How to store excess WLP yeast?

Hey guys,
Just bought a vial of WLP051 (California V Ale Yeast) to try out on a IPA I am making and I only need half a vial for the 2.5 gallon batch. I was wondering what is the safest way to store this yeast? I do yeast washing a lot and was thinking of pouring the entire vial into a sterile mason jar of water, shaking it up, and then seperating the mason jar into two seperate mason jars as you would with a normal wash. Wanted to get some ideas before attempting this though.

Also, if I ferment a yeast at a higher then normal fermentation temp (say 75-77* F) and then wash it, will it impart off flavors on the next beer I make with it? I still have yet to invest in a fermenation chamber and I think I may be picking one up next week, but until then I am making a beer this week and using this yeast but want to reuse later as it isn't a common yeast.

Thanks in advance for any input!
- Chris

As long as you are clean and keep everything sterile you can split it. Just remember if the next time you use the yeast is a little ways down the road, you'll have less yeast in the 2nd jar and might need a starter because you'll have lost some yeast over time.

The off flavors that may come from a high ferment will not carry over to your next beer, so don't worry about that. You need to be careful not to reuse yeast that was part of a really high OG fermentation, but temperature won't carry over.

Depending on the OG of your IPA, you might not really have any excess. I tend to use my 2.5g batches as large starters, because a 5 gal batch usually needs in excess of 2vials for proper pitch rates.

BigRob said:

Depending on the OG of your IPA, you might not really have any excess. I tend to use my 2.5g batches as large starters, because a 5 gal batch usually needs in excess of 2vials for proper pitch rates.

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+1

It seems unlikely that one vial would even come close to over pitching on 2.5g IPA. Considering variables like age/viability of the yeast, you could easily alleviate your concerns by just pitching the entire vial.

Pitch it all and harvest the yeast. Easiest way to keep it.

Ferment at 75 ish. The yeast will do fine, it prefers 90s. Not sure of the effects on the beer though.

Calder said:

Ferment at 75 ish. The yeast will do fine, it prefers 90s. Not sure of the effects on the beer though.

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Where did you get this information???

75 ish is wrong, not to mention 90. This strain shouldn't go over 72, and is best in the upper-to-mid 60s.

90's????!!!


What the WHAT?

75 ish is wrong, not to mention 90. This strain shouldn't go over 72, and is best in the upper-to-mid 60s.


Thank you!!!

Bierliebhaber said:

Where did you get this information???

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theveganbrewer said:

75 ish is wrong, not to mention 90. This strain shouldn't go over 72, and is best in the upper-to-mid 60s.

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Hlmartin22 said:

90's????!!!


What the WHAT?

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Hlmartin22 said:

75 ish is wrong, not to mention 90. This strain shouldn't go over 72, and is best in the upper-to-mid 60s.


Thank you!!!

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Will you read the OP before responding like this. He said he was going to ferment around 75 F and was concerned about the yeast health. My comment had nothing to do with the quality of the beer. It was more to do with the quality of the yeast post fermentation.

And yes yeast (like many other organisms) prefer higher temperatures. No-one said it would produce good beer at those temperatures. Why do you think you hydrate yeast at a high temp? Ever heard of a yeast infection (nice warm area of the body - yeast loves it).

Calder said:

Will you read the OP before responding like this. He said he was going to ferment around 75 F and was concerned about the yeast health. My comment had nothing to do with the quality of the beer. It was more to do with the quality of the yeast post fermentation.

And yes yeast (like many other organisms) prefer higher temperatures. No-one said it would produce good beer at those temperatures. Why do you think you hydrate yeast at a high temp? Ever heard of a yeast infection (nice warm area of the body - yeast loves it).

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The effects on the beer would be poor down the toilet... Read the whole post! Making certain your comment doesn't waste someone's time and money.

You hydrate at a higher temp because it results in less cell death during the rehydrating process.

Best method to save yeast is making a starter out of your vial, if you're growing the yeast in 1.040 wort with good aeration, there's a stress free life for the little guys. Then you could simply cold crash, decant the starter beer, and split your remaining yeast to save.

Given the typical OG of an IPA, and the large underpitch of using half a vial, sub par aeration. You'll likely be harvesting yeast that have undergone a significant amount of stress. A better solution would be to make a smaller beer and harvest the yeast and then make your IPA with some of the harvested yeast.

Hlmartin22 said:

The effects on the beer would be poor down the toilet... Read the whole post! Making certain your comment doesn't waste someone's time and money.

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1) The yeast will be fine at 75 F. That was the original question. The beer may very well be ok too, but you would run a risk of undesirable flavors.

2) The comment about 90F was to show yeast are fine at much higher temperatures so 75 should not be a concern with respect to that aspect. No-one said to brew beer at 90 F.

BigRob said:

You hydrate at a higher temp because it results in less cell death during the rehydrating process.

Best method to save yeast is making a starter out of your vial, if you're growing the yeast in 1.040 wort with good aeration, there's a stress free life for the little guys. Then you could simply cold crash, decant the starter beer, and split your remaining yeast to save.

Given the typical OG of an IPA, and the large underpitch of using half a vial, sub par aeration. You'll likely be harvesting yeast that have undergone a significant amount of stress. A better solution would be to make a smaller beer and harvest the yeast and then make your IPA with some of the harvested yeast.

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Nice

Calder said:

1) The yeast will be fine at 75 F. That was the original question. The beer may very well be ok too, but you would run a risk of undesirable flavors.

2) The comment about 90F was to show yeast are fine at much higher temperatures so 75 should not be a concern with respect to that aspect. No-one said to brew beer at 90 F.

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None of that was clear in your first post. You seemed to be saying that it was a good idea to make beer with this yeast from 75F all the way up to 90F and that 90F might even be better than 75F.

Maybe that wasn't the message you were trying to send but that's what I and obviously several others thought you were saying.

I would agree with a previous post. You might have enough yeast for your 2.5 gallon batch. Pitch the whole vial.

Check out mrmalty.com for yeast pitching rates.

To save some you could make a starter to get some extra or brew then wash the cake.

You could also research freezing yeast.

Gameface said:

None of that was clear in your first post. You seemed to be saying that it was a good idea to make beer with this yeast from 75F all the way up to 90F and that 90F might even be better than 75F.

Maybe that wasn't the message you were trying to send but that's what I and obviously several others thought you were saying.

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I apologise if my post was not clear, but I did say "The yeast will do fine, it prefers 90s. Not sure of the effects on the beer though."

Calder said:

I apologise if my post was not clear, but I did say "The yeast will do fine, it prefers 90s. Not sure of the effects on the beer though."

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Lol...

Fruitless discussion :killpost:

Thanks for the replies guys. I am going to use the full vial. The OG of the beer is supposed to be 1.06-1.07. Is this going to be to much stress on the test to wash and reuse, even with a starter? Slowly building my stir plate, hope to have it working in a week or so.

Chris7687 said:

Thanks for the replies guys. I am going to use the full vial. The OG of the beer is supposed to be 1.06-1.07. Is this going to be to much stress on the test to wash and reuse, even with a starter? Slowly building my stir plate, hope to have it working in a week or so.

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What's taking so long? I built mine in less than 2 hours. I had to try a couple different power-packs to get the right speed. It did take a week to receive my flask and DME etc though.

Chris7687 said:

Thanks for the replies guys. I am going to use the full vial. The OG of the beer is supposed to be 1.06-1.07. Is this going to be to much stress on the test to wash and reuse, even with a starter? Slowly building my stir plate, hope to have it working in a week or so.

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You'll be fine at that OG to re-use

kh54s10 said:

What's taking so long? I built mine in less than 2 hours. I had to try a couple different power-packs to get the right speed. It did take a week to receive my flask and DME etc though.

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A long, holiday vacation came up. Trying to find super magnets locally too.


The OG came out to be 1.072. Going to wash it in a few weeks and save it. How much can I divide the 2.5 gallon yeast cake into? If I divide the cake up into 2 mason jars, will one mason jar be strong enough of a starter later on?

Chris7687 said:

A long, holiday vacation came up. Trying to find super magnets locally too.


The OG came out to be 1.072. Going to wash it in a few weeks and save it. How much can I divide the 2.5 gallon yeast cake into? If I divide the cake up into 2 mason jars, will one mason jar be strong enough of a starter later on?

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Find somebody that has an old hard drive. There are some nice magnets it there.

You can make starters from very small amounts of yeast. You will need to do step starters from small amounts. Homebrewers often start from the dregs from bottles.

For the 2.5 gallon I would split the cake in two parts. If you keep them for no more than 3 weeks in the fridge I would just warm it up and pitch it. If longer you could look at mrmalty.com and use the slurry tab and age to determine how much you are starting with and how much to build up to.

Thanks for the advice!