Quick question on saving a starter. Long story short, I began a starter a couple days ago in prep for yesterday’s brewday.
Well, I also had one ready to keg which coinsidentally I chose the sam eyeast strain (Denny’s Fav 50).
Sooo, instead of going with the new starter, I pitched my new batch onto the yeast cake.
I put the starter into a mason jar and tossed in the fridge. My question is, does a starter have the same shelf life of saving from the yeast cake out of the fermenter?
Just another comment, I’m really liking repitching onto a yeast cake…that brew was bubbling literally less than 2 hours after pitching.
A few things… your starter should be good for a few weeks (1-3 weeks) anything after that and I’d make a new starter to wake it up. The size would depend on what you plan to pitch it into, of course. Use Mr.Malty to help you figure out if you need to build it up again.
Second, be careful pitching onto an entire yeast cake. Unless you’re brewing a HUGE beer or a 10gal batch onto a 5gal cake, you are drastically over pitching. A yeast cake should have enough yeast to brew another 2-3 batches depending on style (larger or ale) and OG of the new beer.
Next time, swirl the fermentor and pour the yeast cake into 3 large mason jars (sanitized of course). Those jars will each be enough yeast for another average strength beer. If making a stronger beer, you may want to use 2 jars. For a lager, you’d want to use maybe 1/2 the yeast cake.
FYI…iI did not pitch onto the whole yeast cake…I swirled and dumped about half of the yeast. I dinpdnt bother keeping it all since I had just made that other starter. :cheers:
