Do I have a better shot at maintaing healthy yeast using one technique over the other? It seems like it would be easier for me and healthier/ cleaner for the yeast if I "over-step" my starter and pitch what my batch needs and save the rest for the next starter for the next batch. Is there inherent benefit or sacrifice in allowing the yeast to go through a full fermentation and rounding them up after? Or should I pamper them with gentle starter-gravity wort to grow them but not stress them? I'm not even sure my general approach is the right one. My goal is to maintain a couple of strains of yeast so I can brew my favorite beers and save money on yeast.
So my thought is to purchase some WYeast and make an extra big starter and save some yeast before I pitch. Then when I go to brew again in a few weeks, wake up the little bit and make another extra big starter an save some of that before I pitch. Then... (see where I'm going with this...? I understand that I only want to keep this going for 5 or 6 generations or I am bound to end up with yeast that have mutated to a point where they behave totally differently, but is there anything wrong with stretching them out over time? If I brew, say, every 3-5 weeks?
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