Bomb or Da Bomb?

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Cheesefood

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OK, Walker intro'd me to a new idea. After I racked my Hoe from prime to second, I decided to save the yeast. I used my turkey-baster to transfer yeast to a bottle until it was about full. So, its 10-12oz of yeast in a bottle (in the beer fridge in the garage) a good or bad idea? Was my idea da bomb, or did I create a bottle-bomb?
 
Just vent them once a day for the first few, and you won't have to worry about exploders.

And stop messing around with them Hoes...you've got a kid on the way. :mad:
 
try using a #2 stopper and air lock if you don't feel like venting bottles every day. they work well on the 22oz bottles, and maybe the 16 oz E-Z Cap bottles?
 
i do this with all my yeast to save money and almost never vent them, so far there have been no explosions, i think the yeast is dormant enough for that not to happen, although its probably a good idea to vent them once in a while. im usually just real careful when i open it. slow and sure ya' know. i have had one go absolutely crazy when i opened it and foam half the yeast out, luckily there was still some in there to use. the thing i worry the most about is contaminating my yeast. one thing i do that might reduce the bomb risk is put the yeast in 22 oz. bottles and only fill them about half full.

edit: ok i just pitched some saved yeast into a starter opened the bottle with the yeast in it and had it explode all over me. i immediately vented all my bottles of saved yeast and now as i sit here with yeast all over my shirt i feel stupid for not venting them before...so...vent your bottles. once again though there was still enough in there so that i should be able to grow a decent amount.
 
All this discussion of washing and salvaging yeast finally got me to try it. I cleaned and sanitized the WL bottles and after washing the yeast filled them up. Just vented them, no pressure, so I guess they are ok. I plan on making a starter (which I don't normally do either) when I use them.

Maybe next time, I'll just pour part of the starter back into the tubes.
 
I vent mine via an airlock. I've also used the foil.

When I CLOSE UP my clear flippies I ALWAYS get an eruption upon opening. It has to do with the brew not being completed (as they are removed from the primary).

This is the MAIN reason why I've gone to washing. It removes all the trub and hop residue as well as the sugars, leaving only yeast behind. :D
 
I wash my yeast, as well. It takes about 30 extra seconds compared to just scooping up the trub (not counting the 30-60min settling time which doesn't require any attention). I put them in 6oz (I think) jelly jars and store them in the fridge, and the 'dimple' on the jelly jar lid doesn't even inflate upwards. I've never had an explosion when opening one of my jars for a starter, but I've only done it around four times. The sediment in my jars is very white and appears to be all yeast, as opposed to the sludge I decant off of which is much darker.
 
I've got 4 bottles of yeast in the fridge right now (20oz plastic soda bottles). Two were washed from trub, and two are the remaining halves of a couple starters that I made. I realized when cleaning out the fridge this weekend that I had NEVER vented any of these!

I freaked out for a second and pulled the bottles out. Fortunately, there was hardly any pressure built up in them. One (1.5 month old trub-washed sample) was tight when I squeezed it, but just let out a small 'Pssssfffft' when I cracked the cap, so I would say that as long as you have them in the fridge you're pretty safe.

I don't suggest neglecting them like I did, but it all seems pretty safe to me now that I did it like a moron with no ill effects. :)

-walker
 
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