liquid yeast

[i-man]

I have been able to purchase a packet of the liquid yeast from Belgium. The
instructions say to mix the yeast and nutrient and wait 2 days and then add
the lot to the brew. This cost me $12 and I would like to spread it around.
Should I do as the directions say and try and breed a new culture off the
dregs when I go to bottle or can I make a little brew.....bottle the culture
and store in the fridge to get a few batches????

I would appreciate any help

[Paul Delaney]

Culture it in spare , sterilized beer bottles with some dry malt extract.
Make sure you use airlocks. Get the cultures working good the put them in
the refridgerator. Making cultures off of the original strain is better then
culturing off of the dregs as a chance of contamination exists from wild
yeast.
i-man <lea...@iprimus.com.au> wrote in message
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[Stephen Nelsen]

I would suggest culturing from the fermenter after the brew rather than keeping
an opened packet of slurry in the fridge. Cells will have more viability and
vigor if collected properly. Sterilise everything.

[ru...@bv.com]

I have kept my same batch of yeast going for over 2 years now. There
are two easy and common methods. I put my entire batch of yeast in
the fermenter and when the fermentation is mostly complete (4 to 7
days) I transfer the batch to a secondary fermenter and store the
dregs from the primary. I always settle my wort for 12 to 24 hours
before transferring to the primary fermenter, thereby keeping a lot of
the hot break proteins and other solids out of my yeast. So what's
left in the primary fermenter is reasonably pure yeast.

If you don't trust that method (many people don't want to let their
wort sit for a day without yeast) you can just keep your yeast going
in a separate jug, for example a gallon glass jug. Feed it no less
than once every 3 months. You can keep the jug in a refrigerator and
at feeding time brew up a half gallon of wort. Cool and aerate the
wort. Pour the old wort off of the yeast and add the new wort. Both
should be near the same temperature before doing this, to avoid
shocking the yeast to death or mutation.

Hope this helps. Happy brewing.

On Sun, 11 Mar 2001 01:35:56 +1100, "i-man" <lea...@iprimus.com.au>
wrote:

[James Chiles]

I often re-use yeast. (but not the specific one you mention. [lambic?]) When
you rack into botlles, sanitize a screw top bottle and lid. Swirl the dregs
in your secondary fermenter and pour into this bottle. Seal with screw cap,
but do not seal absolutely tight. Check this beer you're bottling to be
sure its a clean fermentation. Use this yeast soon; although it could be
pitched into a starter if left longer. When you decide to use it, taste a
bottle of the beer it was first used in to be sure its still "clean".
Or you can innoculate a slant when you make the original starter.
If this is about lambics, we're talking about bacteria-I'd use a newly
purchased package every time.

"i-man" <lea...@iprimus.com.au> wrote in message
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[Paul Delaney]

Not exactly David. Get the yeast working strongly then refridgerate it. As
follows:
I divide the yeast when I open it, putting a third of the yeast into each
sterilized beer boottle.
Then I add about a quarter cup of DME and some sterilized water, cover with
airlock..Place somewhere at room temperature.

When the yeast is really working I do the following: I use one of the
starters in my beer kit and place the other two,with airlocks fitted onto
the beer bottles, back in the fridge. They will keep at least a year.You can
get stoppers for beer bottles that take airlocks at any quality brew store.

Also you should only make more cultures from the two "Starters" you have in
your fridge as they contain original generation yeast from the packet you
opened.

Good luck and smooth drinking

i-man <lea...@iprimus.com.au> wrote in message
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