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I started cropping and repitching from my third batch ever. It is not hard at all, actually results in better beer, saves money, and is kinda fun. You get to use flasks and pour stuff back and forth and rub your chin and look wise. This article from the Wyeast people is geared toward commercial breweries, but I learned a lot about cropping from it. I ...

Yes, I have saved tons of money by growing my own yeast. It just takes a little planning and time. Slants or glycol storage are going to be your best bet. Get a pressure cooker to acts as a makeshift auto-clave for sterilization. With some yeasts coming in at $6-$9 a vial, this will help you get the most out of that money. In fact I have pulled proprietary ...

I've been listening to Basic Brewing Radio. Here are some episodes about reusing yeast. November 1st, 2007 Reusing yeast February 7th, 2008 Advanced yeast handling February 26th, 2009 Carboy top-cropping September 3rd, 2009 Yeast Ranching October 27th, November 3rd, November 10th, 2005 Interviews with Dave Logsdon of WYeast

In Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation, there is a propagation schedule involving stepping up each successive starter wort by a factor of 10, with a waiting time of 24-48 hours between each step. So you start with 1 vial and make a 1L wort. Let it go for a few days (depending on how you aerate it... a stir-plate would be ideal). When the ...

I do not know of any American Ale yeasts that provide citrusy flavors. Its all hop derived. American Ale yeast is very neutral in flavor. So yes you can mix them, but the only fermentation character you will really detect will be from the belgian strain. I have done some interesting blending of English Ale yeast and American Ale yeast in the past. The ...

Well, the easiest way to re-use yeast is to brew a new batch on the same day that you're transferring another batch into kegs/bottles and then rack the new wort onto the leftover yeast cake. Bam. You've re-used yeast. At home, I have a handful of Erlenmeyer flasks and extra stoppers. Basically what I do is make a mini-starter with the yeast that's ...

The best place to look for this info is www.mrmalty.com . The answer depends on the amount of slurry you have and its age, whether it's an ale or a lager, and the OG of the beer. The calculator on the mrmalty website will help you figure out how much to use.

I've used rehydrated US-05 for my last 4 batches. The typical room ambient is ~61-63 degrees. I typically pitch when my fermometer reads are 63-65, and the yeast take off within 6-8 hours. For the active portion of fermentation, the fermometer typically reads between 67-69. Being that this yeast is spec'd on the low end at 59 you should be okay. You ...

Screw ons are important for maintaining the moisture content. Stoppers can pop off accidentally and ruin the culture. Regarding sanitation, its easiest to just purchase individually packaged sterile tubes. I'd suggest looking at VWR scientific or Fisher Scientific. Petri dishes are for a different part of the process over slants. So, no IMO.

Yes, I have done this. In fact, I'm doing it right now. I took some wine grapes (pinot, from my winery) and crushed them into juice and skins. DON'T rinse them first. The first time I just left them in a mixing bowl, loosely covered with an unsealed plastic lid, until they fermented spontaneously on the native yeast. From there, I made a sourdough ...

I think its largely trial and error of leaving an open fermentor around for a day, then close it up and seeing what you get. Not sure if the "coolness" factor of saying you did it would outweigh the cost of burning through enough worts to get one batch right.... then you'd probably spend just as much time trying to repeat it.

The only problem with a complete repitch is that you generally want to go from lower gravity to higher gravity, lower IBUs to higher IBUS, lighter to darker. Top-cropping should work fine, but you'll need to harvest while it's a high-kraeuesen (if you had activity this morning, you'll be at high kraeusen this evening or tomorrow morning), and that can be ...