Ollie Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 Hi Fellas... I have recently washed a yeast from one of my last batches of beer(the original yeast was a re-culture from Coopers) and I have just begun stepping it up. I have noticed that my step up keeps forming a rather prominent yeast cake in the bottom of the vessel within in like an hour or so of not shaking it. This is only my first attempt at not only washing a yeast cake but also stepping up. I am curious if I have done something wrong because when I did the re-culture from the coopers bottles I did not experience this caking of yeast at the bottom of the vessel. (I am using a 2.5L juice bottle) Am I just being a concerned over nothing here or should i be worried? Cheers Ollie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoptimus Maximus Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 Cannot answer your question as I use a DIY stir plate which keeps it all in suspension. But curious to know with this step up(starter), what volume of washed yeast did you start with in the 2.5 L bottle and how much wort did you add it to? What SG was the wort you made? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 as with any brew regardless of size, and thats all a starter is, a very small brew, you will get 'trub' and if left to it's own deviices the yeast will eat all they can get lazy and floculate to the bottom, make sure your temps are adequate for the yeast you are using (too cold and they will floc) and try to shake more often. I find that letting it settle is a good thing as you can pour off the spent wort (beer) and just pitch the slury to the next step up. [edit] also make sure you are stepping up in the right volumes and not pitching 25ml right into 2.5lt of wort.. ie 25ml to 250ml to 1lt - 2lt to FV Yob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ollie Posted July 25, 2011 Author Share Posted July 25, 2011 Thanks for the responses guys, Hmm I think and I say this in very general terms that I would say I started with approx 50ml of yeast cake. I did not measure it when I started, do you guys normally do this? I pitched it into 500ml of cooled boiled water (it would have been about 20 degrees) that had 4 large TBSP of dextrose in there. The starter is at room temp approx 20ish degrees and I am now trying to give it a bit of a shake about once every half hour (I brought it to work [biggrin]). The next step up I was going to do would be to get it from 500ml to 1L, should I put in more dextrose for this one? Do you think it is settling out because it has run out of consumables? Ah the never ending learing process of home brewing hey! How good! Thanks for tips guys I appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoptimus Maximus Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 \t I would not used dextrose, think LDME is the way to go. I use 10gms to 100ml of water. You might become one of the Movers and Shakers at work if you keep this up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weggl Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 Ollie, why are you trying to build up 1L? When you make a batch of beer you will have a large amount of yeast in the bottom. You should easily get about 1/2 L. Once it settles pour the liquid off the top and store in the fridge. When you come to brew remove it from the fridge to warm up. Split in say in half or a third add some boiled cooled water with some dex, give it a good shaking and let it start. If you don\u2019t have a stir plate do this the day before. This way you will always have yeast. Warren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ollie Posted July 26, 2011 Author Share Posted July 26, 2011 Ollie, why are you trying to build up 1L? When you make a batch of beer you will have a large amount of yeast in the bottom. You should easily get about 1/2 L. Once it settles pour the liquid off the top and store in the fridge. When you come to brew remove it from the fridge to warm up. Split in say in half or a third add some boiled cooled water with some dex, give it a good shaking and let it start. If you don\u2019t have a stir plate do this the day before. This way you will always have yeast. Warren Warren, I am stepping it up to 1L because when I poured it off from the FV I only had a 500ml jar... by the time I let is setle and poured off the liquid on top I was only left with the about 50ml of yeast cake to then create my starter... Have I done this wrong? I saw a thread on aussiehomebrewer.com by Wolfie that i got from some one on this forum and I am pretty sure that is how he did it... But maybe I misread! How do you guys do it? I thought that you had to step it up to a 500ml starter then 1L then a 2L starter before pitching it into your next brew so the yeast could multiply and get strong enough to ferment right through the next brew...[crying] Confusion, what a sensation. [pinched] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 if you are re-using the yeast from a previous brew there may be no need to make a starter, it really depends on how much you collect to begin with. Wolfy's topic you reference (from memory) assumes a starter when you only have a small amount of yeast to begin with. Quote "Wolfy" The 'cleaned' yeast can be pitched directly into a new batch of beer Wolfy's Yeast Rinsing Topic Yob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty A Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 If it is expensive yeast that you are using, keep building it up so you can do as Warren says and pitch it into more then one brew at a time. I do this when I purchase liquid yeast because I am a tight arse and my brewing budget isnt very big. I have also thought about doing it with the Coopers commercial yeast as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 For approximately 23L the general rule of the thumb is: 1 cup slurry for Lagers 1/2 cup slurry for Ales If you are running brews one after the other then what I usually do is: Keg/bottle brew add 500-600ml cooled boiled water to the FV give the FV a good swirl to suspend all the yeast in sterized jars pour off your require amounts (can usually get about 3-4 200ml jars) wash FV in hot water spray with no rinse (starsan) put next brew in pitch yeast straight in FV and.... away she goes!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 I dug this up for you to have a listen to, loads of great info and explination in THIS LINK Yob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ollie Posted July 27, 2011 Author Share Posted July 27, 2011 I dug this up for you to have a listen to' date=' loads of great info and explination in THIS LINK Yob Cheers Yob! Listening to this now and it is really informative! Thanks, Ollie [biggrin] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ollie Posted July 27, 2011 Author Share Posted July 27, 2011 Hey Bill, I assume you re-pitch all 3-4 jars of your slurry which would be in the vicinity of 600-800ml, correct? This sounds like a nice quick and easy method to pitch your next brew! I like it [cool] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 Ollie... no, I only pitch one jar. See top of previous "rule of the thumb"... = 1 cup for lager and 1/2 cup for ale.... I just throw only 1 x 200ml jar of slurry into 23ish L of brew. I have saved a lot of money and time this way and am yet to get an infection. However, I do not rule out that an infection is still possible. The remaining jars - I usually give one to a friend down here and 1 or 2 in the fridge. To be honest I don't do 4 jars all the time (only when needed) but was explaining in the above example how I do sometimes. Most times I repitch one (and sometimes keep one in the fridge), give one to a friend and dump the rest. I have a heap of 200ml jars. The ones that babyfood come in are just perfect. I have 2 young ones [rightful] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ollie Posted July 27, 2011 Author Share Posted July 27, 2011 Bill, This might sound like a dumb question now but if it is possible to pitch your yeast at an amount of only 200ml then why do we step up a starter to 2.5L? Is it because a starter is to "get a yeast active/wake it up" if we have stored it for a period of time? Such as the ones you put in your fridge for use next brew? In comparison to the yeast out of the fermenter being active still from the brew you just did? Appreciate your input as this process is all a bit new to me and all the info I can get helps! Thanks, Ollie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 Bill, This might sound like a dumb question now but if it is possible to pitch your yeast at an amount of only 200ml then why do we step up a starter to 2.5L? No questions are dumb mate.... 200ml is plenty of yeast for a standard wort. By standard I mean around 23L and OG of around 1040. You only need to step it up for high gravity brews so no need for a 2.5L starter. Is it because a starter is to "get a yeast active/wake it up" if we have stored it for a period of time? Such as the ones you put in your fridge for use next brew? To use the yeast stored this way in the fridge (bear in mind you should use these within a few weeks) I usually take it out the night before and give it a shake. Let it warm up to room temp and shake it prior to pitching in the wort. It is best to pitch it as close to the FV temp of both wort and yeast. In comparison to the yeast out of the fermenter being active still from the brew you just did? Not sure what you mean by this but will guess.... if you swirl your FV as mentioned to suspend the yeast then there will be enough active yeast to repitch straight away into your next brew. Appreciate your input as this process is all a bit new to me and all the info I can get helps! Thanks, Ollie No probs mate, always happy to help and am always happy to be corrected when need be. It is all a learning process we all can enjoy [cool] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ollie Posted July 27, 2011 Author Share Posted July 27, 2011 Cheers Bill! What a comprehensive reply, that all makes good sense to me. Now to put it in to practice! ... Let the trial and error process begin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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