So I'm going to rack my Turtle Beer currently sitting on DC2450 yeast. I want to save this yeast in several jars for future use. I have always done this in a carboy and needed to pour my yeast out.

This time I have a bucket in use, can I just simply take my baby food jar that's sitting in a Star San solution and just scoop the yeast up into the jar or should I pour it in again?

My OG gravity was about 1.056.

Thanks

With both carboys and buckets I pour the yeast into flasks. Normally I sanitize the lips of the carboy and buckets first( wipe down with Star San). I haven't had any issues thus far. Definitely would be interested in hearing reasons for not using this method.

I'd consider a sanitized turkey baster, so you don't get the slurry all over your hands and the sides of the jar.

I've used the "swirl then auto-siphon" to fill up jars with yeast after racking the beer.

I have a yeast saving question. I hope it relates to this thread.

For may last Blonde Ale batch I pitched the carboy with 1.75 liters of starter yeast. I then used the 2 Liter flask as a catch tank for my blow off tube. I put a little tap water and sanitizer in the flask and let the blowoff bubble into that.

Like always, after I remove the blowoff tube the flask has a lot of yeast settled at the bottom. This time, since my wort was pretty clean, so was the blow-off.

My Questions are:
Next time if I put sterile water in the flask, no sanitizer, and make a sterile gauze (or similar) plug to let the co2 out ->
Is the yeast in the flask good healthy yeast?
Can it be reused as a starter?
It seems reasonable that I could I cool it down, pour off the spent wort and re-start with fresh starter wort.

I have not heard about this being done, I can only assume there is a good reason NOT to do this.

Thanks,

Theoretically, the answers are yes, but like you say, there must be some reason people aren't doing it. Either fear of the unknown, or it's just a bad idea...dunno which.

If you could get your hands on an Buchner flask I'd say go for it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%BCchner_flask for those of you who don't know what it is. It ought to be easy to sterilize, then just make it a double-blow off, if you will. just jam a stopper in there with a hose in it, then run another hose out of the barbed end into another container. everything heavy should settle down in the flask, and let the air out. Obviously, if it's very vigorous, then you'll lose some yeasties, but in the end you'll have a sterile collection chamber for your yeast.

Alternatively, if you happen to have a cool laboratory setup, then you could use the buchner flask with a vacuum attachment and a glass pipette and suck the yeast cake off the bottom of your carboy and save it for later. Actually, come to think about it, if you had all these goodies, you could eliminate siphoning all together as well as sucking up trub. Now all I've gotta do is get myself a sterile lab set up, ah my mind is racing....

isn't that basically the idea behind a burton union system? only, rather than recycling the yeast continuously, you're saving it for later. another analogy is that you're simply top-cropping, but again delaying using the yeast. as long as your sanitation is sound, i can't think of any reason the method should pose a problem.

one thing is that you might be selecting for low-floccing yeast, but i can't state that with certainty, and the same could be said of top-cropping.

There's a build your own Burton Union System: In the "Projects" section of BYO (Sep. 06)

I find it's a lot less PITA to have some cooled pre-boiled water on hand when racking yeast.

I've filled up 1 1/2 quart jars from a five-gal batch, so extra jars are also helpful.
Add a little of above water and give it a swish. Works like a charm.

I wash a jar out vigorously with tap water and pour the yeast into that.Because U are introducing a huge number of yeast cells,a few stray cells that fall from the sky/your nose will make no difference