Ollie Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Hey Fellas, So I have been stepping up a yeast culture that I made used and then washed from a previous batch of beer. I stepped it up because she was a little slow to ferment through so I thought I might try and make a few more yeasties in there for the next batch... I started with 50ml and over the period of about 2 weeks I have stepped her up to 2.5L, been shaking it all the time and it has been kept in a good environment in my brewing room, I.E. good temps and very little direct light. So my question is this... If I was not ready to use this 2.5L starter but kept the yeast in suspension by shaking it all the time how long before i could NOT use this? Will it go off?? Reason I ask is because I am thinking Saturday evening is going to be the first opportunity I am going to have before putting down my next batch and am just curious if I should use it? All input as always is much appreciated! [biggrin] Cheers guys, Ollie. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoptimus Maximus Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 My take on this tell me that you would probably achieve nothing by shaking the container if the yeast have finished consuming the wort sugar. They naturally then flocculate to the bottom of the starter vessel and my understanding is that sterile spent wort is a fairly good short term storage medium. If it was me I would just put the container in the fridge and perhaps give them another feed a few hours before pitching. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neck Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 I threw some of my brew dregs (basically just the beer and some mixed up yeast cake) in a 1.25l sterilised pepsi bottle and threw it in the bottom of my fridge for a week and a half then used it as a starter. The brew I threw it in took off great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Ollie, how big of brew are you going to make?... a 2.5L starter is a lot of yeast for a standard type brew. If you are looking to pitch into a standard brew I would take your 2.5L and save that into 5 x 500ml jars and just leave them in the fridge for the future. Then the night before your brew day take one out of the fridge and let wamr to room temp. Just pitch that into you wort when ready. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ollie Posted August 4, 2011 Author Share Posted August 4, 2011 Ollie, how big of brew are you going to make?... a 2.5L starter is a lot of yeast for a standard type brew. If you are looking to pitch into a standard brew I would take your 2.5L and save that into 5 x 500ml jars and just leave them in the fridge for the future. Then the night before your brew day take one out of the fridge and let wamr to room temp. Just pitch that into you wort when ready. Bill, When you say "big" are you referring to litreage or ABV%? I was planning on pitching it into Muddy's Full Nelson Ale and from memory it is 21L... Would anything bad happen if I used all 2.5L's? It is just that because I had my last batch struggle to get through the full ferment I was worried it might happen again hence I made "the super starter"[biggrin] Ollie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 The general rule of thumb is 1-2 weeks os generally ok but longer than this and you will need to clean and make a new starter. The explination can get a little complicated but the short version is that the inactive yeast will start to die off. Best practice is to let your starter ferment out and then fridge it to drop the yeast out of suspension. Pour off spent wort form on top and "wash" or "rinse" the yeast to get a pure clean sample. This YEAST PITCHING CALCULATOR is dead easy to use and is a bit better than "ooh about that much" there is more info HERE for a better understanding. there is also a good topic HERE on washing/rinsing yeast. if you have a spare hour or so have a listen to THIS as it contains ALL the info you will need. Yob [edit] Both over and underpitching are real concerns and your pitching rate largly depends on the OG of the wort you are pitching to.. and how many litres... and the style etc etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoptimus Maximus Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 if you have a spare hour or so have a listen to THIS as it contains ALL the info you will need. Yob I previously took advice and listened to these podcasts and can second that this is an hour well spent in learning about starters and pitching rates from the guys at BrewStrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 Bill, When you say "big" are you referring to litreage or ABV%? I was planning on pitching it into Muddy's Full Nelson Ale and from memory it is 21L... Would anything bad happen if I used all 2.5L's? It is just that because I had my last batch struggle to get through the full ferment I was worried it might happen again hence I made "the super starter"[biggrin] Ollie Sorry Ollie, I must have missed this somehow. By "big" I mean a high gravity brew. A brew higher than around 1060 + You may get away with pitching all 2.5L but I certainly don't see the need for that much. Why not keep at least half for the future?... at least that way you still have yeast for later use [joyful] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ollie Posted August 5, 2011 Author Share Posted August 5, 2011 Bill, Good advice, I will pour off half and keep it in the fridge for next time! Thanks for all the tips everyone and that radio show interview thing was great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weggl Posted August 5, 2011 Share Posted August 5, 2011 I pitched 1/3 of the yeast from the last trub into a batch that was 30C, got a little distracted when raising the temp but had to pitch at that temp. Well it was up and running in 4 hours. It was ok the temp dropped to 23.5 by 11pm (made it at 2pm). It was down to 21.5C this morning. In the cold weather we have been having I usualy like to pitch about 26C, knowing that it will get to about 22 in a few houres. I normaly get about 3 to 4 yeast starter out of a trub. Warren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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