you could ferment with the full pack, and then reuse the yeast cake for your bank. You don't need to do a separate starter.

Yea but I'll want to brew again before the 3-4 weeks that the first one is ready.

 

[ruascott]

I like this idea too. You could brew up a bitter, pale ale, cream ale, or blonde ale with limited hopping and get a really nice yeast cake.

Also, just wanted to say I think 1968 is a great choice!

Yes, I'm going to do a lightly hopped pale ale, and use hop bags, in hopes of getting a nice clean yeast cake.

Yes, I really like 1968 in everything I've done...doesn't finish as totally dry/clean as US05, etc...which I prefer for my beers, including my IPAs.

 

[m00ps]

I would just make a slightly overbuilt starter and save a bit of the decanted yeast in a vial or mason jar. THen you have fresh yeast to make another starter with next time. You get more consistency than harvesting and washing yeast that has been exposed to hop oils and gone through a whole fermentation

 

[ruascott]

I would just make a slightly overbuilt starter and save a bit of the decanted yeast in a vial or mason jar. THen you have fresh yeast to make another starter with next time. You get more consistency than harvesting and washing yeast that has been exposed to hop oils and gone through a whole fermentation

Well here is where I am so far....I don't have a flask or stir plate, so I've just been using 1/2g growlers.

I made up ~2L of wort with 200g of DME. Which was a bit too much to fit comfortably in 1 growler. So I split them up, 1L in each growler. Then pitched half the yeast pack in both.

I've been manually swirling it frequently.

Via the calculators, I should have ~100B cells per growler now. I want to get up to ~300B total. Not exactly sure what I should do now.

I considered chilling them, decanting, then pitching them both into a carboy with a fresh 2L of wort (maybe larger).

Thinking I really need to upgrade my equipment (stir plate and large flask) if I'm going to be able to over-produce 100B cells each starter.

 

[DurtyChemist]

Well here is where I am so far....I don't have a flask or stir plate, so I've just been using 1/2g growlers.

I made up ~2L of wort with 200g of DME. Which was a bit too much to fit comfortably in 1 growler. So I split them up, 1L in each growler. Then pitched half the yeast pack in both.

I've been manually swirling it frequently.

Via the calculators, I should have ~100B cells per growler now. I want to get up to ~300B total. Not exactly sure what I should do now.

I considered chilling them, decanting, then pitching them both into a carboy with a fresh 2L of wort (maybe larger).

Thinking I really need to upgrade my equipment (stir plate and large flask) if I'm going to be able to over-produce 100B cells each starter.

I would say before your pitch your next starter step you'll want to decant a lot of the beer, swirl it up, pour about half or more of the yeast into a storage container to save and then add your second starter wort. The reason I suggest doing this is after reading Yeast They talk about pitching rate. Looking at the yeast starter calculator from homebrew dad he shows the pitching rate and when you get a lot of yeast it becomes less advantageous to make a starter step. Pulling off the yeast will reduce the pitching rate so you'll actually grow MORE yeast.

 

[ruascott]

I would say before your pitch your next starter step you'll want to decant a lot of the beer, swirl it up, pour about half or more of the yeast into a storage container to save and then add your second starter wort. The reason I suggest doing this is after reading Yeast They talk about pitching rate. Looking at the yeast starter calculator from homebrew dad he shows the pitching rate and when you get a lot of yeast it becomes less advantageous to make a starter step. Pulling off the yeast will reduce the pitching rate so you'll actually grow MORE yeast.

Thanks.....not sure why I didn't think of that. I've got them in 2 separate growlers now (1L each)....I'll just pitch 1 of the them (decanted) into a new 2L starter.

As for the other one that I'm storing, I'll just keep it as-is with the beer sitting on top of it?

 

[m00ps]

How long are you storing it? To store mine, I'd use a much smaller container to hold just the decanted yeast at the bottom. Definitely should be able to seal it up with a lid

 

[DurtyChemist]

I sort of started doing something similar recently. I had saved a few different yeasts and decided 2016 I'd start over with fresh yeast, harvest from starters, label things a lot more and just brew simple batches with the yeast I have to get rid of it. Here I am 3 batches in and I have Cry Havoc sitting at 62F for two or three weeks and I'm ready to throw it out, I discovered a yeast is PROBABLY WLP 007 and I saved some from a starter to make a second starter and pitched THAT on Sunday while harvesting a small white labs vial worth (it flocculated REALLY well) and I have Zurich Lager along with an officially unknown Belgian strain (I THINK it's 3787 in a WL vial) that I may be keeping. Other than those three plus a cider yeast I don't think I'll be buying yeast this year unless I want to make a specific beer requiring a new yeast for my brew club. I figure I have a lager, a belgian, a cider and an ale so I'm good. After reading Yeast they actually suggest and recommend keeping one or maybe two yeast strains based on how many beers and they styles you brew. Now I just need to be more diligent about harvesting from starters and overbuilding some.

 

[ruascott]

How long are you storing it? To store mine, I'd use a much smaller container to hold just the decanted yeast at the bottom. Definitely should be able to seal it up with a lid

Probably two weeks. It's in a growler with 1L stater beer on top of it. I can cap it with a growler cap. Should I decant most of it off first?

 

[DurtyChemist]

Probably two weeks. It's in a growler with 1L stater beer on top of it. I can cap it with a growler cap. Should I decant most of it off first?

I'd decant a lot then swirl it up and save some.

 

[ruascott]

Well, just to follow up, I kept 1L starter to the side, for future batches.

Made a 1.5 L second step starter, and that had a lot of yeast settle out. I pitched that into a Gumball Head inspired beer yesterday, and it took off very strong within 12 hours.

In the future, I'll take my leftover 100b cell starter and make a great big starter in a 1G jug, rather than the 2 step process.

I could wash some from future batches, but not sure I want to go that route.