Does anyone "save" yeast slurry?

It's been a good non-brewing brew day! I racked my Sam Adam's Winter Lager clone to secondary and I bottled my DIPA after a week of continuous dry hopping. Everything is cleaned, sanitized, and back in the closet.

Anyway, when I was all finished up with the bottling I had some leftover bottles and I was looking at the sediment that I would normally dump down the garbage disposal. I figured since I got some equipment to start making starters from Bell's production yeast, I could save this and make my own starter down the road. Does anyone else save their yeast sludge for another day? I just filled two bottles about 2/3 of the way, capped, labeled them as Wyeast Scottish Ale (used for DIPA), dated, and put out in the beer fridge. Any problems with this?

I'll plan on using normal starter methods when I'm ready to use again...which spurs another question in my mind. What would an approxiamate shelf life be? 6 months?

I do this almost everytime I rack from my primary.

Yeast Washing

DrinksWellWithOthers said:

I do this almost everything I rack from my primary.

Yeast Washing

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Awesome thread. Thanks!!

I try to schedule it so that my next batch can use the current slutrry, but I am still unsure how long I can keep the washed yeast ...

I mostly use dry yeast, so this is not a biggie for me.. I have re-pitched ontop of an existing cake -- WOW, what a fermentation, but I fear a bit too furious, since it only lasted less than 2 days ...

I think I *will* do that when brewing a higher gravity winter warmer ..

I save the cake into mason jars for repitching, stored in a very cold (but not freezing spot) of the fridge. The nice thing about the mason jars is that you can crack them open and relive any pressure that built up prior the chill down. I plan on going to banking yeast in the fridge for strains that I don't use as often.

Yep i have saved my yeast. I am just about to use some that i have stored for a month. It's my first and i may not know exactly how long it last but the way i figure it if kicks off in a starter it should be ok.

UNCAP THEM AT ONCE!

Slowly and carefully, mind. They stand a good chance of taking your nose off upon opening. I made that mistake once and vowed I'd never do it again. Even just overnight, sealed bottles of slurry can build a considerable amount of pressure.

Leaving aside the danger inherent in opening overpressure bottles, CO2 toxicity will have a deleterious impact on the yeast stored therein. You can still store in 12oz bottles; just get a stopper that fits both the bottle and an airlock from your LHBS.

Bob

They are in the fridge...they went directly in the fridge after capping...how are they going to build ANY pressure?

You should be fine. There shouldn't be any pressure build up due both to the fact that they yeast will be dormant from the cold temps in the fridge, and they will be dormant as the fermentables should be processed.

GolgiApparatus said:

They are in the fridge...they went directly in the fridge after capping...how are they going to build ANY pressure?

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You'd be surprised....I pour the cake into the jars, put the lids on and toss them into the fridge. About 1 hr+ later, I unscrew the lids to vent. They don't cool down instantly ya know what I mean?

Loosen one of your caps and see if you have any pressure.

Do what you like, guys. I've never had a bottle almost come apart in my hands or anything.

I was just trying to warn you.

I am racking tomorrow, so do I just scoop out a bunch of the yeast cake and save it in a mason jar in the fridge? The make a starter and repitch into my brew next weekend? Any issues with sanitization?

Yeast that has been used for a high gravity brew may not be the best to save for another batch. The high alcohol content of the brew after the yeast is done doing its work is actually stressful to the yeast. Yeast from lower gravity brews are usually the best for harvesting.

Not saying that it can't be done, just that it isn't optimal. As in all things, YMMV.

BobNQ3X said:

Do what you like, guys. I've never had a bottle almost come apart in my hands or anything.

I was just trying to warn you.

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So I decided to play it safe and try opening a bottle. Not only was there no pressure built up, there was a slight vacuum from the cooled air in the bottle. I recapped with a sanitized cap and stuck it back in the fridge.

My guess is your fermentables were not fully complete in your bottle bomb scenario...but I don't know why you would get that much CO2 production in the fridge!!! Anyway, if I lose a finger, I appreciate the warning.

Washed yeast should have no fuel at all from which to create CO2. That is one of the points of washing it. Thus nothing to create pressure.

I use two piece mason lids on mine and actually have to pry the lid slightly to relieve the vacuum that has been created.