I have been up and down the web looking at how to save money by harvesting yeast. And I have done it a time or two successfully, HOWEVER, I really would like to find an easier way to do this. I think I have found a solution but if any one knows of a video or a DIY sight that would be great! What I am thinking is just getting my yeast (Whitelabs WLP001) and making a yeast starter, after that just keeping that in the fridge use a vile full every time a brew and feeding the starter a little bit more every time. The few thing I am wondering is 1)Will this work... 2)What do I feed it 3)How much of this should I use. 4)How long can I keep that going? Any and all help is welcome! RDWHAHB! Cheers!
This is what I do...brew a batch of low gravity beer, siphon the beer off the yeast cake, swirl the yeast cake, pour the yeast cake into a sanitized mason jar. That's it, I now have about a quart of yeast slurry, which is enough for multiple batches of beer. Repeat process as necessary.
Get your hands on this book. Lots of great info on yeast propagation and storage. http://www.amazon.com/Yeast-Practical-Fermentation-Brewing-Elements/dp/0937381969
Good thread here on slanting yeast - allows you to keep a bunch ready for propagation when you're ready to brew. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/slanting-yeast-133103/
In one of Jamil's podcasts they talked at length about harvesting yeast. His ultimate conclusions was that, though you can go nuts on the details and try to make everything perfect, simply capturing some of the yeast cake in a sanitized jar and putting it in the fridge is just as effective for reusing. I've been doing this since my first batch and I have never had a single problem. If it has been in the fridge for less than a month, I just pitch it right into the wort. If it's been longer, I make a starter with it to wake the yeast up. Boom, done.
I haven't tried reusing slurry with that simple of a method yet. I've "washed" a couple yeast cakes now and the process seemed easy enough. Although I don't follow his procedure exactly, Billybrew has a nice write up of it.... http://billybrew.com/yeast-washing I use 4xpint size mason jars, boil them in water, cap them when they are filled with boiling water, cool the jars down to room temperature in the refrigerator, transfer my beer, add the water from the 4xpint size mason jars to the carboy, swirl the yeast cake, let it settle for 20+ minutes, decant the top creamy portion off and pour it into a sanitized 2L Erlenmeyer flask, let the flask settle for another 20+ minutes, then decant the top creamy layer off and pour it back into the 4xpint sized mason jars. This BA thread does make me wonder though if its worth it to wash the yeast or if I should just collect the straight "unwashed" slurry in a mason instead?
Unfortunately this book is vague on the actual procedure. Don't get mo wrong, its an excellent book, obviously a fresh yeast advocate.
Are you kidding? This book contains very explicit procedures on just about every aspect of yeast handling.
The original question call for Yeast Harvesting, That's chapter is vague compare to other part in this book. Saying "every aspect" will not be accurate. I will not be surprised if the next book will focus on reuse yeast including acid and alkaline wash.
The original question had nothing at all to do with harvesting (collection). It was about storage and maintenance and (more or less) re-use. But between these topics... Collection: 8 pages Storage/maintenance: 4-1/2 pages Re-use (including acid washing): 9-1/2 pages What is alkaline washing? I have only ever heard the term in the context of killing yeast and other microbes. If it's truly a viable/common yeast handling technique, I'll concede that the book missed something important. Otherwise, it's very thorough.
