Do's and dont's with fresh yeast

[Dennis King]

So the next new thing for me is - in two weeks time - yeast washing.

Gotta recoup the cost of the fresh yeast!

Personally I find it easier to make a 2lt starter first, when fermented split into 5 sterile containers so making 5 batches for future use. Keep in the fridge and make a fresh 2lt starter when you want to use.

[jaroporter]

don't bother yeast washing - it's effort, introduces plenty of opportunity for contamination, and all the biologists on the forums are suggesting that it's better to store the yeast under beer than water, so you're actually upsetting your yeast by washing it. no-one likes bathday..

[Troutman47]

So what's the answer to recoup the extra cost of the fresh yeast?

I was surprised when I came home from work, hardly any bubbling but when I peeked inside the FV I was surprised to still see a krausen but what a lovely looking krausen!

WLP041 Krausen

[Dennis King]

So what's the answer to recoup the extra cost of the fresh yeast?

As I said by splitting the first starter I get 5 brews per pack.

[Troutman47]

That was my favourite suggestion!

[tourer]

So what's the answer to recoup the extra cost of the fresh yeast?

As I said by splitting the first starter I get 5 brews per pack.

Dennis king, when you use your stored starters do you bring a vial up to room temperature then dump it in the wort or do you make another starter to increase the yeast count further?
thanks

[Dennis King]

So what's the answer to recoup the extra cost of the fresh yeast?

As I said by splitting the first starter I get 5 brews per pack.

Dennis king, when you use your stored starters do you bring a vial up to room temperature then dump it in the wort or do you make another starter to increase the yeast count further?
thanks

I make a new 2lt starter 3 days before I'm brewing. On the brew day 10-15 mins into the boil take a litre of wort and crash cool. Pour away the spent wort from the starter and add the fresh wort to the yeast cake. By the time the boil has finished and cooled the yeast is perfect for pitching and is prepared for it's new environment so no stress.

[jaroporter]

So what's the answer to recoup the extra cost of the fresh yeast?

either as dennis suggests, or you can repitch the slurry, or variants on this theme. there's some really good info on specifics in this section of the forum.

[Jocky]

So what's the answer to recoup the extra cost of the fresh yeast?

I have several jam jars I use to keep slurry in the fridge.

I will either make a large starter from the vial, let it ferment out, crash out the yeast and then split there, or if I'm making a regular strength beer (up to 5.5%) I'll store some slurry from a batch. Just make sure whatever you're storing in is very clean and sterilised as best possible (I have an electric pressure cooker).

I'm not finicky about what beer I take the slurry from as I'll decant the rest of the liquid before I pitch and possibly make another starter. I recently pitched month old slurry from WLP028 from an English Porter into a hoppy American Pale ale. The pale ale took 3rd prize and scored 40/50 in the Brew Brighton competition.

With all the DME it still probably costs me more than dry yeast, but there are so many more interesting yeasts to use in liquid.

[Troutman47]

I'm hoping this mini heatwave hasn't been a disaster for the WLP041, I always put the fv in a flexible bucket with water and an aquarium heater at 19C which has always been fine.
But when I checked the water and wort were at 22C!
Max temp for 041 is 20C.

Tomorrow will tell when I bottle it!
Dry hopped on Monday night with 33g Bramling Cross.
Hydro reading Monday night, day 8 of fermentation was 1014, today it's 1012 down from 1045

[BrannigansLove]

With regard to getting your money's worth from liquid yeast, I build a 1.5L starter, and pour off 0.5L or so into a sanitised jam jar that goes into the fridge. The remaining 1L gets pitched into the wort. Next time I want to brew I build a new starter with the jam jar yeast. I use the shaken not stirred approach to starters.

As far as the heatwave is concerned, as long as you kept it down for the first 2-3 days of fermentation, you should be OK.

[Troutman47]

Bottled this today and it tasted goooood!!

Good body, smooth, nicely hopped but not the malt forward the reviews spoke of, maybe after conditioning it'll come through.
Mind you, I FWH with 67g of Braming Cross then dry hopped with 33g of Bramling Cross! Fuggles and EKG at 15 and 0

I like the sound of what you do with your yeast, nice and easy and it can be kept going indefinitely!
I used the shaken, not stirred method when I made the starter for this beer.

I've washed, or rinsed the yeast from this beer and have a 1kg kilner jar full of yeast ready for the next brew, I think I'll use your method of keeping the yeast going BrannigansLove, I try and follow the 'kiss' system -'Keep It Simple Stupid'
Probably use half of what's there with a 1.5l starter.