I just got a conical for Christmas and I want to start cultivating some yeast. How long does cultivated yeast last. I brew a lot but I think I could build up quite a pipeline of yeast.
Cultivating Yeast
- Thread starter rwinzing
- Start date
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It really depends on how you store it. If you are looking for a longer storage you might want to research slanting cultures and freeze them. There are some good tutorials on HBT for this. Here is a great one from member Saccharomyces.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/slanting-yeast-133103/
If just refrigerating I use the Mr Malty pitching calculator as a guide. You use your harvest date as the date of Mfr and change the age slider to see viability. You can revive even a very small portion of yeast in a new starter, but personally I'd say going much past 3 months is getting old. At 4 months viability is down to about 10%. All those dead cells and possible autolysis could leave off flavors in a starter and/or beer. I'm sure others will chime in who have used older yeast but 3-4 months would be my comfort level.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/slanting-yeast-133103/
If just refrigerating I use the Mr Malty pitching calculator as a guide. You use your harvest date as the date of Mfr and change the age slider to see viability. You can revive even a very small portion of yeast in a new starter, but personally I'd say going much past 3 months is getting old. At 4 months viability is down to about 10%. All those dead cells and possible autolysis could leave off flavors in a starter and/or beer. I'm sure others will chime in who have used older yeast but 3-4 months would be my comfort level.
OP
OP
Thanks for the quick response
