Yeast question.

[Schnitzengiggle]

I am goign to be racking my stout brew into a secondary this Tuesday 4/14/2009, and I wanted to reuse th yeast for my next brew. I dont wanna fill a bunch of mason jars, maybe 3 at most. Can I boil my jars and water and then decant and pour all of the slurry into 1 jar to make a big starter for my next brew. Basically, I want to pour into 3-4 jars, decant the liquid off the top and pour into a final jar for a large starter for my next brew, how do I accomplish this, or is it to risky?

Advice from any experienced YEASTERS is always greatly appreciated!

 

[brewmasterpa]

you can do it that way, but its a lot of wasted effort. by the way, if you use that much yeast and make that big a starter, unless youre going after a 15 gallon brew that has an og of 1.10 or so, youre going to have a big mess, trust me, ive done it. lots of blow off tube and bucket bud. anyway, when i cultivate my yeast, i usually pour off as much beer from the fermenter as possible, add like 2 cups of sanitized water, swirl, then pour off into 2-3 mr beer 1-liter bottles (had to find a use for them, i have 16) then i cool to 38F and store. when im ready to use the yeast, i have them pre-measured, and ready to pitch into a starter. the leftover water/beer mix can then easily be decanted off and i have pure slurry. its just easier to deal with when you leave them separate. theres nothing risky about what youre talking about, its perfectly viable, its just a little more complex and it wastes yeast in my opinion.

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

There should be plenty of yeast to save 3 mason jars (half-pint sized) AND pitch the rest into your next brew.

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

Thanks, I just don't brew enough to keep all the yeast without it lingering in the fridge too long. Although it may be a waste, at least it would be used. I would like to save the 7 bucks that I normally spend on a White Labs vial next time I brew.

 

[Clonefarmer]

If you are sanitary when you wash the yeast it can last quite a while in the fridge. Six months, maybe more. Just be sure to make a starter and have a back up of dry yeast.

 

[fastricky]

I do consolidate all my washed yeast, as I need to conserve real estate in our fridge.

I wait til everything has settled, then unscrew the lid part that turns, but I keep the flat part of the lid on the Masons jar. Then I spray some Star San solution around the lid for safe measure before opening the jar completely, pouring off the water on top and then dumping the yeast into one Mason jar. Works well, and the last few times I found I didn't need to shake the yeast to have it liquify - it just poured out as one uniform blob.

While I'm transferring the yeast, I also dump the lids into some StarSan for the amount of time it takes to make the transfer... couldn't hurt I figure.

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

Thats exactly what I am trying to accomplish. Well now I know that someone else is doing this, so shall I. Thanks all!

 

[brewruff]

I do a gallon jar to rinse in.
I rack the yeast into beer bottles.
You should have some bottle and sanitizer laying around.

 

[steelerguy]

I would wash the yeast which I am not really seeing you say you are going to do. (Could just be missing something) I would make sure one of your jars is a 1 qt. jar or container with boiled water that has been cooled (or it can be santized plastic and just have 32 oz. of cooled boiled water on hand). Dump the water into the carboy, swirl it up, dump it into the big jar. Let it sit for 15-20 mins so the trub can settle, then dump the yeast filled liquid into one or two of your other mason jars. Let that sit for 15-20 mins and then dump the yeasty liquid from each into the final jar.

That way you get good clean yeast without trub and only have to worry about ending up with and storing one jar. Sure you won't get all the yeast this way, but doesn't sound like you want/need it all. Build a starter and you will have plenty of clean and healthy yeast to use for your next beer!