yeast harvest

I am about to try yeast washing with boiled and cooled water with mason jars. any suggestions for storing the yeast? I'm thinking about using a 2 liter swing top grolsch bottle. How long will the yeast remain viable stored this way?

2 months in the fridge is about the max you want to keep it. Some may be viable after that, but you will have more dead yeast than alive, and that defeats the purpose.
I theorize that you could make a starter with some of the yeast after 2 months and then save that for another 2 months after it is done fermenting, but I have not tried this or heard of it done yet.

Any container that seals will work fine.

1. Be sure to pour off most of the liquid when you're ready to split it into containers.

2. Fill it to the top of the container. The less air in there the better.

cheezydemon said:

2 months in the fridge is about the max you want to keep it. Some may be viable after that, but you will have more dead yeast than alive, and that defeats the purpose.
I theorize that you could make a starter with some of the yeast after 2 months and then save that for another 2 months after it is done fermenting, but I have not tried this or heard of it done yet.

Click to expand...

I disagree. I've kept washed yeast for over a year in the fridge with no problems. Just store the yeast in the mason jars, and like 99 said, fill 'em all the way up. then label and date and hide in the back of your fridge.

I think I have read some where that the pitch rate should be 260 billion yeast cells and that should be about a cup. Is this the amount that I should store?

Listen...if you have some mason jars just fill it/them up.

When it comes time to make a starter just swirl it around to get the yeast off the bottom of the jar and pour a cup or so into the malt/water mixture. Recap and re-refrigerate...

I ain't ever counted those cells...

99 how long do you store your yeast that way and how many times do you pitch out of the jar?
so your saying that there will be no ill effect of the open space in the storage container.

I have 1 mason jar that was over 1/2 yeast and liquid for the remainder.

I swirled it up about 10 seconds and poured about 1/3 of the liquid into a starter.

I've used it twice more and there's enough in there to use it once or twice more.

Technically this is a 4th generation yeast that I've used 3 times already and can/will use twice more.

I have another 1/2 gal jug that I washed and mixed from 2 - 5th generation batches of the same yeast. (This jug is not full so there is "bad air" on the surface of the liquid...I place a paper towel over the top and hold it in place with a rubber band...then I soak it down with a couple spritzes of Star San from a spray bottle every couple of days to try to keep it wet).

Last night I washed a 3rd batch of the same yeast (a 5th gen). It's in the fridge (hopefully) falling out in the liquid. I plan on pouring off most of the liquid before mixing with the other yeast tonight. That will give me almost a full 1/2 gal jug of yeast.

I still have vials and baby food jars (2nd and 3rd generations) of the same yeast from previous batches. If the 4/5th generations go bad I can fall back on the earlier ones.

No, I'm not saying there will be no ill effect in the jars that are not full. It really depends on how long it's stored that way.

Basically, I'm saying that any air in a container can spoil any product. Look at it like this...if you make a pudding and half of it in bowls in the fridge it'll harden on top and create a crust. With the other half of the batch place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the pudding surface. You are sealing it off from the air and no crust forms.

mmmm pudding

so should I store with water on top of the yeast and fill the jar?

If you can't fill a mason jar go to a smaller jar. I use baby food jars successfully...then the vials.

I've thought (many times) about buying lab test tubes and the neat little rack to store in, but I haven't gotten serious about it yet...it's coming...a lot more yeast in a smaller area.

I know that yeast starters are the way to go but some times I just decide to brew so if i store a cup to a cup and a half in individual jars it will not effect my beer to much to pitch at that rate will it?

No. There's a lot more yeast than what's originally in the vials when you buy them.

What temperature should the harvested yeast be stored at ?

Has anyone (accidentally, of course) frozen a yeast harvest ? Is that the end of the road for the yeast?

After you split it up you need to put it back in the fridge.

You can buy glycerin from the drug store and other places.