Bulk Dry Yeast

Does anyone know where to buy bulk dry yeast such as Nottingham, S-04, or S-05?

Does it save you much money?

How do you keep the package sanitary / store it?

Thanks!!!!

The savings from a 500gram package can be pretty sizable, except that by the time you've made 100 batches of beer, a great portion of the yeast will have expired.

I bought some wine yeast in a brick, kept it in the freezer......did everything right. By the time it was half gone, it was dead from age.

Just buy a bunch of small packets, and start to recycle your slurry from the bottom of the fermenter.

That ends up being free yeast.

Yeah. Yeast bricks for homebrew isn't a win. Humidity from the air alone can, over time with enough openings and closings, add enough moisture to rupture cell walls at freezing.

You'd do better to locate a case of packets. sealed they should last a couple years in teh fridge with little decline in viability.

Jim Karr said:

The savings from a 500gram package can be pretty sizable, except that by the time you've made 100 batches of beer, a great portion of the yeast will have expired.

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I do agree with the general consensus of the thread, but I believe 500 gram would be 45 to 50 batches of typical 1.050 pitches.

I just wanted to post that up in case someone is doing something crazy and stumbles across this thread in reference.

Maybe they could hammer that many batches out in 2 or 3 months!

how much does a 500gram pack cost? The dry yeast i get in single packs usually has a real long shelf life marked on it, like 2 years.

Cant you just divide the 500gram packs into small vacum sealed 12grams packs and keep them in the bottom of the fridge? 500/12 = 41-42 12gram packs so it might be good to trade half a brick with someone for another strain

Yes, it can be done, and it has. It is a lot of work, and extra dinking around. It would be a great way for several people to take advantage of the savings of a brick. GW Kent in Ypsilanti, MI has some dried yeast in 500g bricks for $17 IIRC.

And, yes, my calculations were a bit off.......12-13 grams does make a batch.

do they have a website? or know of similar online prices?

I looked at that website and it did indeed have 500 gm packets of yeast for sale, but have never heard of the brand. Have you used it before?

Also, I found that www.crosby-baker.com sells safale bricks and also cases of 11.5 gram packets.

The Bricks were 49.95 and the packets were 1.85 when you bought a case of 38. Honestly, like others in the thread were saying the savings doesn't really justify the hassle or risk of bad yeast/shelf life.

Seems to be pretty good cost for the packets though if you have someone to split them with?

Interesting topic, this.

This is the second time this week where I have run across a topic somewhere and thought, "Now this is the benefit of organizing a local brew club." The other time was in a thread on buying hops.

Our local club has a group of people that will organize themselves into purchasing quantities. It is working pretty well.

I never thought though of yeast being a bulk option.

Gammon N Beer said:

"Now this is the benefit of organizing a local brew club." .

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Bulk buying has changed my brewing perspective. It got me involved with other breweries and really encouraged me to brew more, as I can control costs.

Another good thing for a club to do is maintain a yeast bank that members can take advantage of.

+1 on group buys. I'd love to get a brick of Saflager, as I have plans for several brews and want to pitch just the right amount of yeast, which is somewhere between 1 and 2 standard 11g packets. I figure if I can repackage it myself (using my FoodSaver vacuum sealer), I'll have some packs ready to go at a much cheaper rate.

Now if I could just get in sync with the local club, the Oregon Brew Crew. I'm always busy on their meeting nights...

Gammon N Beer said:

Interesting topic, this.
I never thought though of yeast being a bulk option.

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Our club, http://barleyment.wort.ca/staticpages/index.php?page=faq frequently does bulk orders, including yeast bulk buys.
The guys weigh and split the yeast, vacuum seal it into bags and ship it out or someone picks it up.
I have bought yeast this way for years. Our LHBS don't carry much in the way of dry yeast.
I have bought a full brick of lager yeast myself and with what I have given away and used myself, managed to use it all in a year and a half.
Expired yeast is still good if you use enough, and I have used 2 year old yeast that I have stored in my freezer that made great beer.

aarondrich said:

Also, I found that www.crosby-baker.com sells safale bricks and also cases of 11.5 gram packets.
?

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Will they sell to individuals? I do not think they are friendly to that...

unless you have figured something out.

i slanted ec-1118 champagne yeast. didn't work though.

...so, more accurately, you DIDN'T slant the yeast?

no, it resisted.