Yeast Swap?

I haven't seen a thread on this before and wanted to throw out the idea. Has anyone considered doing a yeast swap or trade?

Sure. Best way to do this logistically is to keep the yeast suspended in 12 ounces of a maltose-based, alcoholic solution.

I'm up for it, I've got a ton of belgian abbey II yeast and WLP trappist yeast. 2nd generation

Whatcha got? Whatcha want?

I've got some Kolsch yeast...

I got Nottingham and Windsor

This sounds like a really great idea, and this is the time of year to do it. I'm super stoked. Be sure purge off any pressure before you send it out, and/or to ship the yeast with a cold-pack. Probably wouldn't hurt either to have a starter ready-to-go when the yeast arrives, so you can grow it up and harvest the viable cells.

I've got WLP530 - Abbey Ale, WLP800 - Pilsner Lager, WLP028 - Edinburgh Ale, WLP005 - British Ale, WLP036 - Düsseldorf Alt ready to go. I also have WLP351 - Bavarian Weizen, WLP515 - Antwerp Ale, WLP885 - Zurich Lager, and Wyeast Fat Tire waiting to be washed/regenerated (should be good to go in a couple weeks).

All of my yeast is nutrient-rich (i.e. containing sufficient levels of Zinc, free amino nitrogen, and other trace metals), and chillin' in 50mL tubes. I'd also be happy to send out a frozen vial of yeast in 15% glycerol that you can put into the freezer.

Here's what I'm willing looking for in particular: WLP810 - San Fran Lager (Or Wyeast 2112 Cali Lager), WLP026 - Premium Bitter, WLP041 - Pacific Ale, or WLP099 - Super High Grav Ale, and any of the common strains (English Ale, London Ale, Whitbread, Nottingham, Kölsch, Rogue Pacman)

I have some cali yeast and heff yeast. But not sure I want to trade someone, I still have yet to try them to make sure I did everything right in washing the yeast.

the_bird said:

Sure. Best way to do this logistically is to keep the yeast suspended in 12 ounces of a maltose-based, alcoholic solution.

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Bird nailed it. Just swap beer, making sure that it is bottle-conditioned of course, then harvest the yeast from the bottle.

Costs as much to ship as it does to buy. Unless you're looking to do a local swap, it's not worth it usually.

Cheesefood said:

Costs as much to ship as it does to buy. Unless you're looking to do a local swap, it's not worth it usually.

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Unless you swap 3 or 4 samples in one small package. I could probably do a mixed box of abbey II, 500 trappist, and hefe.

As much as I love you guys, it would be hard for me to trust ANYONE else's sanitation when it comes to adding yeast to my beer. If it were something really interesting or hard to come by (anyone got some clean Pacman left?), maybe; otherwise, I'd rather drop the couple bucks for fresh.

the_bird said:

As much as I love you guys, it would be hard for me to trust ANYONE else's sanitation when it comes to adding yeast to my beer. If it were something really interesting or hard to come by (anyone got some clean Pacman left?), maybe; otherwise, I'd rather drop the couple bucks for fresh.

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If it makes you feel any better, I use the finest urine available - straight from Miles' diaper. Pure virgin urine.

the_bird said:

As much as I love you guys, it would be hard for me to trust ANYONE else's sanitation when it comes to adding yeast to my beer. If it were something really interesting or hard to come by (anyone got some clean Pacman left?), maybe; otherwise, I'd rather drop the couple bucks for fresh.

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Simple enough to evaluate, though. If you pitch a starter you'll certainly be able to tell if there were any bacteria in there or not.

But, I see your concern.

I have a frozen yeast bank, I'm pretty sure I have some pacman in there. The only yeast I need is Wyeast's VSS Bier de Garde - it is supposedly Fantome's primary strain. I emailed Wyeast and they said they will re-release it at some point and will try to let me know when.

edit> They just emailed me back: (I asked if it was the Fantome strain)

"This could be a possible origin of 3725. If it comes out in 2008, it will probably be in the 3rd or 4th quarter. If you would like to experiemnt with another saison strain, 3711 is a current VSS strain."