Lately I have been making yeast starters about twice as large as needed and saving 1/2 the yeast to make the next starter. This has gone on to create 6 full size starters from one vial. I know that the pros can do this building up a yeast bank but for a home brewer is there a point where I should just stop harvesting 1/2 the yeast from a large starter?
Could I be abusing the yeast at all in this process? I usually let my starters go on a stir plate for 48 hours and then chill/decant the wort.
My last couple of brew sessions I have done one more sparge where I save this last runnings to make a new starter by boilling it down. I always make sure the gravity does not go below 1.010 (most of the time it is around 1.025 from the excess runnings.)
Could I be abusing the yeast at all in this process? I usually let my starters go on a stir plate for 48 hours and then chill/decant the wort.
My last couple of brew sessions I have done one more sparge where I save this last runnings to make a new starter by boilling it down. I always make sure the gravity does not go below 1.010 (most of the time it is around 1.025 from the excess runnings.)