How do I Cultivate my Own Yeast :?:

[Sawce]

I have a nice packet of EC-1118 yeast and it was hard for me to come across this strain. How do I go about growing this yeast at home so that I won't have to buy anymore yeast??

[Mud Mechanik]

welcome to HD.

[heartcut]

This is a thread on yeast washing- all you'd need to do because you already have the pure yeast is put it in the last jar, let it work 2-3 days and put it in the fridge. When you need yeast, stir it up, take some out and make a starter for your ferment. Replace whatever you took out with some of the wash/ nutrient mix you made for the starter, leave it on the counter covered with a coffee filter or airlocked for a day or so and out it back in the fridge. Eventually it'll change and you'll need a restart, but you can usually go 5-10 generations this way.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 39&t=27588

[Sawce]

Ok thanx for the hasty reply!!! What about bakers yeast would I have to change that in a few generations as well??

[Dnderhead]

why whould you want to cultivate bakers/bread yeast? it so cheep its not worth it.
but is with others .keep the original yeast and take off from that to make starters.then
make several from this
by doing it this way it does not change as much.the less you muck with the original the better.

[johnny108]

http://hbd.org/brewery/library/SterileDW1096.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

A link to a tutorial on storing yeast with distilled water for long periods of time..........

[Farmer_John]

This is a thread on yeast washing- all you'd need to do because you already have the pure yeast is put it in the last jar, let it work 2-3 days and put it in the fridge. When you need yeast, stir it up, take some out and make a starter for your ferment. Replace whatever you took out with some of the wash/ nutrient mix you made for the starter, leave it on the counter covered with a coffee filter or airlocked for a day or so and out it back in the fridge. Eventually it'll change and you'll need a restart, but you can usually go 5-10 generations this way.
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 39&t=27588

so after 5-10 generations it will start to mutate? also if that is the case couldnt that be a good thing if the bacterium are say becoming more efficient at eating whatever it is you are feeding them for example?

[Dnderhead]

it is less likly to mutate if you keep a "parent" jar going rather than using yeast from the ferment.make one big starter,, save this as a "parent" then make several starters from this.
then use these for several generations.this way you still have the "parent" unmolested to fall back on.

[Farmer_John]

it is less likly to mutate if you keep a "parent" jar going rather than using yeast from the ferment.make one big starter,, save this as a "parent" then make several starters from this.
then use these for several generations.this way you still have the "parent" unmolested to fall back on.

understood that part. I was asking if the yeast mutating is that bad a thing esp if your using it for a particular type of wash

[Tater]

Would count on weather it mutated into a alcohol making super yeast or a vinegar one. Or if it changed the flavor profile into something better or worse. Always good to experiment .

[rubber duck]

It's very easy to cultivate your own yeast.

What you will need.
#1 A grolsh or swing top beer bottle with a good rubber seal. #2 Some LME or molasses. #3 An ounce of pellet hops, it doesn't matter what kind just buy the cheapest you can get.

How to make a yeast jug.
Clean the bottle and use a no rinse sanitizer. Boil some LME or molasses and add 2-3 grams of hop pellets to the boil, you want a gravity of no more then 1.04. Cool it and add that solution to the bottle, fill the bottle 1/3 to 1/2 full. Add your yeast, flip the cap on, and put it in the fridge. Congratulations you just made a yeast jug.

Care and maintenance.
Every 4 days or so take the jug out of the fridge and wipe the top down with some bleach. Pop the top off to relive the pressure, you might want to do this outside. I've messed up and forgot to pop the top for a week and then I had yeast on the kitchen ceiling. Every 3 weeks decant the liquid off the top leaving the settled yeast on the bottom and add more LME solution. What your doing here is feeding your yeast, kinda like a sourdough culture. If your going on vacation you can replace the cap with a stopper and air lock, I don't like using an air lock long term but it's fine for a few weeks at a time.

How to use your jug yeast.
A day or two before your going to start a ferment take some yeast from you jug and make a starter with it. There are a lot of threads on yeast starters so I won't go into it. Make sure you top it back off with LME solution.

There are other ways to store yeast but this a very basic way that anyone can do, and it works very well.

[Farmer_John]

Would count on weather it mutated into a alcohol making super yeast or a vinegar one. Or if it changed the flavor profile into something better or worse. Always good to experiment .

I wonder if anyone here would have an idea how to set up an experiment to try that say like you want to make the best rum yeast so you feed a culture nothing but molasses wash to try to force mutate the strain to digest it better could be fun

[Tater]

Most bakers yeasts Ive read were grown in a molasses medium.Ive read old time recipe for getting wild yeast was to malt some rye and grind it soak in warm water and rack liquid off and set outside in a warm place. Once it starts fermenting bring in to warm room and feed it more rye malt till ya get a good started. Remember 1 member here who tried it said he had best luck getting wild yeast when placing bowl near his honey bee hives. A old member who no longer with us .golden pond never used store bought yeast . Claimed there was always enough wild yeast in his distilling shed to ferment his mashes .

[Durace11]

I have read of people placing several bowls in different parts of their house or yard to see what kinds of wild yeasts they can fine in those areas. Barn, attic, kitchen, garden, just about anywhere you can place a bowl with some kind of netting(hop bags work great for this)over it so the bugs don't just dive right in and you'll capture something?!? it may be yeast and it may be a bad bacteria strain but you'll catch something.