how long will yeast slurry last if fridged?

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bkov

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About how long will a yeast cake stay good if poured into a jar and then put in the fridge? thanks
 
i wasnt going to wash it. i was just go pour the yeast cake from a carboy into a sanitized large mason jar. Freeze that untill i need it next(maybe not for another year), then let it thaw when i need it and directly add it to the wort(no starter). it should be enough yeast to not need a starter, correct?

will this work
 
search yeast washing - i think there are more steps if you want to freeze - something to do with glycerine.
i have kept unwashed yeast in a jar just in the fridge(not freezer) for a month and it worked fine
 
I forgot about some yeast that I washed, sealed and put in the fridge once. It sat there for almost 4 months. I made a starter from it and it fermented my beer just fine.

I wouldn't recommend that you leave it as long as I did, but it shows that you *can* go that long and have the yeast remain viable.
 
Would it be better to leave the yeast slurry in the beer or wash it? The alcohol in the beer would help protect the yeast from any wild yeast or bacteria. But I guess the beer flavour would be there.
 
We just tried 5 year old yeast that was just part of the yeast cake in a canning jar in the fridge. The step up liquid smelled and tasted like beer, and fermentation on a lg stout started in ~ 2 hours.

But we totally break the rules of yeast wisdom, and this was our "Beserker ale" house yeast (maybe started as a WLP023 Burton?) that we used and re-used many many times against all sane recommendations. If this works, I'm renaming it "Lazarus yeast". I'm certainly not recommending this, but it has worked in the past for us :)
 
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