Refrigerated Slurry

[Richardtempura]

Hi guys!

I transferred some of the yeast slurry from my last brew into a 3L bottle and put the bottle in my fridge.

It's been there since about a year...

Is there any chance I can re-use it for my next brew? Or is it officially dead?

If I can still use it, what are the steps to make it viable and pitch it for my next brew?


Thanks guys!

 

[TyTanium]

I bet you can use it. You can estimate viability - it will be small - using MrMalty.com. Make a small starter and see what happens.

Then again, depending on how many times you need to step it up, it may be cheaper to just buy new yeast. DME is expensive.

 

[skelrad]

I just pulled out some washed yeast that I've had in the fridge for just over a year. I was really skeptical about it being viable. I made a starter, and a day later...nothing. So I pulled out another jar of the yeast and dumped it in. I also started a yeast that was only 4 months old, for fear that the old stuff wouldn't ever get going. The next day both starters were going like mad! I don't know if there's anything else I need to do to test the starter to make sure my yeast is healthy (the 12 month old stuff), but if looks mean anything I'd say it's just fine.

 

[hercher]

I was just on the Mr. Malty site. Just for argument's sake, I assumed your yeast was exactly one year old. Assuming also the default settings of about 2.4 billion cells/ml and about 15% non-yeast material in your slurry, you have a viability of only 1%. This means you would ideally need 10065 ml to pitch into a beer of 1.060 OG. That's about 2.65 gallons of slurry!

I won't pretend to be a yeast expert, but you will want to start by making a small starter as both the previous posters mentioned. Then I would make a larger starter. I would also make a somewhat lower gravity beer, out of this yeast. Then you could harvest that yeast, and make probably any beer you want.

It sounds like a lot of trouble, but it might be fun to do.

 

[kingwood-kid]

Feed it. If it floats, it lives!

 

[Hikeon3]

I washed some WLP001 from my very first beer in late 2008. My brother made an IIPA with an OG of 1.090 about four months ago. Made a quart starter out of a jar of that same WLP001. Took 48 hours, but the starter took off and he pitched the entire quart. Took off like a shot. Got it down to 1.015.

 

[Richardtempura]

Thanks guys!

I'll feed it and wait....