How long do you store washed yeast?

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Kungpaodog

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On Sunday I made a starter for some washed WLP004 that was stored in my fridge. I shook the heck out of it for a day (I need a stir plate:() and pitched it on Tuesday. It did a great job in the starter with a nice high krausen line and the batch of beer was going like mad when I checked on it 8 hours after pitching.

The thing that I liked most is that I washed this yeast almost 11 months ago! My fridge probably needs to be replaced and I don't really trust that it regulates the temperature very well, so I don't think these were ideal storage conditions. But it worked!

How long have you guys stored yeast and made good starters?
 
I would have never used it myself. Unless you’re using distilled water and storing it off a slant, that seems like a real loooong time to keep an untreated yeast starter. I like to autoclave my water and my starter mix at 15 psi for 15 min, this will kill off all the spores and mold etc that can live at 212*. I will take distilled water and autoclave that as well to keep my yeast in, it only takes a loop full and you can keep it for years. It is just the only way to keep yeast healthy for long term storage IMHO, @ room temp I might add, unless you have liquid nitrogen on hand... Ya I don’t either.
Just a thought.
 
Bobby M recently did a test on year old store yeast here; https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/testing-limits-yeast-viability-126707/

And my LHBS cells outdated tubes and packs of yeast dirt cheap 2-3 dollars each and I usually grab a couple tubes of belgian or other interesting yeast when I am there and shove it in my fridge. and I have never had a problem with one of those tubes. I usually make a starter but I once pitched a year old tube of Belgian High Gravity yeast directly into a 2.5 gallon batch of a Belgian Dark Strong, and after about 4 days it took off beautifully.

You should have at least made a starter for it, and you DON'T need a satirplate to do it either, plenty starters are made without them. Making a starter first insures that your yeast is still alive and viable before you dump it in your beer.

If you made a starter the viable yeast would have reproduced. Even a few cells, that's why we can make huge starters from the dregs at the bottom of some commercial beers. The living cell multiply.
 
Jaybird- I do actually have Liquid Nitrogen available at work...hmmm...

I did make a starter for it and I was ready with some dry yeast in case the starter smelled funny or didn't kick off at all. I was really expecting it to not do so well, but It went great! I guess the real proof will be how the beer turns out. Too bad I don't really want to wash and harvest from this batch since it's a pumpkin spice red, and I don't really want to pass on pumpkin spices to other batches.
 
I buy liquid yeast only twice a year...most of it at one time and special yeasts when they become available. Dry yeast anytime.

I dispose of my washed yeast after 1 year, but keep expired vials indefinitely. Even expired they become yeast food.
 
Yeast food ?

Is dead yeast a liability for the live yeast ? Just thinking that dead yeast attract things that might like to feed on them ...
 
kappclark said:
Yeast food ?

Is dead yeast a liability for the live yeast ? Just thinking that dead yeast attract things that might like to feed on them ...
Click to expand...

Yeast are cannibals, they usually consume the dead cells...much like many of us add yeast hulls (which are dead yeast) in the boil to act as yeast energizers......And it doesn't really matter (they won't attract" anything. What you are doing when you make a starter is to reproduce the viable cells. The living ones grow.

That's how we can harvest a huge starter (incrementally) from the dregs in a bottle of some commercial beers. You take those few living cells and grow them into more.
 
Revvy - can you give an example of what you mean when you say you can create a starter from the dregs of some commercial beers?

Are you implying that you get a bottled craft brew and wash out the bottom of the bottle and use it to make a starter / multiply the yeast? I've seen some where there is some yeast at the bottom of the bottle.

Or am I missing something?

If that's what you mean, I think that's a great idea and I never thought of that.

I started washing my yeast a couple of batches ago but today was the first time I pitched washed yeast. I made a starter with a stir plate yesterday (about 18 hours before pitching) so I'm anxious for it to start fermenting. I pitched about 5 hours ago, so I've been checking on it religiously every hour. :)
 
CrayZJ said:
Revvy - can you give an example of what you mean when you say you can create a starter from the dregs of some commercial beers?

Are you implying that you get a bottled craft brew and wash out the bottom of the bottle and use it to make a starter / multiply the yeast? I've seen some where there is some yeast at the bottom of the bottle.

Or am I missing something?
Click to expand...

Yes. There's a bazillion threads on this topic....Including a thread that lists a lot of commercial micros that folks have had success with harvesting.
 
My Delerium tremens half-arsed effort at harvesting seems to be working.

I literally did it as I had some wort and a bottle of DT (I'd had the bottle at room temp for about 10 months lol), so pitched it in (everything was sterlised of course) and didn't really expect anything.

After about 3 days of nothing, it took off! Smelled awful for a few days (it is Belgian afterall) and now it has calmed down and smells really good and the yeast has settled out as its now in the fridge so I'm gonna step it up and have ordered ingredients for a DT-style beer.
 
Revvy - thanks for the answer. I searched and found one of the threads with the list of beers from which I can harvest. I'm looking forward to giving it a try.

Also - my Belgian Tripel that I pitched my washed yeast into yesterday is fermenting away. So that's good news! Last time I made a similar beer and I had to buy 3 vials of Whitelabs Belgian Strong yeast. Harvesting saved me about $18.00 :) Money left over to buy ingredients for a Boddington's clone!
 
I used washed Wyeast 3864 that had been in my fridge for almost year with no problem. I did make a starter for it though, and made sure the starter was happy and lively before I pitched it.
 
I had a Wyeast propagator in the fridge since February 2010 and my LHBS said do not use it so stupid me bought new yeast. You know when you want to brew you can not wait another day. Well I smacked the propagator anyway to see if it would work. In less than 48 hours it is swelled to the max. Unfortunately, I already pitched a dry yeast to a wheat beer I am makeing. I will make a starter and then store the yeast in a White's tube. I think it will keep. Bottom line is a two year old liquid Wyeast stored in a fridge kicked off perfectly OK.
 
FYI, you can buy the "White's Vials" online. Go to amazon and search for " preform" They're actually what soda bottle manufacturers use to form into 2L soda bottles. I bought a dozen and am using them to store my harvested yeast.
 
thanks, I rember seeing them being used to make bottles in the past. did not know they were the same thing. I still have a few white tubes. I do not usualy harvest yeast so we will see how it goes. I have never washed yeast and not sure if I will have to. I was just going to make a starter from the smack pack and when it was finished dump off the beer portion and put the yeast in the tubes then just make another starter when it is time to use the yeast.
 
william_shakes_beer said:
FYI, you can buy the "White's Vials" online. Go to amazon and search for " preform" They're actually what soda bottle manufacturers use to form into 2L soda bottles. I bought a dozen and am using them to store my harvested yeast.
Click to expand...

HMMMM my son works where they make 2 liter bottles. Maybe I can get a few if he can get em without getting in trouble. he brought me a blank the other day and it made a perfect slide for my guitar.
 
damn. removed the pic cause his credit card number was in it. lemme fix it and I will be back.
 
tube.jpg
 
they guy who makes em at his shop, told him I could have 50 of em if I want em!!! cost me a bottle of homebrew lol
 
I just used washed yeast (WL Belgian Wit) that has been in my fridge for over 1 year. Starter went well and beer fermented just fine. Wonder how they stored yeast in the "olden days"?
 
I have found quite a wide variance with respect to how long my washed yeast will remain viable. I will say that I don't go by the book per se with respect to washing (I just do one wash and not two because I am lazy about it). I also normally use washed yeast that is at least 4 months old because I never seem to brew the same style 2 times in a row.

I can easily get 4-6 generations from Pac Man, Chico, and other highly flocculent strains. Belgian strains seem to pose the most difficulty in terms of viability and getting them through succeeding generations. English strains are also hit or miss.

For those of you who are resurrecting 1 year old strains, how long did you have to keep it on the stir plate? Did you need to step up the starter at all? Normally my washed yeast is ready to pitch after no more than 24 hours on the SP but I am trying to revive a Belgian strain right now that is a 2nd gen from May 2011 and after 26 hours I have nothing happening in the flask.
 
Montanaandy said:
I have found quite a wide variance with respect to how long my washed yeast will remain viable. I will say that I don't go by the book per se with respect to washing (I just do one wash and not two because I am lazy about it). I also normally use washed yeast that is at least 4 months old because I never seem to brew the same style 2 times in a row.

I can easily get 4-6 generations from Pac Man, Chico, and other highly flocculent strains. Belgian strains seem to pose the most difficulty in terms of viability and getting them through succeeding generations. English strains are also hit or miss.

For those of you who are resurrecting 1 year old strains, how long did you have to keep it on the stir plate? Did you need to step up the starter at all? Normally my washed yeast is ready to pitch after no more than 24 hours on the SP but I am trying to revive a Belgian strain right now that is a 2nd gen from May 2011 and after 26 hours I have nothing happening in the flask.
Click to expand...
My last one took almost 3 days to really show signs.
 
Had a 2+ year old bottle of washed Wyeast 1084 yeast from a friend with only about 1/8" white yeast on the bottom of a clear Corona beer bottle. I had topped it up with distilled water, capped it, and put in my beer yeast fridge.

Sunday night 6PM made a 1.038SG 1L starter from 2 bottles of Grace Malta malt beverage and distilled water, 68F, decanted then pitched in the white yeast layer. No activity on stir plate until a hint at 72 hours. By 96 hours tonight had the nice creamy brown color compared to black originally, with some bubbles and a nice yeasty smell. Just pitched into a brown ale Thursday evening 7:30PM.

Update: Friday AM had some large bubbles forming but not really any thick foam yet. Saturday AM has big, thick 6" foaming action, wort 63F so its going well.

Appreciate all the great wisdom shared on this forum and yeasts' durability.
 
I've reused some yeast (US-05) after one year in the fridge. Great result and consistent performance.
This 'no reusing' yeast is a proper comercial bull sh it.
Recycle it !!!!
 
In July of 2011 I washed some Nottingham yeast from a batch of light ale. It was my first attempt at washing. Since then I've tried it a few more times. I've done a few practice starters, one with the Nottingham, and another with WY1056. And now another with Nottingham that I did pitch into a batch of AK47 from Northern. What I can say about the WY1056 is that it kreusened well in the starter and made me feel confident that it was thriving. Both of the Nottingham starters I made didn't show much activity except when I swirled it up, they would then fizz like crazy but settle right back down. So this 9 month old washed Nottingham, I wasn't so sure about, but ended up pitching anyway, was doing the same no activity, but fizzy when swirling. I pitched it and within 18 hours my 5 gallon batch was kreusening. Now a little over 24 hours laser it's at high kreusen. I'm happy because i learned how to do one more thing with this homebrewing hobby!
 
Just found some WLP001 from Jan 1 ... going to make a starter which I am sure will prove once again how viable this yeast is.

I have some 550 which has been there since November -- maybe I will cough up the $7 for a new vial, and start the washing over again..
 

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