Harvested washed us 05

just harvested us o5 dry yeast from two brews. both OGs between 1.052 and 1.056. one from primary, one from secondary. the one from the primary will probably be more healthy i assume, but im saving the secondary yeast as well just because. my question is this; i know making a starter from a pack of fermentis us 05 is not recommended because it can drop the viable cell count. what about making a starter from this harvested yeast slurry? am i better off making a starter from this or just pitching the yeast after decanting? also when refridgerated how long can i store this? im thinking starter is ok since its already fermented, and also thinking i can store it for at least a month but anyone whos had experience harvesting us o5 please chime in. thanks.

I have harvested 05 with mixed results. I recommend buying new packs over trying to culture this product.

It harvests and stores just like any other yeast. Use it within a couple of weeks and you don’t need a starter, longer than that you’ll get better results “waking it up” before pitching.

thanks for the info.

I go with a month on this method.

word. hopefully i can use it within a month, have a belgian pale ale fermenting with trappist yeast; wyeast 3787 and plan to harvest that in 2 weeks and pitch into a tripel.