Yeast generation determination

[brewkinger]

I am under the assumption that it is as simple as reproduction = new generation?

If I buy a smack pack and make a 2L starter, then split it and use one half for a beer and crash and save the other half.... Are both of them 1st generation? Or 2nd


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[flars]

In my tracking system I consider fresh yeast used for a starter new yeast. New meaning it has never undergone the stress of fermenting a wort which is typically higher OG than a starter wort.
The harvested yeast from a fermentation using new yeast is then 1st generation yeast. 1st generation meaning it has fermented one beer wort.

Harvested yeast from this fermentation, and used to brew a second wort, would be labeled 2nd generation.

Generation labeling and the number of times the yeast has been used to ferment a beer wort are the same. Simplifies the tracking system for me.

In your case, the yeast propagated in the half of the starter you saved, I would label new yeast. The yeast harvested from the beer you brewed with the other half would be 1st generation.

Production date becomes the date the starter was made or the date the yeast fermented a beer.

 

[IslandLizard]

^ excellent!

I number my original (saved) starter as "0". For each time used in fermentation add 1. If it came from a HG brew, it gets the suffix HG. I may use that HG generation again, or not. I'm not sure what the adverse effects are of using after HG.

That said, I tend to always save some starter yeast so I always have a 0-generation in stock to make more 0-gen from if needed.

 

[HumulusHead]

So if care was taken and you kept replicating the 0 yeast, could you say that if precautions were taken you would never have to buy a smack pack of that strain again?


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[IslandLizard]

So if care was taken and you kept replicating the 0 yeast, could you say that if precautions were taken you would never have to buy a smack pack of that strain again?

That's the idea. Also check into slanting for longer-term storage.

 

[HumulusHead]

I haven't started reusing my yeast but I have some threads subscribed too. Including the slanting thread. My next batch I'm planning to save half the starter.


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[brewkinger]

I haven't started reusing my yeast but I have some threads subscribed too. Including the slanting thread. My next batch I'm planning to save half the starter.

It is a wise and economical practice, especially at $7-$8 per smack pack.



I still have my reservations about the initial yeast being continuously labeled as "0" just because it has not fermented a "real" beer.



It has by biologic definition reproduced and produced new yeast, each and every time that you use it to make a starter, which you then split.



Does this not count as some form of "new" generation?



I am ordering Yeast immediately and going to review some podcasts from Jamil and Chris White in the interim.



I will report back if I find anything interesting.



I found https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/step-up-starter-considered-new-yeast-generation-413482/