Starter for my starter question

Yeast & Fermentation
1

I had a washed jar of 1272 in my fridge for a little over 3 months. I’ve never used saved yeast this old before so I made a little 1/2 liter starter just to check the vitals. Well it took about 36 hours before it woke up but it’s cranking away, smells good, etc… I want to go ahead and get a 2L starter going for a brew next weekend and here’s my question… Should I let this little starter finish out, settle, decant, all that before pitching into a bigger starter or just dump it in now while it’s active?

Thanks!

2

[quote=“Swiller”]I had a washed jar of 1272 in my fridge for a little over 3 months. I’ve never used saved yeast this old before so I made a little 1/2 liter starter just to check the vitals. Well it took about 36 hours before it woke up but it’s cranking away, smells good, etc… I want to go ahead and get a 2L starter going for a brew next weekend and here’s my question… Should I let this little starter finish out, settle, decant, all that before pitching into a bigger starter or just dump it in now while it’s active?

Thanks![/quote]

That’s the way I’d do it.

3

I’d just dump it into the larger starter. It’ll be diluted by a factor of 5, and while a ~0.8% ABV solution isn’t ideal, I find it hard to believe it will do any serious harm.

4

Thanks guys, I took your advice and just dumped the little starter into the big one. it was almost blasting out of the top of my 2L flask in about 2 hours. I had to put the flask in a bowl of cold water to calm it down. I’m amazed at how active that yeast is after 3+ months in the fridge. Now I’m much more confident about getting a good yeast collection going.

5

[quote=“Denny”][quote=“Swiller”]I had a washed jar of 1272 in my fridge for a little over 3 months. I’ve never used saved yeast this old before so I made a little 1/2 liter starter just to check the vitals. Well it took about 36 hours before it woke up but it’s cranking away, smells good, etc… I want to go ahead and get a 2L starter going for a brew next weekend and here’s my question… Should I let this little starter finish out, settle, decant, all that before pitching into a bigger starter or just dump it in now while it’s active?

Thanks![/quote]

That’s the way I’d do it.[/quote]

LOL, which one^^^^?

  1. settle and decant
  2. pitch active little one into big

:cheers:

6

[quote=“StormyBrew”][quote=“Denny”][quote=“Swiller”]I had a washed jar of 1272 in my fridge for a little over 3 months. I’ve never used saved yeast this old before so I made a little 1/2 liter starter just to check the vitals. Well it took about 36 hours before it woke up but it’s cranking away, smells good, etc… I want to go ahead and get a 2L starter going for a brew next weekend and here’s my question… Should I let this little starter finish out, settle, decant, all that before pitching into a bigger starter or just dump it in now while it’s active?

Thanks![/quote]

That’s the way I’d do it.[/quote]

LOL, which one^^^^?

  1. settle and decant
  2. pitch active little one into big

:cheers: [/quote]

OOPS! #1. But there’s really nothing wrong with #2, either. Just my preference.