what's with the obsession with fresh yeast? yeast doesn't "taste fresh" - yeast is yeast. it sits dormant until called into action. the only advantage of fresh yeast is that the population (cell count) is higher since yeast starts to slowly die off with time when inactive. but if it really matters to you, get a yeast smack-pack or vial and make a starter. case solved: you've got your fresh yeast 'cause you just grew it. use
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html to figure out how much you need, and i like
www.yeastcalc.com for figuring out starter quantities.
ok say I wanted champagne yeast, at my homebrew shop it is only in little packages from far away, where would be a good place to pick up fresh champagne yeast? or even fresh yeast?
first off, dried yeast doesn't need to be fresh. it doesn't deteriorate in the package (well, it does, but very very slowly) so it doesn't matter how fresh it is. once rehydrated, they all look the same. the only diff is that the day-old pack will have a 95% survival rate, and the 3-month-old pack will be at 90%. they will work and taste identically.
second, all yeast "is from far away". yeast isn't locally produced everywhere, like bread. there are just a few facilities that make it. unless by chance you live next door to wyeast/white labs/danstar/fermentis/ECY/etc, your yeast is going to come from far away.
third, if you're making beer, don't use champagne yeast. you want an ale yeast which is specialized in the digesting of malt. wine and champagne yeast have problems digesting certain malt sugars so you'll end up with an under-attenuated (too sweet) beer.
it stlll can't be fresh coming from online..
how can you say that? i've received yeast from an online order that was 7 days old. that is very fresh.
FYI, yeast needs to be protected from the elements while it is being transported, stored, etc. there is no such thing as a "fresh yeast shop" where you can scoop yeast out of big buckets. it needs to be isolated in a foil pack or plastic vial. it a tough world out there.
So I guess, maybe I should phrase it, where can I get local yeast? ....All I am asking, is where would a homebrewer get some yeast if he didnt have a brewstore around him that sold packaged yeast and he didn't have access to the internet..
that person has two choices: cultivate wild yeast, use dregs from unpasteurized beers (see below), or use a less-than-optimal yeast: i've read stories of folks making beer with bread yeast. it's the same organism but a very different strain. never tried it myself and don't think i'd ever bother. why risk making an inferior beer and deal with likely problematic fermentation when we have excellent beer yeast? and all bread yeast i've seen is dried... i.e not fresh (since that seems to be a concern of yours).
There's got to be somewhere that sells fresh yeast in a store..
yes, and that store is called a local homebrew supply store (and/or a wine making supply store). it's a very specialized product. i've never seen or heard of a non-homebrew shop carrying any.
so when local breweries brew their batches, where do they get their yeast? I wish my market had some... so wheres the place to get the best yeast? Northern Brewer?
they order large amounts, not a vial or two, and get it directly from the yeast manufacturers. they're on a different scale than you and i so where and how they get their yeast is academic. unless you're ordering yeast by the barrel you'll have to look elsewhere.
And if I went the direction of purchasing a non pasteurized local beer, what would I do with? Extract the yeast?
you would step up the dreggs, slowly. in a nutshell you carefully pour the beer to leave a quarter inch at the bottom with as much sediment as possible. you then pitch that into a small, weak starter solution (like 50 to 100 ml of 1.020). let that run for a day or two, cold-crash, then step up to ~500 ml of 1.030. from there you can make a normal-strength starter of 1 to 2 liters of 1.040. tah-dah: fresh yeast! for bonus points, wash the yeast from the batch you make and re-use it in future batches. do a search on this forum for "how to make a starter", "stepping up dregs" and/or "yeast washing" if any of these terms are unfamiliar to you(use the Google search function, not the default search: click the down arrow beside the search box at the top of the page). apologies if you're already knowledgeable!
Or, go ask a brewpub if any are around for used yeast.
be aware that some will share and some won't. a downside is that you're stuck using that particular yeast with all its pluses and minuses, versus ordering online and getting exactly the yeast you want. many brewpubs use one yeast for all their brews so it needs to be relatively generic or middle-of-the-road. definitely ask what kind of yeast it is, its characteristics, etc.
in summary, please tell us why you're so concerned about the freshness of yeast. maybe we can provide advice and insight. nothing wrong with fresh yeast but there are so many other things to focus on before worrying too much about that, IMO.
