Search results

Got it. There's no problem that I can see about freezing straight from the vial, the only thing may be the unknown viability of the stock, which would leave an unknown before brew day.

I would (and do) make a 800ml starter with the vial, cold crash, decant and aliquot to 8 conicals. Double that volume with 20% glycerine as you do and freeze in an ethanol bath. This way you can thaw the conical, add to whatever size starter you want and be ready to cold crash in about 24 hrs...

If you pitched just the package with no starter, you may have under pitched, especially for a lager, which will drag out fermentation somewhat. If you did a starter, what was the size? Dry yeast will have much more viable yeast to start. Also 2 weeks for a lager is not unheard of. Agreed, take a...

If you use it, use propylene glycol, not ethylene glycol. Hopefully someone on here with the same solution will chime in.

Glycol? Ethanol and salt may be more aggressive on the pump.

Never done it before, but I'm interested in how it turns out. Just a couple of probably crappy ideas, but if it's in the keg already, you could do a couple tests. If you dilute with water, your gravity will go even lower, and probably taste pretty thin. You could try diluting with an amount of...

Ok, that looks like more of an infection, discrete larger bubbles and as you said, sourness. See some pellicle forming on the bubbles. If it were me, I'd take a couple gallons, put it in a small carboy to age and funk up. Dump the rest (I'm not a fan of sours, but I could be swayed with the...

It doesn't look like a typical infection to me, especially if it tastes good. Usually the bubbles are a lot bigger and have a surface haze, these just look like degassing bubbles.

I would think if after 7 weeks, there are just a few white bubbles floating around, you're ok. When it's happened to me, it's a hostile takeover. Give it a taste, should tell you.

Beat me to it...

I put the vials with liquid level submerged in alcohol for 24 hours to control freezing time, then move them to a styrofoam holder after that. The old stocks were in a styrofoam box with cold packs since it was a self-defrost freezer, but the new ones are just out in the open in a deep freezer.

Well, the founder of a liquid yeast company dogging the viability of dry yeast competitors... It may be true, but starting with even 110 billion viable cells will make a fine beer. Just did it last month. Science be damned. I guess I'm saying my interpretation of this internet folklore is...

Yeah, I would just leave it be if it's settled well enough and use it as is. If the starter was correctly sized for the batch, and with a stirplate it's hard not to be, I don't think you'll see any delay in fermentation. Be sure to let us know how it goes, I'm curious if it really lags the start...

Just like making a beer and pitching again from the cake, will be fine. Out of curiosity, do you not cold crash because of some personal experience of yeast lag, or just "because"?

This exact thing happened to my stocks last month. I took that opportunity to regrow and make fresh stocks as they were 3+ years old. Mine were at room temp for at least 2 days in glycerol, but still came back strong, just needed a small stepper before an 800ml starter then aliquot and freeze...

PacMan if you can find it, or S-04. For these styles, the cleaner the better. Makes for kind of a boring brewing experiment, trying to mask any off flavors, but an easy way to tell if something's not right with fermentation.

That's a ridiculous amount, and I've got to agree with the OP. However, healthy, stirred starters are key to get cell counts up to more efficient 150-200mil/ml numbers. Otherwise just make a beer and use the cake, a starter of half the volume of the target beer in a recipe just confuses people...

Add some FermCap and you'll be fine. Without it, you'll probably have a little mess. I would just save the DME and go 1.5L on a stir plate, that will be plenty of cells for 1.070 with some head space.

I would let it finish either way. If you cold crash too early, it might not settle out. If it's done, an overnight crash should be sufficient. I doubt you would taste the starter in a RIS if you have to dump the whole thing, if it's only 2.5L?

Oh well, saved it!