Starting up a 'yeast' bank - how?
Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2018 12:52 pm
Hi community!
I've been at this for 4 months now and I'm getting to where I would like to be able to save my yeast strains after I drain a wash out of the fermenter, get them reproducing, then tube or jar them up and stick them in the fridge to be duplicated and reused/doubled so I can have several strains of yeast on hand for later use.
I read a comment that you can collect yeast/wash from the second day of your ferment (assume this is just wash from the ferment?) and make a starter from that. From searching I've gathered I could basically dilute this like so:
-sterilize a pint jar, then add some slurry yeast from the bottom of my fermenter (a first gen preferably), then add 16 oz distilled water, stir in 2 tblsp of DME, and cover the jar with foil loosely
-with the sterilized cap, place it on the jar 3-4x a day and shake the jar to aerate (keeping the solution oxygenated so the yeast will reproduce), then replace the loose foil
-after a day or two the yeast should have reproduced mightily, refrigerate and allow to settle, draining off some of the excess clear liquid
-should now have one new yeast starter for a 5 gallon batch
Does this 'gel' with logic, and if it does, could I then 'split' the finished starter and make a couple more from it?
I've been at this for 4 months now and I'm getting to where I would like to be able to save my yeast strains after I drain a wash out of the fermenter, get them reproducing, then tube or jar them up and stick them in the fridge to be duplicated and reused/doubled so I can have several strains of yeast on hand for later use.
I read a comment that you can collect yeast/wash from the second day of your ferment (assume this is just wash from the ferment?) and make a starter from that. From searching I've gathered I could basically dilute this like so:
-sterilize a pint jar, then add some slurry yeast from the bottom of my fermenter (a first gen preferably), then add 16 oz distilled water, stir in 2 tblsp of DME, and cover the jar with foil loosely
-with the sterilized cap, place it on the jar 3-4x a day and shake the jar to aerate (keeping the solution oxygenated so the yeast will reproduce), then replace the loose foil
-after a day or two the yeast should have reproduced mightily, refrigerate and allow to settle, draining off some of the excess clear liquid
-should now have one new yeast starter for a 5 gallon batch
Does this 'gel' with logic, and if it does, could I then 'split' the finished starter and make a couple more from it?