Beer Forum

I saved and rinsed a yeast slurry from my american amber I recently brewed. I plan on using this for a batch of the same beer next weekend, but am a bit nervous since i haven't done this before (and I'm brewing a keg for a friend's party and want it to be good!). I was thinking about making a starter this week, letting it ferment out to make sure it produces a clean beer. Then I'd pitch that into another starter for my brewday.

Sound like a plan? Will I lose some of the yeast qualities by letting it ferment out a starter?

When I'm repitiching I don't make a yeast starter. The purpose of a yeast starter is to grow more yeast. With a slurry you already have more than enough yeast. If you have a very small amount or don't think they are healthy, then you could do a yeast starter. You won't loose yeast qualities by letting it ferment out since you are basically just doing another batch of beer with the starter. Maybe not a good idea to keep doing it with the same yeast, but for 2-4 generation, the yeast will be fine.

Just make sure the slurry you harvested is around the same temp as the new wort you pitch into and you'll be fine.

Repitching yeast usually goes better than you think it will. Have fun!

I would suggest using a starter but I would make the starter 12-24 hours before hand and pitching active yeast instead of letting it ferment out. You probably don't need cell count at this point but if you get them active and pitch it then, you should get a jumpstart on your new batch.