Yeast Harvesting

[srocheleau]

I am still relatively new to this hobby and have recently started to consider harvesting my yeast. After doing some reading through the forums it seems like this can get to be a bit of a time consuming process.

On my drive home from work tonight it occurred to me that instead of washing the yeast after the fermentation of the wort is completed couldn't you just make a larger volume starter and portion out some of it before pitching to keep for your next brew? This seems like it would be a much simpler way to variety of yeast for reuse and I would think that the solution would be cleaner than what you would get having to deal with all the extra 'stuff' at the bottom of your primary. Am I missing something here?

Any insights would be greatly appreciated.

Sean

 

[Seven]

On my drive home from work tonight it occurred to me that instead of washing the yeast after the fermentation of the wort is completed couldn't you just make a larger volume starter and portion out some of it before pitching to keep for your next brew?

This is exactly what I do. Just save a bit of yeast from your yeast starter and then use that to make another starter later when needed. Works great.

 

[dbrewski]

Depending on what you read, it can sound complicated. You don't need to do test tubes and petri dishes. Just some sanitized jars and water, and a fridge.

 

[Phunhog]

That is exactly what I do! Between batches I grow yeast for future brews on a stirplate. I will buy a fresh vial and do stepped starters until I have approx. 5-6 vials worth of yeast. I then decant off the "beer" and pour the yeast into sanitized vials. The vials then go into the fridge until needed. I usually will still make a starter with them. It does seem easier and more sanitary vs. washing/rinsing yeast from an actual full blown fermentation.

 

[etrain666]

Recently I have been harvesting one jar of yeast when racking to the bottling bucket rather than the whole washing process.

1. Boil a mason jar and it's lid
2. Sanitize your racking assembly as normal
3. Before racking to the bottling bucket place the racking pick up valve deep into the trub (if using a Better Bottle or glass bottle you will be able to see the valve in the yeast rather than the trub above)
4. Pump out enough yeast to fill the cooled, empty mason jar

That's it. Now you have a large amount of yeast ready to pitch your next batch. I still make a starter with it as I like pitching active yeast to reduce lag time.