What MUST you keep in your yeast bank?

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Kevin Dean

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With the hop shortage I've learned that most people keep a "stash" of brew materials handy in the event of an emergency, shortage, disaster... whatever.

I hear a ton about grains and hops, but I'm wondering, what YEASTS do you all keep on hand at any given time? Also, what styles do you tend to brew that would require those strains?

I've found I've REALLY fallen in love with yeast harvesting and I'd like to get a few things stocked up but I'm not sure what to do, and style guidelines take in to account what is good for the style, not what someone has found to be against the style but really good, so I'm asking the community for input. :mug:
 
I keep a couple of Nottinghams and S-05 around for emergencies. I just started a frozen yeast bank and plan on keeping vials of every liquid strain I try. I've currently have Wyeast 1056, 3787, and 1318 and White Labs WLP 400. I just started so I don't have much in it yet, but I'll be adding to it as I go.
 
I have 10 mason jars of washed liquid yeast in my brew fridge. 4 different strains: WYeast belgian abbey II, WLP500 trappist yeast, WYeast 3068 hefe yeast, WLP005 British.

I think some form of british/irish/english yeast is necessary and a hefe & belgian abbey/trappist.

Got my latest and last shipment of hops in today, 10 ounces of styrian goldings.
 
I always have 2 or 3 each of S-04, US-05, and Nottingham. Plus a Montrachet and Cote des Blanc.

One of these days maybe I'll get into the whole liquid yeast farming thing, but not right now. Until then, I'll buy liquid on an as-needed basis but use dry for 95% of my brews.
 
Ironically, it was the insane prices for dry yeast at my LHBS that got me into yeast farming. I've heard that some people prefer dry yeast for the simplicity but at $3 for a pack of dry and $6 for a vial of liquid that I can split and use on 5 or more batches, I saw no benefit in using dry at all. Except for Motrachet, which costs me $0.90 per pack, so I bought a handful for apfelwein.

That said, I'm glad, since I actually find yeast farming to be a lot of fun. I know, I'm a dork.

I just ordered a WLP862 (Cry Havoc, Papizian's Strain) and a WLP080 (Cream Ale... Guess what for...) from Austin Homebrew Supply, plus a WLP English Ale (not sure of the strain, and I think I MIGHT already have one stored) with my ESB kit. I've also got some WLP001 (California Ale) stored and a vial of WLP400 (Belgian Wit) in my freezer to be farmed this week and pitched this weekend.
 
2-3 packets of Safeale-05 and 04.
2 packets of Nottingham
2 beer bottles (enough to start 10 gallons each ) of harvested wit yeast
2 beer bottles of harvested whitbred
2 beer bottles of Irish Ale

And I always have a couple of apple juice jars in the fridge with recent harvests of Notty and 05. Talk about some killer fermentations.
 
I like irish ale for stouts. I figure: english, irish, american (cal ale), and hefe are a good solid base set of yeasts and that's pretty much what I keep on hand. a clean german kolsch yeast could be handy also, and after that it's mainly up to what you like to brew - belgian yeasts, wit yeast, etc.

I know what you mean about yeast culturing - I still use dry yeast a lot, but that's mainly because I'm still trying to get practice with culturing using slants so I can make it a regular part of my brewing process. It's a lot of fun.
 
2 packets of Safale 04
2 jars of harvested Kolsch yeast
3 jars of harvested London ale yeast
2 jars of harvested Bavarian Lager yeast
4 jars of harvested Belgian Abbey II yeast
1 jar of harvested american ale yeast
one carboy of Irish Ale, with yeast soon to be harvested
 
We need to start a yeast club, lol. I can't wait to start freezing yeast and build up a bank. Right now I have just gotten into washing previous used cakes and splitting into two or more slurries for starters, but after what I have read lately on here I am definitely going to buy some vials at the LHBS and freeze what I don't pitch into my first starter with that yeast.
 
I have a frozen yeast bank, and like to freeze Platinum and VSS strains that won't be back for a while, or ever. I freeze most everything else too though.
 
I would love to have a large selection and it would really come in handy during the summer when I can't get yeast shipped without the box hitting 100*F.
 
I started out using lots of different yeasts for every beer so I never had any particular stock on hand. I've simplified almost all my recipes now. I keep lots of Nottingham in stock, also WYeast 3068 for my brothers hefeweizens. That covers most beers I make except for the occasional specialty Belgian strain. I do mostly english style ales and lots of stouts so the Nottingham works great for what I want.
 
I figure I will have a couple of house stanard ale yeasts like california ale, kolsch, etc. I am just getting into lagers though so I would like to try a few different strains.
 
2- packs of Safale US-05
2- packs Safale S-04
1-2 packs of Nottingham

I like also to have a mason jar of Hefeweizen yeast like WY3068....
and another of Belgian yeast like. WY1762....



Yel
 
I can't wait to buy some cry havoc and use it for the first time. I am thinking of making a starter and then collecting half for freezing and the other half for pitching. Maybe this will be my first lager. Has anyone on here used it for both ale and lager?
 
I just got a vial in yesterday, haven't decided what to use it on yet. Prolly an ale. It does look like attenuation isn't all that high, which I'm factoring into the equation.
 
the_bird said:
I just got a vial in yesterday, haven't decided what to use it on yet. Prolly an ale. It does look like attenuation isn't all that high, which I'm factoring into the equation.

I noticed that too about the yeast, wonder why it is lower?

Homebrewer_99 man that is some setup.

753-P6080040-0.jpg

I really like the baby food jar idea.

753-P6080041-0.jpg
 
My yeast bank currently has Wyeast 1010, and will soon have 1056 and the VSS Fat tire. i bought 60 vials, so i was thinking 6 strains x 10 vials each. thats feeling very limiting now, as i'd like to add a kolsch, the northwest ale, the irish ale, and a couple strains of yeast from local breweries.
 
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