smata67
Well-Known Member
So back around June (9 months ago), I received the Hansen Ale vial to the far left. The batch had definitely experienced some summer heat stress, but I made a 1.5L starter with 1/2 of the vial, split that starter, pitching half into a 5G batch and saving the other half. That is the middle short jar. That yeast is also about 9 months old. The starter was very "cidery," but I used it anyway. It made a great black IPA, but I felt it was left a tad underattenuated at 1.019. I had to take measures to get it to down to 1.019, in fact. I concluded that I most likely underpitched that batch due to the heat stress and dividing the starter. Good beer, though, no complaints. This was in October. I saved that yeast from the black IPA and pitched it into an IPA in November (5 months ago) that came out great, best IPA I have brewed to date. It attenuated to 1.009 with an ABV of about 7.3%. That is the larger jar which includes some of the trub from that batch. I want to remake that beer.
The yeast in all three jars looks great, I am fairly consistent with my sanitation, particularly when it comes to yeast. All jars were refrigerated with loose tops. The original vial smells as it did when it came in, the starter smells cidery like it did 9 months ago, and the latest batch which is a second generation yeast looks and smells healthy. So clearly, the obvious approach is to use the latest yeast which performed very well and appears very healthy. But I have some original yeast (remember, this produced a cidery starter) and its first starter and I'm having a hard time with the idea of just tossing it at this point. You could say I've somewhat grown attached to the critters. They are, after all, the purest strain I have, though probably a high mortality rate there. Anyway, thought I'd float out my situation and get some thoughts on what to do. For now, I'm planning on combining the first two jars and making a starter to see what happens and getting a starter going with the larger jar for pitching into my next beer.
The yeast in all three jars looks great, I am fairly consistent with my sanitation, particularly when it comes to yeast. All jars were refrigerated with loose tops. The original vial smells as it did when it came in, the starter smells cidery like it did 9 months ago, and the latest batch which is a second generation yeast looks and smells healthy. So clearly, the obvious approach is to use the latest yeast which performed very well and appears very healthy. But I have some original yeast (remember, this produced a cidery starter) and its first starter and I'm having a hard time with the idea of just tossing it at this point. You could say I've somewhat grown attached to the critters. They are, after all, the purest strain I have, though probably a high mortality rate there. Anyway, thought I'd float out my situation and get some thoughts on what to do. For now, I'm planning on combining the first two jars and making a starter to see what happens and getting a starter going with the larger jar for pitching into my next beer.