1 lb. of yeast?

[Arbe0]

talking to a Homebrew friend who says he buys 1 lb. of safale-04 and uses it throughout the year or two. I have many questions about this. I guess it lasts 36 months BUT: 1) how do you keep it? I understand you keep it in the fridge in an airtight package, but I understand that fermentis says when you open it, it should be used in 7 days. So how can you open it and still have it good for 36 months? 2) if it lasts 36 months doesn't the cell count go down? is it because it is a dry yeast and the yeast haven't been activated and the cell count would be like it is new? enlighten me please.

 

[bracconiere]

i bought a brick of pacific ale yeast back in october...it's still fermenting when i add it?

i'd imagine you're right and it being dry means it's pretty stable....

 

[RM-MN]

but I understand that fermentis says when you open it, it should be used in 7 days.

I pretend that I bought the yeast from someone else. I buy packets and sometimes the second half of the packet doesn't get used for a couple months or more. It's fine.

 

[beerfactory]

Bread yeast sold in jars seems to do fine with being dispensed via teaspoon and cupboard storage.

 

[friarsmith]

If I were inclined to buy a 1lb brick of dry yeast, I would probably repackage it into 16 one oz vacuum-sealed packages — each roughly the equivalent of two “regular” 11g packs off the shelf.

You could get several fermentations out of a single dry pack by saving the slurry in a mason jar and reusing.

I believe the bricks are intended for single pitch use into 3-5BBL batches but there is no reason they cant be split up for home use.

Store in a refrigerator, and minimize the oxygen/moisture exposure between uses. Viable cell count should be stable for a few years.

 

[z-bob]

i buy bread yeast by the pound, and it takes me a few years to use it up. I put half in the deep freezer and half in a mason jar in the fridge. When the jar gets almost empty I fill it up again from the freezer,

 

[marc1]

i buy bread yeast by the pound, and it takes me a few years to use it up. I put half in the deep freezer and half in a mason jar in the fridge. When the jar gets almost empty I fill it up again from the freezer,

Great idea!

I've got my big bag 'o bread yeast in the fridge, in a ziploc bag. It's a bit unwieldy. I don't know why I didn't think of a mason jar; maybe because I didn't consider taking it out of it's original packaging first.

The freezer might not be necessary for bread yeast, I had one bag for almost 10 years in the fridge that still worked fine.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I would note that there are places like RiteBrew where you can get individual packs of yeast for a good price. If you purchase 10+ packs, they come in at $2.39 each plus a small shipping cost. (830462 - Safale S-04 Dry Yeast - 11.5g). I see quite a range of prices on 500g packs of S-04 with a low price around $85. At that price, 11.5 grams comes out to $1.95. The $120 price at MoreBeer would put the bulk yeast as more expensive than the individual packs ($2.76 each).

A 500g brick of yeast is the equivalent of about 43 individual packs. For me, I would much rather pay the little extra cost to get a variety of different yeasts. How long would it take me to use up 43 packs of one yeast?? On the other hand, I am fine to pick up 5 to 10 packs of a yeast I use often.

 

[kmmuellr]

The cheapskate in me is very pissed that two pounds of bread yeast is like $12 on Amazon, but 1lb of brewers yeast is >$70!

K

 

[z-bob]

@kmmuellr: You know you can use bread yeast for beer? You'll have to work within its limitations, but it's probably not all that limiting if you brew ales. I haven't tried it because I have lots of packets of beer yeast and wine yeast, so not worth the risk. But I might pull off a gallon of my next wort and try it and use a proper ale yeast for the other 4 gallons and compare them. If the bread yeast beer is okay and doesn't get infected, I'll save the slurry and brew with it again. (I assume that's safer than going back to the bag of dried yeast that might be contaminated and I just got lucky)

I have fermented beer using wine yeast. I think Cote des Blanc would be good for British styles (low attenuation), and K1V-1116 for saisons (high attenuation). Champaigne yeast ought to be good for something but I don't know what Wine yeast is almost as cheap as bread yeast if you buy it 10 packets at a time.

 

[bracconiere]

You know you can use bread yeast for beer?

it doesn't flocc...

 

[z-bob]

it doesn't flocc...

That sounds like the voice of experience

 

[bracconiere]

That sounds like the voice of experience

yeah i got pissed i could buy 2lb bricks of yeast for $20, but they wanted $250 for a 500g brick of nottingham...


i used it for a while, tasted fine...but every pour out of the keg required a cleansing flush pour down the drain, so realized dumpping half my keg wasn't working out..


so i bought a 500g brick of wine yeast for $30, and wine yeast floccs just fine for beer, but kinda gives it a lighter body....

if you really want to yeast to say 'ale(TM)' here's the best for now...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/154659459725?hash=item24026c128d:g:aYcAAOSwfG5hbsBV

 

[marc1]

yeah i got pissed i could buy 2lb bricks of yeast for $20, but they wanted $250 for a 500g brick of nottingham...


i used it for a while, tasted fine...but every pour out of the keg required a cleansing flush pour down the drain, so realized dumpping half my keg wasn't working out..


so i bought a 500g brick of wine yeast for $30, and wine yeast floccs just fine for beer, but kinda gives it a lighter body....

if you really want to yeast to say 'ale(TM)' here's the best for now...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/154659459725?hash=item24026c128d:g:aYcAAOSwfG5hbsBV

Isn't bread yeast also POF+, so your beer would also have that clove-y "Belgian" flavor?

 

[bracconiere]

Isn't bread yeast also POF+, so your beer would also have that clove-y "Belgian" flavor?

i just subscribed to paramount+, is that similar to POF+? and as far as clove "Y", and belgian? no i said it was more australian? they're the ones with vegemite right?

 

[McMullan]

My baker's yeast is PUFF+. My loaves always puff up.

 

[Miraculix]

Open the bag, take the amount out that you need, close the bag again, freeze it, repeat till empty. This way no water accumulates in the yeast and nothing starts growing in there.

 

[Knox]

There are three things you need to be aware of with a yeast brick.
1. Remember to check if the brick arrives vacuum sealed. If it is broken return it. You have no idea what might snuck in there with the yeast on its way to you.
2. Have a facility that can store the yeast optimally. I believe Fermentis recommends around 4C (I have no idea what that is in F). With as low as possible humidity. A humidity controlled shelve in your fridge will do fine.
3. Handle it in a hygienic way, use gloves, sanitise your hands, spoon and container preferably with ethanol without glycerin as it dries real quickly and is food safe.

Oh if you transfer it into a different container make sure it is caustically cleaned and sanitised, let it dry completely before pouring it in. Otherwise you might have a glub of yeast decaying where the drop was, it has happened to me once not fun ...

 

[kmmuellr]

@kmmuellr: You know you can use bread yeast for beer?

Of course, but as others have said it's not ideal for beer. It does however work well w/ my rum and whiskey mashes!

K

 

[cmac62]

Of course, but as others have said it's not ideal for beer. It does however work well w/ my rum and whiskey mashes!

K

Yeah, and you can ferment it at 80+ f.

 

[Chuckbergman]

I brewer friend gave me a 500g bric of S-04 once. I brewed on it for 2-3 years! I transferred to food-grain container and stored in fridge. I will admit that toward the end I had to use more grams to get the fermentation activity required. I've since switched to yeast harvesting from my starters.