Making a starter to preserve yeast

[Mk010101]

I have a smack pack of Wyeast 2782 Staro Prague Lager yeast. Date of production was just over 4 months ago, and this is one of their specialty yeasts they don't put out often. I would love to brew another lager in a few weeks, but not sure I'll be able to. I don't want to wait forever to use this yeast as it is already WAY too long and viability is in question. I know it won't be dead, but in case I can't get back to brewing a lager for another 2-3 months, I want to KEEP this yeast! I already have slants ready for this when I open the smack pack. At the risk of infection, I don't want to open the smack pack just to inoculate the slants and then store the yeast until the future.

So this is my thought: since it is 4 mo old, I will have to do a few step-ups anyway to get the required cell count for a lager. What if I get a starter going now (and yes, inoculate the slants) and perhaps make a 1L starter and then refridge it for a few weeks (or months.) Then when ready to brew, I would take that starter and step it up a few times to get it where I want.

Other than possible infection, any harm in this? I think also I will make a starter that has some hops in it to get some hop acid to help "keep" the starter "beer" longer.

 

[GMesick]

I say go for it. True confession: I routinely buy a smack pack, make a starter, bottle a six pack, label it, refrigerate it, then (eventually) use it. I have used yeast stored this way that was two years old and, while there was a lag time in waking it up in the starter, it made very good beer. When I am down to my last bottle, I make another six pack, and do it all again. If your sanitation is excellent, you can brew for years (years!) off a single smack pack. And there is great satisfaction in sticking it to The Man (even if The Man is your friendly LHBS proprietor).

 

[FRS]

Freezing slants with some glycerin is a great idea. Saving a starter for months... idk. The books I've read say viability in the fridge is close to 0 after 4-6 weeks. I have not tried it though, and sounds like it works for GMesick. I would def step it up a few times when I went to use it to ensure viability and sufficient live cells.

Worst case you can always start over from the slants.

 

[Mk010101]

I say go for it. True confession: I routinely buy a smack pack, make a starter, bottle a six pack, label it, refrigerate it, then (eventually) use it. I have used yeast stored this way that was two years old and, while there was a lag time in waking it up in the starter, it made very good beer. When I am down to my last bottle, I make another six pack, and do it all again. If your sanitation is excellent, you can brew for years (years!) off a single smack pack. And there is great satisfaction in sticking it to The Man (even if The Man is your friendly LHBS proprietor).

Cool idea. I love the idea of using bottles to keep refrigerated yeast. I've used yeast (harvested from yeast cake) from the fridge that was almost a year old. I opened and smelled it and everything seemed fine and so pitched it. I was surprised at the lag time because it was a lot of yeast, but now I know better in that the viability was low. So while viability drop is real, there still seems to be yeast that is alive somewhere in there and will grow.