yeast from a brewery

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fizgig

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A buddy of mine is brewmaster at a local brewpub and gave me some yeast in a sanitized mason jar last week Friday from his stout batch so I can brew as stout.

I was unable to brew the stout over the weekend as I was missing so key ingredients and he is out of town, the jar is about 2/3 full of yeast. Is it still good to brew with? I have seen that most times people recommend filling with sanitized water to the top but it's just 1/3 full of air, hasn't been opened but the lid is unscrewed a bit so it can purge air if it needs to, and it's been in the fridge all week.
 
Should be fine as long as everything was clean/sanitized like you say. Especially since you have kept it in the fridge. I say brew with it. Before pitching give it the ol smell test. If its vinegary or otherwise funky, toss it.
 
Nice! That's an awesome connection to have. A week in the fridge is no problem.
 
I would pull from the fridge a couple days before brewing and throw in top of some boiled dme just to get the yeast nice and active. But that is more of a best practice type of thing, not 100% necessary. Might get a sluggish start if you don't but you'll probably have way more than enough yeast.
 
It should be fine. If its dry yeast and in those conditions that you put it in, the yeast can last just about 2 months. A supply vendor told me about it. You can cultivate the yeast by adding some sugar & water to it. This will give the yeast something to eat and will maintain it for MUCH longer.
 
Nice! That's an awesome connection to have

it is, but you don't have to be best buddies to have a connection.

one of the guys in my brew club brought in a growler of a local brewery's black IPA and I just loved it and wondered if the brewer would divulge at least what hops were used, if not the entire recipe. he suggested to just go ask the brewer.

So I did.

I didn't get the recipe, but I did get the grain bill, what hops were used and he answered every question I had. He then told me that if I gave him a day's notice, he would hook me up with some of their yeast if I wanted it.

didn't hurt that I drank 2 pints while we were talking and bought a growler too.

talk to your local commercial brewer. he's probably a homebrewer too, or was. might even be on this forum right now and answering questions. I'll bet you get the same helpful advice from him that you get here.
 
It should be fine. If its dry yeast and in those conditions that you put it in, the yeast can last just about 2 months. A supply vendor told me about it. You can cultivate the yeast by adding some sugar & water to it. This will give the yeast something to eat and will maintain it for MUCH longer.


don't do this part! yeast will happily dine on sugar water but it's not what we want for the yeast that ferment our beer.
 
Thanks guys, I'll give it the smell test and assume it's safe. I had boiled the jar and kept it full of one step before he filled it.

Fun fact: I was talking to him about their process, after the initial pitch of a couple liters ($150 bucks worth or so of yeast) they store their yeast in modified kegs and repitch about 8 gallons in a ~500 gallon batch 10-15 times before they switch it out again with new yeast. He said what GrogNerd said, most micro breweries will give you a pitchable amount of yeast if you ask.
 
A buddy of mine is brewmaster at a local brewpub and gave me some yeast in a sanitized mason jar last week Friday from his stout batch so I can brew as stout.

It's nice to have a connection like that. I knew the brewer at a BJ's before the localized all of their brewing and he would fill a growler with yeast for me.

I went to another local brewery and the head brewer told me this. "I'd rather dump my yeast down the drain then give it to some home brewer" and he walked away.

I never went back to that place...
 
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