Drying yeast

[The Mad Brewer]

I'm going to try a English ale yeast in a couple of weeks.
Yes I can buy yeast and its pretty cheap and I prefer to support my local brew shop. That said i still want to try it. I personally fall somewhere between prepper and Homesteader.
If things go real bad in the world and the home side of brewing is brought to a halt, if the big guys are the only ones with Hops, yeast, grains and we have to buy their swill, then those who learned how to grow hops and barley and save yeast will still be making home brew.
Its funny because I was watching a show on the ones who won't make it thru a major crisis and they pointed out if you like to drink alcoholic drinks you may not find it.
Side note to that, being able ferment drinks and food is a great way to preserve food and drink.

So that's what started me down the road to self sufficiency. I want to just know I can grow hops and grain, still malt, roast mash and boil and have yeasts that's dry (if there's no electricity, then keeping liquid yeast may be a problem).
So my latest fun explement-hobby is to be able brew even when the world is falling down.

If it doesn't work then that's OK, I go to plan B

 

[cmac62]

FYI update. I have several kveik strains dried in the freezer. I've only used it one time and it did work, but not my favorite. I'll keep them there for one offs or the occasional farm house ale.

 

[Gilbert Spinning Horse]

I used a kveik that I dried 3 years ago last weekend in a pale ale (1 gram). Making a vitality starter and it took off within 2 hours. After about 8 hours it was going like mad. Day three and it has slowed right down.

 

[AntDoctor]

Yeah, I made a gallon batch using the kveik that I had dried in 2020 (I didn't refrigerate it). I was away in temporary housing for the summer, and I was planning on using the yeast cake from this gallon for future home-away-from-home brews (essentially a 1 gallon starter that I could drink). However, I checked on it the next day, but there was no real airlock activity. In fact, there wasn't any for the next week! I was so worried, I put it in the fridge until I could get more yeast to pitch.

When I finally did, I took it out of the fridge and the gallon bucket sloshed around a bit, giving me a view of the bottom: there was a massive yeast cake. I hadn't taken a hydrometer reading, and it had f***ing finished fermentation after THE FIRST NIGHT.

Even dried and kept at ambient temperatures in a leaky ziplock bag for half a year, this badass yeast chewed through a gallon of work in 12 hours. Haters gonna hate, but kveik is clearly bred to do this.

(Also, the beer was absolutely great too!)

 

[The_Antikveik]

It’s true, dried yeast has a long shelf-life. Just the other day I made a lovely loaf of bread using dried baker’s yeast that was almost 2 years passed its best before date. Admittedly, it had been stored (lost) cool at the back of our fridge. Lovely loaf, though.

 

[GrowleyMonster]

How about vacuum drying? At lower than standard atmospheric pressure, water will evaporate much more quickly. That would beat blowing insanitary air on the yeast to be dried, wouldn't it? Or a closed cycle, blowing warm air on the yeast, then chilling and filtering the air to dehumidify, then rewarm it and blow it on the yeast all over again? Closed loop, no outside air added? Maybe UV sterilization of the air somewhere in the cycle? I bet you could make a very pure product, if the yeast survives.

 

[AntDoctor]

How about vacuum drying? At lower than standard atmospheric pressure, water will evaporate much more quickly. That would beat blowing insanitary air on the yeast to be dried, wouldn't it? Or a closed cycle, blowing warm air on the yeast, then chilling and filtering the air to dehumidify, then rewarm it and blow it on the yeast all over again? Closed loop, no outside air added? Maybe UV sterilization of the air somewhere in the cycle? I bet you could make a very pure product, if the yeast survives.

Yeah, this seems plausible, but also a ****-ton of work. I think using some sort of laminar flow hood (even if it's DIY) would be a good enough middle ground. Essentially you just need a box with a fan blowing through a HEPA filter on one side and an open side opposite from it.

 

[The Mad Brewer]

I dried some saved Ale yeast. I will try a small jar using beer on my next batch in a couple of weeks to see if it works. Just a proof of concept

 

[The Mad Brewer]

I added my air dried ale yeast to a sampling stout wort I just made and its bubbling away. That was all I had of my test yeast, but at least its a viable option if all else is gone. Im gonna save my yeast from the Full batch of stout when i rack the 1st time and save that. THen I will try the expierment in 6 months to see if its still works.

 

[cmac62]

I added my air dried ale yeast to a sampling stout wort I just made and its bubbling away. That was all I had of my test yeast, but at least its a viable option if all else is gone. Im gonna save my yeast from the Full batch of stout when i rack the 1st time and save that. THen I will try the expierment in 6 months to see if its still works.

You may want to make a lighter colored beer if you plan on saving the yeast. If you want to use the yeast for light colored beers you will change the color of the beer.

 

[The Mad Brewer]

You may want to make a lighter colored beer if you plan on saving the yeast. If you want to use the yeast for light colored beers you will change the color of the beer.

More of test to see if I can save yeast, incase things get real bad and I cant find any. Then i have some in a pinch, and at that point if the world is falling down around me , having any old ale will be OK .

 

[The Mad Brewer]

More of test to see if I can save yeast, incase things get real bad and I cant find any. Then i have some in a pinch, and at that point if the world is falling down around me , having any old ale will be OK .

Kinda like “the Worlds end movie”

 

[AntDoctor]

Kinda like “the Worlds end movie”

Is it weird that I have a similar, irrational desire to be able to make beer in the apocalypse? I want to know that I could sustainably brew in super-primitive scenarios where all the supply chains have totally failed, but I doubt that will ever actually happen.
It's why I have an instinctive dislike of using powdered amylase enzymes or pre-made yeast nutrients or other factory-produced chemicals (like Fermcap, or Opti-Red in winemaking). Like, I'll always have access to these things, but I weirdly feel guilty when I use them...

 

[cmac62]

More of test to see if I can save yeast, incase things get real bad and I cant find any. Then i have some in a pinch, and at that point if the world is falling down around me , having any old ale will be OK .

You can always collect wild yeast and experiment with individual colonies to find the best beer maker.