Bottling Yeast

I just racked my English IPA from primary to secondary after 2 weeks and have started a yeast culture in a Growler I had lying around. My question is, after I ferment this out can I fill them into some extra 22 oz bottles and cap them, same as if I was just bottling beer? I am looking to start 5 of these for some upcoming pale ale's that I am going to brew just for the hell of it. If this works how long will the yeast be viable if stored in the fridge?

Here's what I did: After sanitizing everything I filled the growler 2/3 of the way with a basic wort made with a 1/2 lbs of Dextrose and after 4 hours the yeast are going crazy. Do I need to add some Hops to this? The yeast was a dry pack of Nottingham (I know its cheap but I have to learn on something).

The bottles can blow if there not done fermenting. It's messy

But assuming that fermentation is well over with (7-10 days) and the yeast is kept well suspended by frequent rousing and NO priming sugar is added will they stay viable and safe?

Look at the yeast washing sticky... or just rack the sludge into the bottles and cap them. They will be viable for weeks.

Washing is the ideal... but the other works.... your choice.

If your starter or however you are doing the harvest is finished and you have enough viable yeast then yes you can bottle you cultures in beer bottles...It sort of the old school Charlie Papazian way of doing it...most of us that I know of use basic mason jars for our harvests rather than beer bottles (wider mouths for one thing). I recall at least one thread where someone (not the one who harvested) reached into the fridge and drank the yeast harvest thinking it was a bottle of beer.

Thanks for the info Revvy, I was kind of hoping you might answer my thread. And I will make sure to properly label these bottles to avoid accidentally drinking them. Again thanks for the responses, Cheers!

TheDrunkChef said:

Thanks for the info Revvy, I was kind of hoping you might answer my thread. And I will make sure to properly label these bottles to avoid accidentally drinking them. Again thanks for the responses, Cheers!

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Lol...I was just messing with my mp-3 player and hit a Basic brewing podcast in mid stride (I must have stopped it in that spot) and he was talking about how it is probably one of the few times when using clear glass bottles is a good idea.....

Funny you say that I have 6 12 oz modelo bottles that are clear that I have nothing better to do with. I think that is what I am going to do. Should I boil some hops to add to it or is that just a waste?

I am of the school of only using DME for a starter instead of dextrose but maybe the yeast you harvest won't be too tweaked out for feasting on 100% fermentables. My LHBS dude told me that he scoops out the trub into beer bottles and caps them when he bottles and inoculates the DME starter with the room temperature well shaken bottled trub.
It works fairly well in my experience. I had about 4 oz of trub in a bottle that i started a starter with after being on standby for a couple months in the back of the fridge.
This method isn't quite as refined as yeast washing but it still works. Go for it.

I use this method and have had great luck.

Mike Beer - How to Save and Reuse Yeast