Growing Yeast Steve?

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leeb72
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Growing Yeast Steve?

Post by leeb72 »

I'm new here and thanks for all the great info. I read a post in the classifieds about cheap yeast and Speedfreaksteve wrote"
Just take a packet of Lalvin EC-1118, add it to 2 litres of water, sugar and fruit juice (real juice), store it somewhere warm (over 20C) wait about 5 days and then you'll have about a half pound of yeast at the bottom. Can someone (Steve) tell me how much sugar and how much juice? Thanks
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Post by Bsnapshot »

Leeb,

Just ad one cup of sugar and one cup of juice to the water. ad your yeast cover it loosely and let it go. Just do not seal it or cap it tightly or you will have a big mess to clean up. In a few days you will have a lot of yeast.
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Post by bronzdragon »

When I bring up a culture of yeast, I do it in a flask with a drilled rubber stopper and an air lock on top.

In this case as long as the liquid does not have too high of a gravity, then the yeast should be ok. If you put too much sugar (sugar and fruit sugar in the juice) then the yeast will have a hard time starting off.

EC-1118 is a good strong yeast, but I wouldn't make the starter any higher then 1.060-1.070. Once the yeast start eating all that sugar, you'll have plenty of yeast in no time.

If you want to save this yeast and use it on a continual basis, there are several homebrewing sites and boards that have detailed instructions on culturing yeast.

Myself, if I have something I'm going to brew that is high gravity, I make a good bit of yeast to start it off. Otherwise, I just use a fresh pack.

Most yeast can be used several times too. In other words, toss a pack in and ferment a wash/mash. Then when you siphon off the yeast sediment, you can go back in with another batch.

cheers

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Post by wineo »

I make starters for my sugar washes and I start mine at 1040SG.I make a gallon starter with 2 packs of 1118 and let it ferment for 2-3 days.I just use sugar.I will use it on 10 or 12 gallon batches of sugar wash.My wash sg is 1080.
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Post by pintoshine »

if you want to grow yeast for the sake of growing yeast, a lot of oxygen is needed. In the aerobic state yeast multiplies quite fast. doubling every 90 minutes is not unheard of. I have used a 10 gallon fish tank and regular feedings of nutrients to make lots of yeast. A good aeration system is important though. Without air, yeast convert sugar to air. With air they multiply like crazy.
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Post by goose eye »

if you one of them rich folks you can get that inverted suger to use.
distiller yeast likes to be warmer than most. if you goin hi you got
to rember that
so im tole
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Post by shadylane »

If you use a bubble trap and rack your mash, you can reuse the lees left in the bottom of your fermenter. A half gallon of lees will start fermenting a lot faster than a small packet of yeast.
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Post by tracker0945 »

So, just to clarify, do you dispose of the solid yeast cake or is that the part that you use?
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yeast needs oxygen

Post by partonken »

Lets clarify how much oxygen yeast need to multiply. You dont want to use an airlock because it restricts air completely.

A lose bag with holes in it , enough to let CO2 out and a bit of oxygen in?

I make my starters , and leave them completly open for 2 hours. my yeast probably double in this time.

I dont think i would want to leave your yeast open for 2 days, you might get unwanted contamination.

THis is a good thread, right on pintoshine!! yeast need O2 to multiply.
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Post by wineo »

I use a airlock but airate my starter for 15 minutes before putting it on.
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Post by pintoshine »

When I use a fish tank to grow yeast, I use at least three stones and a typical pump suited to a ten gallon tank. I start with a very weak molasses, urea, and b complex to make a 5 gallon mixture. I try for a gravity of 1.020 which isn't much molasses.

Procedure for fish tank yeast propagater.
So I start with:
64 fl oz of molasses
1 tbs urea or DAP or your favorite nitrogen source.
2 one a day style vitamins ground fine.
1/4 tsp Epsom salts, I usually find the USP grade which is very pure.
boil all this together in a gallon of water for 30 minutes.

Add enough water to bring the level to half a 10 gallon fish tank.
Cover the thing with a support and a thin cloth. The hamster wire tops are fine for this.

With no alcohol and this small gravity yeast grow like crazy.
The next 6 days I add another 16 oz of molasses.

The yeast is still going to make copious amounts of CO2. This will make a gas cap on top of the liquid. The air coming in will prevent the alcohol process because there will be no need for the yeast to use anaerobic respiration.( converting the sugar to O2, CO2 and ETOH ) So the yeast are happy and grow really fast. In 7 days there will be such a cloud of yeast that you can make all the liquid starter you need. Stop feeding and run for another 2 days to make sure all the sugar is eaten. This point is important and is usually missed even in a lot of popular books. If you still have sugar, storage becomes a problem.

Turn the whole thing off and let it settle for a day or two to make a nice sludge at the bottom. It is not necessary to allow it to clear because the yeast is what you are after.
Rack off as much liquid as you can without disturbing the sludge. You should leave about 2.5 gallons of liquid,

Procedure for storing liquid starter.
I get my bottles by buying a good import beer without twist off caps. Procure 12 count 12 oz. beer bottles and new caps. Boil 12 bottles in a large pot for at least 30 minutes. Skip the sterilization chemicals used for homebrew. These are not needed. Also boil a funnel and a cup for dipping and a large spoon for stirring.

Remove the bottles from the bath without touching the mouth of the bottle. Make sure they are empty. A bit of water left will not hurt.

Place the caps in some high proof, at least 40%, alcohol to sterilize. Wipe all the bottle mouths with alcohol on the inside top and outside before filling. A paper towel dipped in clean alcohol works well.

Stir the contents of the tank. Ladle the contents into the bottles being neat. If you mess up the top of the bottle, clean with alcohol again. Remove a cap from the alcohol and cap the bottle. Store these in the refrigerator. Do not allow them to freeze as freezing will kill a lot of brewing and wine yeasts. Specialized bakers strains can be frozen but we are not using these.

Each one of these bottles is a super starter. It contains enough yeast to ferment 5 gallons of 1.08 sugar water unaided. They are also prolific yeast because they were propagated with air. I have used a single bottle to ferment 40 gallons of nutrient balanced wash with no issues.

So for all the preparation it makes it as simple a pop and pitch.
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Post by stoker »

nice post!

also check homebrewer sites and forums, some have lots of experience with yeast starters.
-I have too much blood in my alcohol system-
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hmm

Post by Uncle Jesse »

wonder whatever happened to speedfreaksteve
If only the best birds sang, the woods would be silent.
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Post by tracker0945 »

Right, just got my answer thanks Pint.
I have read a number of yeast pages but your explanation is the clearest I have struck.
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Re: Growing Yeast Steve?

Post by bec1986 »

Great information, $4.50 a packet for yeast that the brew shop told me I would need 2 or 3 of - Yeah I went with bakers yeast! With this I should be able to culture the best of the high alcohol yielding yeast they have and make enough to do a few washes and hopefully keep it pure for a few generation before starting fresh. An twin air pump is only $20 and the 6" air stones $3 ea, big tub from discount store $15, original yeast $4.
$44 for a continuous supply of yeast with the only ongoing expense the occasional new packet of yeast and the nutrients and sugar any brewer will have anyway, im sold!
Thanks
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Jimy Dee
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Re: Growing Yeast Steve?

Post by Jimy Dee »

I found this recently and it is a great thread. I gave it a go last night so I am looking forward to see can I give growing yeast a successful whirl. I was wondering how I could grow a mother yeast using a small pack of good quality yeast for all grain and on the basis this is a success it will assist in making this hobby all the more affordable.
If anyone has any better ways please let us beginners know.
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Re: Growing Yeast Steve?

Post by Pikey »

Nice bit of searching there Jimy 8)

Excellent explanation by Pintoshine.
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Re: Growing Yeast Steve?

Post by StillerBoy »

Here's more info on yeast culture by MitchyBourbon.. google Mitchy.. there's lots more from him on yeast..
http://w.homedistiller.org/forum/viewto ... 39&t=61187" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

And more interesting read on yeast culture..
https://www.google.ca/search?rls=en-us& ... er+Batches?&*" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Mars
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Jimy Dee
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Re: Growing Yeast Steve?

Post by Jimy Dee »

Gents

Thanks a mil Pikey and Mars for the replies.

What I am looking for is how to grow a "mother" from a purchased commercial strain.
I am not looking into yeast harvesting from mashes/turb, or yeast storage or developing my own yeast or wild yeasts etc. There is a load of information on these subjects already, but I have found it difficult enough to get good quality information on how I can get a small pack of shop bought yeast and then grow it on into a large yeast, which I can split and do with as I like - either store it or use some for fermenting etc.

Anyway after reading the historic information in the start of this thread, 2 nights ago I got 1.5 liters of water and boiled in pot.
Added 0.5 kg white sugar to boiling water and dissolved the white sugar.
I then added this sugar water to the 5 liter plastic jug, and added 2 liters of cold water and half a liter of breakfast orange juice - the cheap stuff in a carton (do not know if this was the type of fruit juice referred to in the information earlier in the thread).
The SG at this stage was 1.050
I add 1 level teaspoon of DAP. Nothing else.
I had to put the jug standing in cold water in the sink for a short while to bring down the temp to under 30C.
When the heat had gone down to circa 27 Celsius I added a small 11.5 gram yeast sachet of US 05. On the sachet it said the yeast in it was enough to do 20 liters to 30 liters, so I was satisfied there was enough yeast for the 4 liters of liquid in the container.
I put the lot into my boiler house where the temp is generally a constant 21C, and I left the aquarium aerator in the liquid for 48 hours. This evening after work I took out the aerator. I am going to leave it sit for another 3 days and I will report back what the outcome is. I hope it works.

I am always open to learning so if anyone has other ways please let us all know.

Just to repeat (not meaning to be a pain in the ass) please do not come back with how to harvest yeast from mashes/turb, or yeast storage or developing one's own yeast or wild yeasts. This is not really the info being sought at this point in time.
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Re: Growing Yeast Steve?

Post by shadylane »

HD Google Search is your friend :thumbup:
Here's what I found using the key words..... Yeast starter
https://www.google.com/search?rls=en-us ... &*&spf=181" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
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bitter
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Re: Growing Yeast Steve?

Post by bitter »

Whats listed in this thread is pretty common for what people do in beer making... have a wort (some can wort, other use dme) to make a sterilized solution, cool, then pitch yeast (normally use stir place to ensure good oxygenation)

Normally using a more specialized yeast when I have done it... for example an irish ale yeast.. rather than buying 2-4 $10 packs of liquid yeast, buy 1 grow it as big as needed in a couple stages and then pitch a big health yeast colony.

B
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Re: Growing Yeast Steve?

Post by MitchyBourbon »

Jimy Dee wrote: [/u]
I am not looking into yeast harvesting from mashes/turb, or yeast storage or developing my own yeast or wild yeasts etc. There is a load of information on these subjects already, but I have found it difficult enough to get good quality information on how I can get a small pack of shop bought yeast and then grow it on into a large yeast, which I can split and do with as I like - either store it or use some for fermenting etc.
Then perhaps you might want to read my whole post on isotonic storage. Stillerboy has kindly provided you the link. As part of that post a talk you through the steps... no pun intended. Of stepping up a volume of yeast a thousand fold. Yes, from 1 ml to a thousand. If you don't want to start at 1 ml, then just scale it up from where you do want to start it.

Note:
If you do decide to make an isotonic solution, just remember it's a little different than a gin and tonic.

Cheers
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Re: hmm

Post by speedfreaksteve »

Uncle Jesse wrote:wonder whatever happened to speedfreaksteve
He came back 10 years later.. or so I been tole. :)
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Re: Growing Yeast Steve?

Post by bilgriss »

I heard that rumor too!
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Jimy Dee
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Re: Growing Yeast Steve?

Post by Jimy Dee »

Mitchy - thanks for that, I read it in detail now, it seems a great way of doing it. Your procedure is going to be my next trial. Appreciate it. :thumbup:
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Re: Growing Yeast Steve?

Post by Jimy Dee »

Well Folks, just to give some feed back on foot of my experiment outlined in an earlier post in this thread, after taking the aerator out after 2 days in the container, I left the whole lot alone for another 3 days and yes it has been a success, there is a nice layer of yeast sitting in the bottom of the jug container. Now I am presuming this is both yeast and turb to some degree, and I will have to wash the yeast, but thats for another thread. I am now going to have a go at growing this on to a larger quantity using the isotonic solution method as per MitchyB, but since I have no DME I am going to have a go at it with molasses and a pinch of epsom salts instead of DME.

In reality I presume the yeast itself is changing to some minuscule degree each time it is "grown" on. However I see on other threads it is reckoned the yeast is good for 5 to 10 generations, so lets rock on. And if this is correct I presume it is a case of dividing a "mother" and growing on the individual parts of the mother as needs be.
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Post by vqstatesman »

pintoshine wrote:
Turn the whole thing off and let it settle for a day or two to make a nice sludge at the bottom. It is not necessary to allow it to clear because the yeast is what you are after.
Rack off as much liquid as you can without disturbing the sludge. You should leave about 2.5 gallons of liquid.
pintoshine wrote: Stir the contents of the tank. Ladle the contents into the bottles being neat.
Can I please clarify that we are harvesting and keeping the trub and yeast which has settled at the bottom? And this is what we use to start future fermentation batches?
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Re: Growing Yeast Steve?

Post by badflash »

https://www.maltosefalcons.com/tech/yea ... -practices" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
I use a 1 liter beaker, stir plate, and a paper towel with a rubber band over the top.
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Re: Growing Yeast Steve?

Post by vqstatesman »

How long can the yeast live in the fridge using Pinto's method? I notice he doesn't wash the yeast either.
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