Freezing yeast in a regular freezer

[tomek322]

I read the link on saving yeast. Seems pretty straight forward up to the part where they don't recommend using a home freezer that has a free and thaw cycle. Since this is the only freezer i have access to, I was thinking about possible solutions. The only one I came up with was putting the vials of saved yeast in some container, like chinese food soup, pouring water in and letting the whole thing freeze. If the freezer goes into the thaw cycle the ice around the vials should keep the yeast at 32. Would this work? Anyone else try this?

 

[ColoradoXJ13]

you would probably be ok just using a styrofoam box packed with gel-ice freezer packs, should insulate the yeast well enough to avoid damage from the freeze thaw.

the problem with your ice block idea is that you will have to thaw it to get a vial out, thus putting the yeast through a freeze thaw every time you want to culture it.

 

[david_42]

This works great for fish and I use the same approach for turkey leftovers except I use broth. The ice not only provides thermal mass, but it also insulates.

Freeze a layer of ice first, then lay the vials in and add enough water to "lock" them in. Freeze that then top off.