Growing a Pitchable Homebrew Yeast Starter from Slant

Starting with yeast on an agar wort slant, I propagate enough brewing yeast to inocculate 10 gallons of wort for fermentation. I walk through the equipment and each step of the process. While there is some definite initial startup cost for this, you can save a ton of money on yeast over years of home brewing.

[@josephkirby1621]

Your yeast lab videos are awesome.. maybe you do go to 11😅

[@ThisDadGoesTo11]

🤣🤣 Yeah, my geek level is high with that stuff. Thanks!

[@davefaulkner6302]

You might be short because you're not weighing properly. While 200 ml of water weighs 200 g, you forgot to add the 20g of DME you added first, so the total weight should be 220g for 200ml of water plus 10% DME. This means you're 20ml short on your solution. Do this a couple of times and it adds up. If you were short 10% of your expected total it means you aren't including the weight of the DME.

[@ThisDadGoesTo11]

Yes, you're correct. I likely miscommunicated a bit in the video. I know I'm only actually making a 3.6L starter, not 4L (I just still call it that out of habit and convenience). I'm using the 10 (of total weight, including DME) to 1 ratio to get 1.040 wort. I did fire a caption at around 8:40 in the video, clarifying what I meant about the ratio. I used to make it the same way you mention, as a true 10:1 ratio, which gives a specific gravity of 1.035. To get 1.040 of a 4L starter, I'd need more like 456g of DME overall, rather than the 400g I used here.
On the advice of a Siebel graduate brewer friend of mine a few years ago, I tried measuring my starters this way. With the slightly higher gravity, but lower volume, I've found I wind up with the same fermentation results and enjoy having a less liquid in the starter flasks, which is very helpful - especially if I'm rocking an aggressive strain that is eager to produce a ton of krausen and blow out of the flask (also for when heating on the stove...the lower the level of liquid, the less likely I am to accidentally have it boil over and cause a disaster!). Love the flasks, but volcanoes are shaped that way for a reason, haha!
Thanks for watching and for keeping me honest! :)

[@Unsub-Me-Now]

Very detailed. I don't know if I will ever grow from a slant buuut this is a valuable skill to know.

[@ThisDadGoesTo11]

Thanks! It's really a great way to keep uncommon or seasonally-released strains on hand for use anytime you want. I also find my fermentations are very healthy and efficient when I grow them right from scratch, often moreso than a smack pack with a starter. I keep trying to pare down the number of slants I have, but the hoarder in me just refuses to let go. Haha!