pitching rate and volume of yeast

[mrskittle]

I'm so happy my question spurred such good conversation. All of your comments help put me at ease. I'll just keep on doing what I'm doing because I'm pretty sure I'm not shorting on the yeast.

While I do like the ease of pitching straight packets of yeast, the cheapskate/biologist/tinkerer in me feels the need to stretch each yeast packet a few batches and make that starter.

 

[Josh Hughes]

I make small batches (1.3-1.5 gallons) and use dry yeast. I pitch half a pack in ales and 1 pack for a lager. I save the slurry. I get 3 more batches from the slurry for ales and 2 for lagers. So a pack gets me 8 batches of ale and 3-4 lager

 

[Hawkbox]

I've got yeast I've used for probably 100 gallons of beer production from starters and slurry. As long as the beer is still turning out the way you like there is no reason to not reuse yeast.

The risk that people freak out about being that you don't find out your yeast isn't making good beer anymore until you don't make good beer.

 

[Nosybear]

I just brew too much variety to make harvesting worthwhile: By the time I got back around to a brew using that specific yeast, it would no longer be viable.

 

[Hawkbox]

Fair point too. I have a few yeasts like that but I just make starters on occasion to keep them going. In all honesty I probably put more time and energy into not paying for a new yeast pack than it would actually cost me to just get another pack.

 

[mrskittle]

Fair point too. I have a few yeasts like that but I just make starters on occasion to keep them going. In all honesty I probably put more time and energy into not paying for a new yeast pack than it would actually cost me to just get another pack.

I find these little details, like culturing yeast, as some of the simple pleasures of brewing. Part of that is the copious amounts of free time that COVID has forced on me. If I ever get back to the working life, I'll probably look for timesavers like a new yeast pack every brew.

Saving money by culturing yeast is like brewing your own beer to save money. Sure, technically the price per oz of beer is cheaper than the liquor store but the effort and cost of equipment nudges those savings down. With yeast it's the DME for the starter, maybe a flask and stir plate, and on and on....

I haven't even been doing this a year and I've clearly concluded that it's all about the process and satisfaction!

 

[Dirty Dingo Brewing CO.]

I find these little details, like culturing yeast, as some of the simple pleasures of brewing. Part of that is the copious amounts of free time that COVID has forced on me. If I ever get back to the working life, I'll probably look for timesavers like a new yeast pack every brew.

Saving money by culturing yeast is like brewing your own beer to save money. Sure, technically the price per oz of beer is cheaper than the liquor store but the effort and cost of equipment nudges those savings down. With yeast it's the DME for the starter, maybe a flask and stir plate, and on and on....

I haven't even been doing this a year and I've clearly concluded that it's all about the process and satisfaction!

Not in Australia! lol

Here, a case of craft beer is about 100 bucks. So, if you brew your own, which costs about 50-60 bucks for ingredients, you make 19L, whereas the case is 9L. So you get a bit more than double for 1/2 the cost. This doesn't factor the equipment or time, but still, a noticeable difference, especially when you're doing it consistently.