So just prepping for a breakfast stout clone tomorrow. As I am conducting my yeast starter (while drinking heavily) a thought occurred...am I doing this right, is this even called a yeast starter, why is my holy city yeast wrangler gone, oh my god I only have one more left (said the voices in my head). My idea is I am tired of spending the $7 bucks a pop for white labs cali ale yeast vial. Can I take my yeast cake from the bottom of a previous batch, put a small amount back in a white labs vial with some of the beer from the previous batch, put it in the fridge. Then bring it back to room temp( like I did tonight) and do a LME boil bring it to about 70 then pitch my yeast in hope it grows enough for this weekends batch? Ill probably buy another vial tomorrow because I am paranoid and mix the old and new. What is the proper way,amounts of everything yada yada.... mixed research on the internet can someone help for the future. Also how the heck would I even have a clue of how many cells or even if its enough yeast to pitch for my 10% abv batch when it does grow. Cheers! Andrew
Unless you count the cells, you will be guessing. You can just pitch onto the cake, or you can start to wash your yeast. Collect it from your fermenter, allow it to settle out, and follow directions online to wash your yeast. Store it in jars in the fridge... Pull what you need, build it over up the course of a week to the cell count you need from a calculator, and roll with it..
Sweet I will google how to wash my yeast. I was confused because this breakfast stout clone said to use the cali ale yeast which is the same I just used for my IPA. I would have thought a different style of beer would have used something different. Thank you for the helpful info!
Cali is just a clean yeast strain. Works for alot of beers where the yeast doesn't need to be noticeable, or express any esters and whatnot to influence the beer. Lagers... saisons.. belgians... things of that nature you would want different yeasts...
I was completely unaware of that but it explains its use in a hop forward California style IPA 100% and I get why its called for in the breakfast stout now. That's great info I learned something new today. Haven't done that since college. Thank you again!
If I want to propagate my yeast I like to start with the starter. I make the starter about 200 ml bigger than I need. Right before pitching I add 200 ml of the slurry to a sterilized mason jar. If you have cold crashed the starter you can estimate the yeast you keep. Since there is no trub it is very clean.
Great advice. I know alot of people do that.. Build it bigger, save what you would have originally pitched without a starter.. it's clean, it's there to build another starter with next go around, and rinse and repeat.
Dude, if you're just using cali, tired of making starters and looking to save a few bucks, just go with US-05.
If you're interested in being a little more accurate without spending a ton of money on equipment google biobrewer estimating cell count.
Everything you want to know about starters and yeast maintenance plus thing you did not know you needed to know right here.
After you watch some online videos you will understand what Im saying. I wash and store yeast in mason jars. If it does not have a ton of trub I dont try to separate the yeast from trub and dead cells etc..... I take it out of the fridge the morning of the brew , let it warm up (just that will make it activate , bubble and so on) I then add about a good 2 oz or so of the wort i get while brewing. When its time to pitch , its very ''alive'' and has worked well.
Thank you sir! I feel like there is a guide for every aspect of brewing unfortunately I don't really read them until I encounter a hurdle.
There is no need to wash the yeast. I've tried it, and it makes no qualitative difference at all in it;s performance or the results. I have routinely repitched my yeast (both my house yeast and the occasional commercial yeasts I use) through well over a dozen generations. I've done it that way for more than 25 years. It has never been a problem, and always resulted in good beer.
