How much yeast should I save?

[TapeDeck]

I'd like to bank a small amount of my starter yeast to use in a month or so. How much should I save? I have tiny little jars, similar to the white labs vials... Can I go small like that, and just step up a couple of times the week I want to brew with it?

It seems easy... Tell me if I'm missing anything:
(assuming good sanitary process)
- Pour a small amount of starter, with yeast still in suspension, into a small second vessel.
- chill, decant excess liquid.
- nuke or boil an additional small vessel, leave filled 1/2-3/4 of the way full.
- cool to room temp, and combine in the water vessel, refrigerate, etc...

Sound about right?

Btw, happy Thanksgiving!

 

[BBL_Brewer]

Doesn't really matter how much you save. You can step it up later like you said and grow as much as you need. It helps to know your estimated cell count though so that you can use a yeast calculator when you make your next starter. That way you can stay close to proper pitching rates.

 

[TapeDeck]

So, if I take a small random amount, add it to a 150L starter, let that go for 36 hours, decant that, and save the yeast cake from that, I effectively have a roughly calculable cell count, right?

 

[45_70sharps]

If you've looked at yeast washing, why not save a few starters if you've got someplace to store them?
Even if you only want to use it the one more time, a couple extra starters in the fridge would be insurace.

 

[TapeDeck]

If you've looked at yeast washing, why not save a few starters if you've got someplace to store them?
Even if you only want to use it the one more time, a couple extra starters in the fridge would be insurace.

No doubt, but as I haven't had any savable yeast cakes (very high gravity) recently, and I literally just built my stir plate and got my flasks, that's an idea for later. Now, it's a matter of sneaking some of my current starter to have some of this yeast available for next time I want to brew using this strain.

I'm brewing a barley wine, so there's no chance I'm going to re use this yeast cake either. So it's gotta be now, or I'm going to have to re-buy. I'm thinking this is do-able.

 

[BBL_Brewer]

So, if I take a small random amount, add it to a 150L starter, let that go for 36 hours, decant that, and save the yeast cake from that, I effectively have a roughly calculable cell count, right?

If you're using a yeast calculator, you should know how many cells you have when your starter is complete. Divide that by how many ml of starter you have and you know how many cells per ml are in the starter. Pull what you are going to save and you'll know your estimated cell count based on how many ml you have. You can plug that number and the age back into the yeast calculator the next time you brew and go from there.

 

[kingwood-kid]

Save as much as possible, within the limits of practicality. If you have to buy an an extra fridge to make room for all your washed yeast, you saved too much. If you keep making starters from your second generation yeast, you'll be better off than if you're making starters from sixth, seventh etc... generation. My yeast storage vessel is a bleach-sanitized 1/2 liter water bottle I would have otherwise thrown away, but mason jars and the like are fine too.

 

[Calder]

Every time I start a new yeast, or wake up an old yeast, I make a big starter, about a pint bigger than I need. I take that pint and pour it into a sanitized container, place it in the fridge to drop the yeast, then pour off half of it, and pour the remaining liquid and the yeast into a half pint mason jar and store in fridge.

I don't like to keep it more than a year, but last week I woke up some yeast that had been stored for 2 years, and it is going fine. Took a couple of days to get going, and I'm sure the cell count was low, so will be stepping up a couple of times.

You can decant off more beer of you store in a smaller vessel.

 

[NewDecadeBrewery]

Every time I start a new yeast, or wake up an old yeast, I make a big starter, about a pint bigger than I need. I take that pint and pour it into a sanitized container, place it in the fridge to drop the yeast, then pour off half of it, and pour the remaining liquid and the yeast into a half pint mason jar and store in fridge.

I don't like to keep it more than a year, but last week I woke up some yeast that had been stored for 2 years, and it is going fine. Took a couple of days to get going, and I'm sure the cell count was low, so will be stepping up a couple of times.

You can decant off more beer of you store in a smaller vessel.

So, what do the resulting beers made from this yeast taste like? Are you getting the properties of the yeast coming through - for example does the English yeast still retain its character and the American yeast, etc.? Any off flavors?

How many times have you fermented a beer you drank or even sent to a competition with 1 to 2 year old refrigerated stored yeast and how did it turn out? All I ever seem to hear "officially" is to use refrigerated harvested yeast within one to at most 2 weeks. Do yeasts from an "official" starter last longer refrigerated than yeast pulled from a primary ferment of a beer? Of course I don't mean from a barleywine or anything just something "appropriate".

I myself am intrigued by the idea of storing yeast in the refrigerator, mostly because I haven't advanced my yeast handling skills to that of freezing yeast and/or making agar slants. I would like to hear that it can be done successfully. I like to reuse yeast and I like multiple styles but it's tough to pull off given that I don't brew often enough, at least to satisfy the whole "use the saved yeast within one to two weeks" thing.

 

[NewDecadeBrewery]

Regarding my response to Calder of course I realize you are making a starter or two first from the stored yeast. Just went and re-read my post and it didn't seem obvious that I was aware of that from what I wrote.

 

[WoodlandBrew]

So, what do the resulting beers made from this yeast taste like? Are you getting the properties of the yeast coming through - for example does the English yeast still retain its character and the American yeast, etc.? Any off flavors?

I have been using WLP566 for 3 generations over the course of about 3 months. One of the sluries was in the fridge for 2 months before using. They all have the very distinct Sasion character.