Yeast Freeze In the Mail = Death?

[justino411]

I just moved to Fairbanks, AK. If I order yeast in the mail it's going to be in
-20F or colder temps. Will this kill the pack? What about the difference between dry and liquid yeast? Let me know if you have a definite answer!

 

[eastoak]

if yeast is frozen i will probably die. there are fewer varieties of dry yeast but you can ferment most any beer with dry yeast. if i lived in a cold place and had to order yeast i would order dry yeast. nottingham, US 05 or 04, or windsor. you can continue to reuse the yeast after you bottle/keg a batch, i pitch onto the yeast cake but some people wash the yeast of trub first.

 

[BrewKnurd]

I think you should be fine with dry yeast. Danstar actually says their yeast stores better frozen that at room temp: Freezing Dry Yeast | Danstar Premium Beer Yeasts - The Dry Yeast Advantage

Liquid, you're defintiely going to have cell loss. the problem is that the ice crystals will actually puncture cell walls and kill of some of the yeast. I think i recall an interview with one of the liquid yeast labs that said they wouldn't expect all of the cells to die upon freezing... for some reason the number 20% comes to mind, but I really can't stated that with any sort of confidence.

In general, if you feel your yeast are going to be exposed to high or low temps, dry yeast is a more robust option.

 

[thegerm]

most of the cells will die if they are frozen, but you can recover the cell count by making a starter. If the yeast has been stressed in this way, your initial starter wort should be a lower than typical gravity of around 1.020. Once you've had successful growth, step it up from there to 1.035.

bottom line is that you can do it, but it will require a minimum of a 2 step starter to recover to the appropriate cell count.

dry yeast will be fine frozen, as has been said, but obviously you'll be limited to only those dry strains. Depending on the type of beer you want to make, that may not be a problem at all.

 

[justino411]

Thanks for the help! I'm glad I asked before ordering.

 

[Seven]

Maybe check around for local home brew supply shops too. They may have yeast that hasn't been frozen.