Splitting and reusing White Labs Yeast

[WM7793]

I am planning my 4th all grain brew shortly (only 20 pint batches at present to gain experience), I intend to split and reuse the Whitelabs WLP002 yeast.

With the set up and current practice I have a present, (which is brewing in the garage), I can only brew once per month, (2/3 weeks fermenting, and another week in the STC controlled fridge to secondary ferment the bottles) there are a number of questions I have, and would like to draw on the forum members best practise on this subject.

After the first couple of brews using dried yeast, I naively thought that you could simply open the Whitelabs phial and split the yeast into 3 or 4 for example, and use these for further brews down the line. When I opened the yeast phial it went crazy, I then panicked and the whole lot went into my 20 pint batch. Now after reading a bit on this subject I may have overpitched, but the beer came out fine, and tasted a lot better than the dried yeast hence my desire to use the liquid yeasts for all future ales, and if I can reduce my costs on yeast it will be a bonus.

From my understanding, there are at least a couple of ways to do this, depending on your inclination, frequency of brewdays etc, etc. Please correct me if I am wrong !

First you can try to actually split the phial into a number of other phials, or make a starter up from the original and split this, or to go the whole hog, start making your own yeast slants.

Q1. From what I have said in terms of brewing frequency and current volumes, would it be better to try to split the yeast a number of ways from the original phial. If so what would be the optimum number, the viability of this yeast and shelf life?

Q2. On the other hand, would the method of creating a starter from the original, then pitching half onto the current brew and splitting the remainder into phials be better for me? Again, what would be the optimum numbers of splits, shelf life and viability of the original yeast for my current circumstances?

Q3. Would it be advisable to start again with a new Whitelabs yeasts after my split yeasts have been used to avoid mutation?, or can you grow on your splits without this danger?

Q4. I would like to try different yeasts in the future, and increase my brew volume, when I feel that I am getting there, so would creating my own slants be an alternative?

Q5. I already have a 500mL conical glass vessel for a starter, is this big enough for a standard ale?

Q6. What kit would I need, ie phials etc,etc for starting to harvest and reuse yeasts?

Sorry for the long post, I am trying to achieve best practice on this tricky subject.

Oh, and last of all, how do the forum members who bottle their beer manage to secondary ferment their ales if they have one fridge like myself, and wish to brew more frequently than once a month?

Many thanks,
WM7793

 

[rpt]

I am fairly new to reusing yeasts and making starters but a good way to reuse yeast is to harvest it from the trub and rinse it. It probably isn't best practice but plenty of homebrewers (including me) have done it successfully. So, after your 2 week ferment harvest the yeast, rinse it and store it in the fridge. It should still be fine when you next brew 2 weeks later - I have left mine as long as 3 weeks.

I think you probably want more than 500mL to pitch (although you are doing smaller brews so you might be ok) - I am currently growing some yeast I harvested from a bottle of Hop Back Summer Lightning. I started with 200mL of 1.020 wort and am now growing it on in about 1.5L of 1.040 wort.

I haven't use liquid yeast yet but I would suggest growing a starter and splitting that. Splitting the original vial would be tricky as it is small - you would have to be very careful with sanitation. There is plenty of information on this on the internet. Try googling "splitting white labs yeast".

The Yeast book by Chris White is worth reading.

For your last question - I store my newly filled bottles in the utility room next to the boiler. It is warm enough for the bottles to carbonate in a week or so. This leaves the brewing fridge available for the next brew or yeast starter.

 

[pittsy]

Hi as you've mentioned there are a few ways to do this but for ease and to get the best yeast i now start off with a fresh vial and a starter then after pitched into brew wait until high foaming in fv , discard the top layer (hop and protein particals in foam) and then collect the layer of krausen left . This will be ideal to store in the fridge with a little beer on top of it , then make a starter 24 hrs before brew day . Usually a 1 litre starter with 100g of dme and foam collected is ideal and your yeast will be in the best condition .
So a 2 litre flash is wanted and a stir plate doubles the amount of fit healthy yeast if used ( approx)

 

[rpt]

Can all yeasts be top cropped? I thought it was only certain strains that it was good for. Supposedly the Hop Back strain is a good top cropper so I might have to give it a go.

 

[back_to_brewing]

I got a great top crop from a hopback a week or so ago - which I added to 2l of starter wort 24 hours before brewtime. Added to the main brew and it shot off like a rocket.

Day 7, it's still fermenting slowly, bubble every 30 seconds or so, was every 3 seconds at peak. Will leave till day 14 before moving to FV2 and chilling.

My experience is that most ale yeasts can be top cropped - you have to pick your time right, before it all falls back into the beer and just becomes small islands on top. Missed my timing on a WLP002 the other day, have had to capture the trub instead.

 

[johnnyboy1965]

There are a number of different ways of splitting your liquid yeast. What I do wuth a new vial is;-
1, Make a 1ltr starter using the new vial, but leave a little in the vial (this is just a back-up)
2, split the starter into 2. Make another starter with one of them and pitch when ready
3, Keep the other starter as a 2nd back-up
4, Rinse the yeast after fermenting and save.

 

[Dave1970]

I'd definitely consider freezing for longer term storage.

I use 50% yeast, 25% Cooled Boiled Water and 25% Glycerine. You could for example buy your White Labs Yeast, put half into a starter a good 5 days before brewing and (I'd be using about 1.5 litres in a 2 litre conical on a stir plate) and pitch when you brew. The other half then add 25% cooled boiled water and 25% glycerine making it back up to a full vial that goes in the freezer.

When you want to use this thaw and put into a starter a good week before use to give the yeast a chance to wake up. I've had no problem with yeasts that have been frozen for 6 months reviving in this way.

When your brew gets going you can then top crop another load of yeast into a small starter (the 500 ml conical would do this time) and grow it on a bit before freezing it too - you now have one first and one second generation yeast in the freezer. Next brew use the first gen and top crop some of that and so on....

If at any point some horrible mutation occurs and you get something odd you still have some of the previous generation frozen that hopefully won't throw up the same mutation when it's used...

 

[fisherman]

Go onto uk homebrew website and Dave will show you in pics how to propergate whitelabs yeast into individual starters. I have used this method for a number of years . Great way of making 8 to 10 starters from one vial.

 

[WM7793]

Thanks for your replies. Just a couple of things I would like additional information from you all if possible.

How long does a starter remain viable in the fridge, before it is past it's best?

What is the best size vessels for storing these additional starters?, is it the "test tube" type ones?, and are the glass ones better than the plastic?

One final question, before I order some grain and yeast for brewing.

Can someone point me in the right direction on ebay for what I will need?

Many thanks for all your help.

Best regards,
WM7793

 

[rpt]

One final question, before I order some grain and yeast for brewing.

Can someone point me in the right direction on ebay for what I will need?

I wouldn't look on eBay for grain etc (not sure if that is actually what you are asking). Definitely recommend the Malt Miller (forum sponsor - link at the top of every page) - good prices for top quality 25kg sacks and next day delivery via DPD. He also crushes my grain fine for BIAB. I've also bought hops from Worcester Hop Shop - prices are good and delivery was very quick. Not actually used any of them yet so cannot vouch for the quality but I have heard good things.

 

[WM7793]

Sorry rpt, what I meant was the links for test tubes for holding the yeast, not the grains!

I too use the Malt Miller. I am now sorted with regards to the test tubes. I have found ones that are autoclavable and reusable.

But if anybody can tell me how long the yeast will be viable for, when split and left in the fridge, it will be very much appreciated.

Best regards,
WM7793

 

[Good Ed]

I store mine in 500ml water bottles in the fridge.

Stored in the fridge the yeast cells gradually loose viability over time, in other words the longer they are kept the less the number of viable cells. I store about the same quantity of yeast as a White Labs vial in a 500ml bottle covered with some cooled boiled water, this would be ~ 100 billion cells. Now the longest time I've kept one before using is 10 months, but even so I made a 2L starter with it, and voila, off we go again. Don't forget when making a starter you are growing the number of yeast cells to an amount that is correct for what you are brewing, as per Mr Malty and in the Yeast book, so as long as you have some viable yeast you can grow from it. Now I'm not suggesting that this is the best way, but on a homebrew scale it works for me.

 

[WM7793]

Thanks Good Ed, that's just what I was after !

Best regards,
WM7793