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Date: 06 Nov 2006 13:51:35
From: MattMika
Subject: WL vials and re-use?
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I tried something new this weekend when I pitched my Cali Ale and
Belgain Wit starters. Once I poured the yeast out I filled the vial
back up with wort, loosely re-attached the lid, and set upright in a
bowl. They are both fermenting well and the yeast is building up. I
plan to let them ferment out, decant, fill again, and refrigerate
after a day or two.
Anyone else try this before? How well did it work?
I realize I'll have to make another starter from them but they should
last quite awhile right? It seems I could get several different yeast
going this way and have ample time to reuse the yeast with a minimal
fuss.
How many times you guys think one could repeat this process? I'd
assume until contamination or mutation occurred...
TIA
Matt Mika
"These animals evacuate ethyl alcohol from their bowels and carbon dioxide from their urinary organs. Thus, one can observe how a specially lighter fluid is exuded from the anus and rises vertically whereas a stream of carbon dioxide is ejected at very short intervals from enormously long genitales."
Justus Freiherr von Liebig - 1839
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Date: 06 Nov 2006 14:22:31
From: alebrewer
Subject: Re: WL vials and re-use?
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MattMika wrote:
> I tried something new this weekend when I pitched my Cali Ale and
> Belgain Wit starters. Once I poured the yeast out I filled the vial
> back up with wort, loosely re-attached the lid, and set upright in a
> bowl. They are both fermenting well and the yeast is building up. I
> plan to let them ferment out, decant, fill again, and refrigerate
> after a day or two.
>
> Anyone else try this before? How well did it work?
>
> I realize I'll have to make another starter from them but they should
> last quite awhile right? It seems I could get several different yeast
> going this way and have ample time to reuse the yeast with a minimal
> fuss.
>
> How many times you guys think one could repeat this process? I'd
> assume until contamination or mutation occurred...
>
> TIA
> Matt Mika
My procedure is a bit different. I'll only use 1/4 of the tube for the
starter, then seal it up and put it back in the fridge. I'll use a 2
to 3 quart starter and let it ferment out for 4 days to a week
(sometimes more). The amount of settled yeast is always greater than a
single vial's worth and I'll get 4 batches per tube. That is, of
course, if I don't pitch on a previous cake. In those cases, I get
many more.
ab
>
> "These animals evacuate ethyl alcohol from their bowels and carbon dioxide from their urinary organs. Thus, one can observe how a specially lighter fluid is exuded from the anus and rises vertically whereas a stream of carbon dioxide is ejected at very short intervals from enormously long genitales."
>
> Justus Freiherr von Liebig - 1839
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Date: 06 Nov 2006 21:26:42
From: John 'Shaggy' Kolesar
Subject: Re: WL vials and re-use?
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On Mon, 06 Nov 2006 13:51:35 -0700, <mattmika@hotmail.com > wrote:
> I tried something new this weekend when I pitched my Cali Ale and
> Belgain Wit starters. Once I poured the yeast out I filled the vial
> back up with wort, loosely re-attached the lid, and set upright in a
> bowl. They are both fermenting well and the yeast is building up. I
> plan to let them ferment out, decant, fill again, and refrigerate
> after a day or two.
>
> Anyone else try this before? How well did it work?
My method is a little different. When I'm pitching the starter into my wort
I'll first pour a bit of the starter back into the vial and re-seal it.
I think you'd get more yeast that way, and not have to wait for the wort
in the vial to ferment out.
> I realize I'll have to make another starter from them but they should
> last quite awhile right? It seems I could get several different yeast
> going this way and have ample time to reuse the yeast with a minimal
> fuss.
It should work OK. I'm not sure how much yeast you'll have using your method,
but the idea is right.
> How many times you guys think one could repeat this process? I'd
> assume until contamination or mutation occurred...
It's basically impossible to put a number on it, whether contamination occurs
is going to be up to how good your sanitation/sterilization is. Mutations
are also going to be fairly random. The standard rule of thumb is that you
can reuse the yeast up to 3 times and not really have to worry about any
issues. It's possible to go much further than that, but the more you
push it the higher the risks will get.
I'd stick with 3 times if you want to play it safe, and go beyond that
if you're willing to take some amount of risk.
John.
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