Using a (1) Gallon Batch as a Starter

[lonbrewing]

Hey Everyone,

So, I want to proof out my honey ale recipe with a 1 gallon batch. I figure at 1.045 OG, just a simple packet of Wyeast 1056 will be sufficient; no starter.

However, I'd like to use the resulting yeast for a 3 gallon batch of an IPA at roughly 1.055 OG. My thought is to ferment the honey ale, rack and bottle, then add some cooled, boiled wort to the remaining yeast, swirl and pitch into the IPA.

Thoughts on basically using the 1 gallon batch to create a giant starter?

Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

 

[BigMack]

That would be fine. But just to clarify are you saying you would add some of the cooled IPA wort to the yeast and then swirl and pitch? I would think you would just be able to swirl the yeast up with the tiny bit of left over beer from the previous batch and pitch that to the IPA. That wouldn't be enough of the other beer to change the flavor.

 

[lonbrewing]

Okay I could do that. I thought this might work, I was a bit worried about over pitching.

 

[WestMichBrewer]

Okay I could do that. I thought this might work, I was a bit worried about over pitching.

Don't pitch it all then...pitch half of it, then save the rest in a sanitary jar for later use!
Guarantee this will work.

 

[WestMichBrewer]

Don't pitch it all then...pitch half of it, then save the rest in a sanitary jar for later use!
Guarantee this will work.

BTW, refrigerate this extra jar of yeast until the next use.

 

[Aristotelian]

I thought the rule of thumb was that a yeast cake contains about double the amount you need for a batch of the same size. Since you are pitching it fresh, I think you could stretch it to a 3 gallon batch, but you would not be overpitching to use it all. There is no point in saving it aside since you are going to have triple that amount once your 3 gallon batch is done.

 

[WestMichBrewer]

There should be more than enough yeast left from the 1 gallon batch to save some and to use for your 3 gallon batch.
You could also skip harvesting from the 1 gallon and harvest from the 3 gallon.
I would do the harvesting from whichever batch you feel will provide the cleanest yeast. For instance, maybe you plan on doing a secondary for your 3 gallon batch - this would provide nice clean yeast without much trub.

 

[user 141939]

You could punch in the one gallon and the starting gravity into a yeast calculator and see what you get.

 

[lonbrewing]

So, do I need to wash the yeast, or can I just swirl everything at the bottom and re-pitch?

 

[kombat]

Just swirl and pitch.

 

[lonbrewing]

Okay. One more question (sorry this is new information for me) -

I plugged in what a gallon starter would produce for yeast and it came up with 650-700 billion cells. My target pitch rate is around 150-175 billion. Should I only pitch 1/3 of what's left over from my one gallon batch? I don't want to over-pitch.

Thanks!

 

[user 141939]

Holy crap! I see there is a big difference between the Stir Plate and no agitation options on the starter calculator.

However, woodland brewing has determined if, given enough time to finish, the final cell count is the same regardless of method. I do not think you will end up with 800 billion cells. Perhaps the better method would be to measure the slurry and use the 1 billion cells per mL rule. If you have any ball jars with measurement lines, you can decant slurry into that and use the lines to approximate the mLs.

 

[user 141939]

Or pitch half, or all! If I didn't want to bother with measuring slurry I'd probably go the pitch half thing. In effect you would have made a 2L starter for a 3 gallon batch if you think about it that way.