I have been washing and saving my yeast for about 10 months now, and have only recently started running into an issue.
If the vials are stored any longer than a couple month, when I open them, they smell sulfury, rotten, and a mix of a ton of other awful flavors (I'm assuming this is from autolysis). I have previously stored vials for 2-4 months and then used them with no issues. So I'm wondering what I may be doing wrong.
I am washing the yeast and then storing in 2oz vials. Generally i get about 1oz of slurry in there and the rest is a mix of beer & distilled water used from the washing. Should I cut the volume down? Is it possible that having too much yeast in there is making them autolyze faster?
Also, I have moved all of my vials to my kegerator, which is kept around 44 degrees. Would it be better to store them in the fridge, where it colder?
I like to store the yeast to cut costs, and to have platinum strains almost year round, but want to try and figure out what I can do to prevent this from happening.
Thanks!
If the vials are stored any longer than a couple month, when I open them, they smell sulfury, rotten, and a mix of a ton of other awful flavors (I'm assuming this is from autolysis). I have previously stored vials for 2-4 months and then used them with no issues. So I'm wondering what I may be doing wrong.
I am washing the yeast and then storing in 2oz vials. Generally i get about 1oz of slurry in there and the rest is a mix of beer & distilled water used from the washing. Should I cut the volume down? Is it possible that having too much yeast in there is making them autolyze faster?
Also, I have moved all of my vials to my kegerator, which is kept around 44 degrees. Would it be better to store them in the fridge, where it colder?
I like to store the yeast to cut costs, and to have platinum strains almost year round, but want to try and figure out what I can do to prevent this from happening.
Thanks!