Harvested safale us-05

[Angrybear]

Just kegged a 1.045 OG APA. Looking at the slurry I decided I'd save it and use it tomorrow for a Vienna/Centennial SMaSH (1.050ish OG). I couldn't get all of the slurry because I only had 2 mason jars available. I was able to get about 2/3 of it.
Should I pitch one jar or both? Do I need to make a starter? Thanks.

[brew_cat]

I use 400ml of slurry for most brews. Day old just pitch it no starter. Generally a starter is made to build up enough yeast from the meager amount they sell in a vial. You should have plenty yeast in your slurry. That said if it gets some age on you may want to activate it with some wort or something

[Angrybear]

How much slurry should I use for bigger 1.060+ beers? Double that?

[squeegeethree]

When you pour out a smack pack you can see that it's maybe a tablespoon of yeast. You won't need much. I now use the smallest mason jars I can find (4 oz) to harvest slurry and it's always been more than enough.

[dannyboy58]

I use this calculator to determine pitch rate and size starters for the most part. Though i mostly pitch 1L high krausen starters lately.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/

I'd figure 2-3 billion cells/ml depending on how clean your yeast cake is but with a day old cake I'd just pitch half and aerate your wort well. I like to plan brew days on kegging days so I can just rack my beer to the keg, split the cake and pitch wort to it.

[squeegeethree]

From your link..
Yeast Slurry: Default slurry density is 1 billion cells / mL, but you can adjust it. Some sources say it is as high as 5 B / mL.

So my tiny 4oz mason jar is 232 billion cells. A Wyeast smack pack has 100 billion cells.

[dannyboy58]

sounds about right. Brewersfriend calculators are actually on the conservative side and I estimate my slurry more conservatively as well. That way I feel like I err on the side of caution and bigger starters.

There another one flars used. I think it's brewunited. I just like the way the brewersfriend calculators are setup.

[Angrybear]

I pitched one of my jars of slurry late last night and I've got a busy airlock this morning so life is good. I've been meaning to start harvesting my yeast but I'm still a rookie and paranoid about messing up. That link to the pitch rate calculator is an excellent resource, thanks for sharing.

[sneezles61]

Messing with yeast isn't too terribly difficult to do.. Most of the process involves just doing it! Since I can scoop out of a bucket, I don't go to the bottom.... rather skimming the top 1/2" of the yeast cake.... One of those small 4 oz. mason jars about 1/2 full, then top off with some hoppy brew... A piece of Saran Wrap and a rubber binder... Oh, don't forget to label it too... I have 3 mystery yeasts... One day of which is kviek.... Sneezles61

[Angrybear]

Thats the plan. I was also going to mark out the amount of times its been harvested. There seems to be a pretty wide range of opinions regarding that, do you have a max number of generations?

[sneezles61]

I had Whites 009 go through 9 pitches..... It had a little different flavor on the last one so I didn't bother saving.... BUT..... If you build up a fresh vial, use half for a new brews and put the other half away... You can brew many batches, thus, saving some hard earned cash! Sneezles61

[jmck]

It really depends on how quickly you cycle the yeast, and how healthy you can keep it. I've heard 10 as a rule of thumb, but I call BS on that. I've heard of commercial brewers repitching to 500+ batches, but I've also heard of homebrewers getting funny flavors after 5.

There's what @sneezles61 said, which I coincidently just learned about at Homebrew con, brew a larger starter and reserve some of that. Also, If you're going to establish a "house strain" where you use the same yeast for almost every beer, you can probably go further than if you use a strain every few months, and leave the mason jar dormant, taking space in the fridge in the between times.

in other words, you'll have to see for yourself because my number is very likely not your number.

[Angrybear]

I usually do a batch every 2 or 3 weeks so I should be able to keep it rolling right along. I like the idea of having a house strain but I'm not sure I want it to be us-05. I've just been using it lately because it's cheap and easy.

[squeegeethree]

If you can pour a glass of beer from a growler after having had one too many you can harvest yeast. It’s just that difficult.

[Angrybear]

Funny you say that. I was able to successfully navigate both of those scenarios yesterday!

[dannyboy58]

I haven't used us05 but isn't it the same strain as WY1056? 1056 has been my house american ale and just go to yeast for about 2 years now since 1272 became more difficult to source for me. It's a workhorse, predictible and consistent through at least 6 generations in my esperience. I'd have gone more except for a fridge failure.

I have a couple quarts of slurry in my fridge at the moment. I've used it in pale ales, ipas, american porters and stouts, all with great results. I'd assume you could expect the same from 05. Lots of guys swear by it.

[Angrybear]

Did some reading and I guess 1056, us-05, and wlp001 are all basically the same strain. I did not know that. I'll keep my 05 rolling and maybe get some wy1318 and keep those around.

[squeegeethree]

Wyeast 1318 aka London Ale III is one of my favorites. It was my house yeast for a while. I found it did better at holding its character if I harvested off of a starter. My house yeasts are now Kveik strains because they are effortless.