Frozen yeast from 2/23/12

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kh54s10

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I have a frozen yeast bank. Most of it is getting quite old now. I had a period where I didn't take the time to step up the frozen yeast in time for brew day, then a period of using dry yeasts, then about a 1 year hiatus from brewing while fixing up my house then making a relocation.

Well I took a 20 ml vial of my yeast. 5 ml yeast slurry from a starter, 5 ml glycerin and 10 ml water. I froze it on 2/23/12. I made steps of 250 ml 1.025 wort. Then .75 liter of 1.035 wort. Then a final step of 1 liter of 1.040 wort. Decanting the old each time. The starters did very well and I think I pitched a proper amount of healthy yeast.

The beer was 44.4 % Rahr 2 row, 44.4% white wheat, 11.1% red wheat. Magnum, Cascade and Saaz hops.

It was brewed on 3/14/18 and bottled today. The sample tasted quite good.

What I noticed is that WY1010 is supposed to have low flocculation yet my beer is very clear. Due to a month fermentation? Another thing is that it appears I got 87% attenuation. 1.039 OG and 1.005 FG Wyeast says attenuation 74-78. ABV of 4.46%. I'll take that for a nice summer beer. And since I moved last fall from RI to FL, I consider it almost summer now!

Anyway it appears that you can keep frozen yeast for 6 years!!!
 
Mash temp? US-05 and Wyeasts 1056 seem to always finish in the high 80s for me as well. Ironically I just made a blood orange American wheat today with 1010 that was mashed at 152.

It is cool you got it revived after 6 years. My frozen bank only has 1056 and 3056. I kind of gave up on freezing yeasts cause I typically use London ESB, American Ale or Bavarian Wheat frequently enough to keep them usable by storage in a mason jar. I did use a Kolsh strain that was a 2nd gen and fridge kept for about a year and it worked out with a basic 1L starter.

From my experience yeast is a lot hardier then we give them credit for and if they are stored in the right condition they will come back and do what they do best... make beer.
 
Mash was 148 for 75 minutes. Target OG was 1.044 I got 1.039. Probably the wheat was not crushed well enough. But still with 55% wheat and a low flocculating yeast I didn't expect it to be clear.

No evidence of infection. It should be bottle conditioned soon. I'll report on the outcome.
 
Mash was 148 for 75 minutes. Target OG was 1.044 I got 1.039. Probably the wheat was not crushed well enough. But still with 55% wheat and a low flocculating yeast I didn't expect it to be clear.

No evidence of infection. It should be bottle conditioned soon. I'll report on the outcome.
Well, here it is. It has a bit of haze, chill haze I guess is much of it. Some condensation on the glass. I don't drink a lot of wheat beers so I don't have a lot to compare but it is very good.

Not bad for 6 year old yeast. I am very pleased.

Now to select and revive another vial of saved yeast.
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Great to here about your yeast revival.
It encourages me to give freezing yeast a go when i start buying liquid yeasts which are pretty expensive down here in New Zealand.
 
Next up is an Irish Red Ale. Wy1084 Irish Ale Yeast. This one is not nearly so old. I saved it on 3/10/16. I am on step 2 of a step starter. It is progressing nicely for a Wednesday or Thursday brew day.
 
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