yeast ranching

[william_shakes_beer]

Newbie here, still in the planning stages of my first batch, so be gentle.

Most threads I've read here discuss washing and reusing yeast strains from the trub. Why would it not be more sanitary to do the the following:

1. Obtain a commercial strain of yeast
2. Make a starter using the usual methods
3. Divide the starter into 2 sterilized containers and make 2 starters from the original
4. Chill/freeze/store one starter, pitch the other
5. resume at step 3

By collecting yeast from the starter and keeping the entire process sterile until pitching, seems like there would be fewer bacteria cells and more pure yeast propogated. Am I missing something?

 

[kanzimonson]

That's a fine thing to do. The yeast will also be in better health after a starter than an entire batch of beer. The biggest problem is the higher risk of contamination that you achieve with every transfer.

 

[Randar]

Newbie here, still in the planning stages of my first batch, so be gentle.

Most threads I've read here discuss washing and reusing yeast strains from the trub. Why would it not be more sanitary to do the the following:

1. Obtain a commercial strain of yeast
2. Make a starter using the usual methods
3. Divide the starter into 2 sterilized containers and make 2 starters from the original
4. Chill/freeze/store one starter, pitch the other
5. resume at step 3

You've now grown the "1st generation" in the starter (or second if you count the yeast lab's growth as 1st)... why not store 5, 10, or 20 examples of this generation and just regrow from there?

Each successive thaw/growth generation introduces more opportunity for mutation/infection.

Honestly, go get yourself the book "Yeast" by Chris White and Jamil Zainasheff. I don't think any layman should be trying this without some more research and science-backed methods (which they provide several good examples of)...

 

[android]

you could do what you've outlined for the first time, but then you will have to make 2 starters each time you want to brew with one of your stored split starters if you want to keep splitting it. the nice thing about washing/harvesting yeast is that you get two (in my process) nice batches of clean yeast that sometimes even work without a starter (i normally do one anyway) but you only have to do the one starter, not having to plan more days in advance to get to brewing.