At home yeast management?

[hpr89]

My Methods:

I cant let myself relax on this matter! Currently, I brew 2 times a month when I am home, but I travel a lot for work. I have the following yeasts new, in the tube/ pack:

WY Belgian AbbeyII
WY French Saison 3711
ECY20 Bugcounty


I have the following in pint jars that I harvest from a starter made with an extra 800ml:

YB Wallonian farmhouse
YB NE abbey
Pacman
WY American II

I have the following in pint jars harvested from yeast cakes rinsed with distilled or boiled and cooled water:

NE Abbey with souring bugs
Wild yeast


All of the above are stored in my fridge at 35-39F.


I also have the the following in growlers at celler temp(50-60F):

Brett L.
Brett A.
"Brett" T.
Lacto D.
Lacto B.
Peddio
YB Amalgamation

I make 1000-2000ml extra starter to feed these guys every other time I make yeast starters. I take pulls out of these to bottle with, spike a fermentation with or build up to make a starter with.

I have trouble determining pitch/ slurry selection rates etc. with these cultures.

I brew 10g batches that I split and pitch different yeasts into. I always make starters so I can re harvest the 800ml extra to repitch later.




My Concerns:

I am concerned that I am committing pretty serious yeast abuse here. I would say my average shelf stay is a few months each. I do a lot of experimenting, so that keeps me from using the same yeast too often.

I want to clean up my yeast management practices a tad.

Im thinking to narrow my yeast library down to 1 saison/ farmhouse strain, 1 belgian strain, and 1 clean ale yeast strain along with all of my microbe cultures.

I also want to freeze some yeast with glycerin. That would allow me to buy, use, and save for later any special, or limited yeast and not commit gross yeast abuse. It would also allow me to bank fresh yeast samples to "restart" from.

I am tempted to build starters up from everything over the next few weeks, jar my "house" strains, and bank the more specialty things.




My questions:

Does anyone have any solid yeast management advice to give me?

What are your votes on the 3 "house" strains?

How do brett/ lacto/ peddio respond to banking in glycerin?

I brew an Alt one or two times a year. Would it be worth it just to buy the yeast fresh? Im tempted to bank it and do a starter when I need it. IDK!


Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[hpr89]

Also, I have a smackpack of lambic blend. I also will be harvesting a few more yeast cakes over the next few months.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

She manages her house strain with vagisil.

I do, however, commend you on your passion for the yeast. I never could get that deep into it.

 

[hpr89]

She manages her house strain with vagisil.

I do, however, commend you on your passion for the yeast. I never could get that deep into it.

HEYOOOOO... touché... or should i say *****é...


It is some important stuff!

 

[DurtyChemist]

Do you have plans for each of those saved yeast cultures? If not I'd dump what you don't have plans for. I personally wouldn't keep sour cultures. I'd pick 1 Brett and 1 other Saccromyces yeast for ales and one for lagers and consider that enough. Maybe a California ale yeast, something malty and Brett brux but I've only used Brett once.

 

[hpr89]

Do you have plans for each of those saved yeast cultures? If not I'd dump what you don't have plans for. I personally wouldn't keep sour cultures. I'd pick 1 Brett and 1 other Saccromyces yeast for ales and one for lagers and consider that enough. Maybe a California ale yeast, something malty and Brett brux but I've only used Brett once.

I have plans for all of it! It is just a matter of getting through my rotation. I think 3 would be a good number to have in my fridge. I dont think I will be washing or saving any more cakes unless it is a great sour cake, just to keep it going. I rarely do any lagering. That is something I would go buy and make a starter for 1 time use. Maybe save it in a tube for later use. Im cringing at the thought of dumping any of my yeast! I will make fresh starters, harvest a tube full to freeze, then maybe dump...

 

[DurtyChemist]

I have plans for all of it! It is just a matter of getting through my rotation. I think 3 would be a good number to have in my fridge. I dont think I will be washing or saving any more cakes unless it is a great sour cake, just to keep it going. I rarely do any lagering. That is something I would go buy and make a starter for 1 time use. Maybe save it in a tube for later use. Im cringing at the thought of dumping any of my yeast! I will make fresh starters, harvest a tube full to freeze, then maybe dump...

I wouldn't cringe if you have 4 bottles from one $8 yeast pack. I have a California ale, Octoberfest (in 4 1 qt mason jars), and a cry havoc in tubes. I harvest from starters and now I just picked up a 2L starter kit so it should alleviate how much I have to store. I was previously saving leftover wort from batches.

 

[IslandLizard]

You have a nice yeast library there, and some of those were special issues, coming around once maybe every year or two.

I wouldn't see any problems with keeping them. I have several jars of yeast (under beer) stored in the fridge for over a year, and they still make large starters when awoken (2-step). The ones you know you won't use within say a year are probably better of frozen with glycerine. Then it will take 3 or 4 steps to get their numbers up to 10 gal pitching rates.

For fridge storage I've found 1/2 pint jars the best. They're labeled on the lid and stacked in a box that just fits between 2 shelves. Great for single use pitch in starters. If I need more to keep I'll fill 1-3 more jars before pitching. I top them off with the starter beer they came from, drained into a large sanitized beaker.

Raising microbe populations takes a lot of time, so your bottle storage and perpetual renewal program is probably the best strategy to have them available for when you suddenly decide to inoculate 40-some bottles.

I've been mashing larger amounts and use the leftover (unhopped) wort for starters for the next batch, if I can plan it that way. Or they'll go into the sour pipeline.