Liquid Yeast

[yamaroo]

Hi i am thinking about using liquid yeast and was wondering

How many brews do you get from one bottle

Thanks

[James L]

i was thinking the same thing...

15 bucks is alot to spend per brew.

but i've read you can harvest and store the yeast after your initial brew, so you can continue using it in the future without affecting the yeast... There are write ups on it... yeast farming or something like that.

I have harvested and stored yeast from my last few brews, i've yet to reuse them after storage though.

James

[rwh]

You can either do that or make a starter and split it. Do something like this:

1. Smack the pack and allow it to swell as per the directions.
2. Boil up 100g of LDME in 1L of water. Leave the lid on and allow to cool (in a tub of water swirled around if you want to speed the process).
3. Sanitise a 2L PET bottle.
4. Pour in cool wort you created in step 2.
5. Pour in your liquid yeast.
6. Bung and airlock your 2L bottle (you can get bungs that fit a PET bottle at most HBSes).
7. Leave it until fermented out. A couple of days should be about right.
8. Sanitise 6 stubbies, swirl your starter to resuspend the yeast, and pour an equal amount into each stubbie, then cap them.
9. Store the stubbies in the back of your refrigerator until you need to use them, then create a starter (go to step 2), and add this to your brew at high krausen, or about 24 hours.

[mobydick]

Thanks rwh. I want to try a Belgian or three, which I believe needs a top quality Belgian yeast. They are quite pricey, so this way I can get good value out of it. Cheers.

[blandy]

I've had no trouble getting 3-4 goes out of the one yeast from a starter, then reculturing from the trub out of primary.

[lethaldog]

I get six full stubbies out of one smack pack ( as per rwh's instructions) so if you look at the cost it is actually less than a good dry yeast

[timmy]

According to Sanders, you can get 36 brews to a smack pack if your sanitisation is top notch. This is apparently the limit before the potential for mutation rears its head.
I recently bought 2 smack packs and using the instructions on oz.craftbrewer.org I split each into 6 stubbies. I've used one of the stubbies to make 2 brews (or 3 if you count the batch I threw on the trub left by the 2nd). That makes 18 brews to a smack pack which is bloody good value. Even if you get 4 brews from a smack pack it still makes it cheaper than using sachets of Saf or the other good dry yeasts (as lethal points out)

If you're after a Belgian, you can also get a stubby of Chimay and reculture off that. It's 1/2 the price of a smack pack and you get a bonus beer. The downside is that it's a bit more work to make a starter because you'll need to step it up a couple of times to get the yeast population you need.

HTH,

Tim

[mobydick]

Have read of the Chimay cultivation, and might give that a go. But taking it in small steps I'll give the smack pack six way split a run. Seems like very good value. How long will a stubby of cultured yeast keep in the fridge for?

[yamaroo]

Thanks for al the info

My HBS only sells whitelabs yeast can you do the same with it as you can with the smack pack.

Also how long will they last in the stubby

Thanks Guys

[timmy]

yama,

Can't comment on the whitelabs yeast but theoretically should be the same. As for yeast life, if they're kept cold they should last for months easily.

Tim

[mobydick]

Ok I'm going the six way smack pack split tomorrow. Can I feed it with dex instead of LDME? And, at the time I bottle it, can I use one straight away for my Full Sail?

I'm saving the LDME for the beer. Or I could put some dex in the brew?

[KEG]

you NEED to use malt for the starter, not dex. dex has none of the nutrients required by the yeast to multiply.

[mobydick]

Thanks KEG (rwh?) . Glad I didn't do it without checking. Would have been a waste of expensive yeast Cheers.

[mobydick]

Nope. obviously Chris

[timmy]

Moby,

I'd be interested in swapping starters if you're getting a Belgian Ale smacker. I've got some Belgian Wit (3368 i think) and some Weizen (3068) which are great yeasts.

Cheers,

Tim

[mobydick]

Great idea Timmy. But the smack pack I have is a 1028 London Ale. It's for my Full Sail clone - a California Common. I'll probably also use it on a Fat Tire clone, which is a clone of a Flat Tyre.

Good idea swapping starters though. Six starters are going to keep me in 1028 for a while! Alas, it's not the yeast you're chasin'

[mobydick]

I am going to try a Belgian. Something like a Leffe Brun. But I've got a Safale K-97 for that experiment.

[rwh]

Yes, you must use malt (strictly speaking it's best to create your starters with a portion of wort that is as close as possible to the wort you will be pitching into, but all-malt is generally close enough).

As for using it right away, you can. Just wait for your starter to ferment out, split it into your six stubbies, then either pitch the entirety of one of your stubbies or wait until the yeast flocculate, pour off the "beer" and pitch only the slurry. You will have a longer lag time than if you create a starter and pitch it at high krausen, but it should work OK.

[mobydick]

Thanks rwh. I'll pitch whilst I'm making the stubbies. Saturday will be a fun day. It's excellent weather for staying inside making beer.

[Trough Lolly]

You can either do that or make a starter and split it. Do something like this:

1. Smack the pack and allow it to swell as per the directions.
2. Boil up 100g of LDME in 1L of water. Leave the lid on and allow to cool (in a tub of water swirled around if you want to speed the process).
3. Sanitise a 2L PET bottle.
4. Pour in cool wort you created in step 2.
5. Pour in your liquid yeast.
6. Bung and airlock your 2L bottle (you can get bungs that fit a PET bottle at most HBSes).
7. Leave it until fermented out. A couple of days should be about right.
8. Sanitise 6 stubbies, swirl your starter to resuspend the yeast, and pour an equal amount into each stubbie, then cap them.
9. Store the stubbies in the back of your refrigerator until you need to use them, then create a starter (go to step 2), and add this to your brew at high krausen, or about 24 hours.

My yeast management protocol is very similar to the above method, with one exception. When I have only one stubby left, I use that to make a fresh starter that makes another 6 stubbies. I label it 2nd generation yeast etc. I've been able to make around 5 to 6 generations from the one smack pack, with care...

Cheers,
TL