Is there a way to propagate yeast at home and that way stop buying the sachets?

[IslandLizard]

One thing I can think is I collected yeast from the secondary and not the primary.

That practice of collecting from a secondary is generally discouraged. There's a good chance the secondary doesn't contain the same population as the original yeast (starter). The more flocculent population has settled out in the primary, while the less flocculent ones get transferred to the secondary.

I’m disappointed because i can’t get this yeast again and I really wanted to use it. I have one more smack pack I can work with and try again.

I'd build up a good size starter, freeze some and save some as slurries in the fridge in small 4 oz jelly jars for starters later on.
For example, I'm still using yeast I bought in 2015 (a few even older), many were partially used, still in the original (East Coast Yeast) bottles they came in. So far, they've had no problems resurrecting themselves.

Which yeast strain is it?
Yes, many of us are wishing for more frequent WYeast "seasonal" re-issues. I've missed a few I wanted and they've never reappeared. Not much one can do than moving on, and keeping an eye out. Similar for White Labs' yeast vault...

 

[McMullan]

Well @McMullan, the reason I stated the class and the autoclave is that everything was done under lab conditions with the exception of the Hood. So I used a map gas torch. The left over agar is over 5 -7 years old and still looks the same. The pucks in the fridge had mold in 6 months, never tried freezing slants because doing a 3 step starter is a pain and my saved overbuilds ,so far have been successful.

And the reason I've stated what I have is I spent more than a course in molecular biology, including over 3 years demonstrating practicals to undergraduates and postgraduates, followed by over 10 years managing commercial labs and providing training. I'm aware that even under laboratory conditions people sometimes get things wrong. So, if you ever decide to give it another go, feel free to ask for help. I'm sure it'll improve your chances of successfully maintaining yeast on agar

 

[beren]

I plan on mainly only freezing yeast straight from the package. So if I buy a pack, I can freeze four vials. That is four ale batches or two lagers. Still good value. I will try some freezing from harvested yeast with common strains like Chico and see how it goes. But I am realistic that homebrew sanitation leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to lab yeast practices.

Make a 1-2l starter and make 10-20 vials. Each vial is 1/10 yeast of a liter starter. Pitch 10:1 and zoom.

 

[Gilbert Spinning Horse]

No one has mentioned Kveik yet. The slurry left after the ferment with Norwegian farmhouse yeasts (Kveik) can simply be poured onto a sheet of silicon paper and left to dry. Scrunch up the paper and collect the flakes and you have enough yeast for the next 100 brews. It can be stored in the fridge and will keep for years. No need to make a starter with Kveik, just sprinkle 1 gram of dry flakes on the top and watch it rip through the wort.

 

[DuncB]

No one has mentioned Kveik yet. The slurry left after the ferment with Norwegian farmhouse yeasts (Kveik) can simply be poured onto a sheet of silicon paper and left to dry. Scrunch up the paper and collect the flakes and you have enough yeast for the next 100 brews. It can be stored in the fridge and will keep for years. No need to make a starter with Kveik, just sprinkle 1 gram of dry flakes on the top and watch it rip through the wort.

I dried mine on greaseproof paper and keep the flakes in the freezer. Just take the box out of the freezer and grab some flakes sprinkled on the top of the wort and stir them in if you want. Then as you say sit back and watch it go crazy.

 

[wepeeler]

When I make a starter for a batch of beer, when it's done I pour some off into a sanized Mason jar and keep it in the fridge. The next time I need the yeast, I use that to make the next starter, and then save some if that one, and so on.

This is exactly what I do. I've used 1 smack pack and harvested out about 5-7 generations. Just use this calculator, and it'll give you a good idea on how much DME to use to build up a starter.

 

[McMullan]

No one has mentioned Kveik yet.

There's a very good reason for that. It makes beer taste a bit funny, what I'd call crap, unless used in hop bombs, where the intense hoppy flavour masks the unrefined funniness. But, yes, drying might be an easy option for some home brewers. Yeast usually survive being dried on filter paper. Good aseptic technique and sterilised filter paper are highly recommended. Work under a suitable flame (a Bunsen or similar) in a draft-free zone. Seal from air then store in the fridge or freezer. If stored in a bucket hung up in a barn for decades it's going to end up turning a little bit funny, like kveik, of course.

 

[Gilbert Spinning Horse]

There's a very good reason for that. It makes beer taste a bit funny, what I'd call crap,

That's your opinion mate.
Personally, I've had great results with some strains, not so good with others.
Maybe you were doing something wrong when you tried it out or maybe you don't have much experience with it.

 

[McMullan]

That's your opinion mate.

Yes, it is my opinion. And an opinion expressed by quite a few home brewers, in reality. For most beers there are much much better yeast strains available to home brewers. Most home brewers accept this, because it's true. The 'unique qualities' of kveik are mainly just marketing speil. What they most likely are really is semi-domesticated distiller's yeast adapted to ferment rendered spuds to produce washes for Norwegian potato whiskey. Do a little research on it. It's quite interesting. Norway's distilling history, at least over the last 200 years or so, absolutely dwarfs its brewing history into obscurity. Norwegian aquavit is one of my favourite spirits. In fact, gin and aquavit are about the only two spirits I drink. Anyway, what you decide to pitch into your worts is entirely up to you. Don't let me stop you.

 

[Gilbert Spinning Horse]

Yes, it is my opinion. And an opinion expressed by quite a few home brewers, in reality. For most beers there are much much better yeast strains available to home brewers. Most home brewers accept this, because it's true.

That's a typical bandwagon fallacy - because other people think that way it must be true.
Not that there's any proof that 'most' home brewers accept this either.
It's your personal opinion, and you're entitled to that, but you can't extrapolate that to be a general truth.

 

[Gilbert Spinning Horse]

...

 

[McMullan]

That's a typical bandwagon fallacy - because other people think that way it must be true.
Not that there's any proof that 'most' home brewers accept this either.
It's your personal opinion, and you're entitled to that, but you can't extrapolate that to be a general truth.

No, I don't use kveik because I don't like it. Simple as that. In my opinion it's inferior as a brewer's yeast; boring with what I consider an undesirable ester profile, which is a 'kveik' thing. I'm not the only one. I know enthusiastic home brewers who have used it extensively for a year or two before concluding there's much better yeast for most styles of beer. Home brew clubs who have concluded the same. Again, it's more a fad driven by online marketing tactics and beliefs flooding the digital space. It certainly fails to deliver, in my honest opinion. The people consistently promoting it are usually trying to make money selling it. I don't buy it and I'm more than capable of making up my own mind on such matters, having been collecting a private yeast bank for several years and having assessed in excess of 100 strains, including a few kveiks. For me, the truth is it's crap. If you buy it, that's fine. It's a free country, right?

 

[Beermeister32]

Getting this back to yeast storage, I used to do the Mason jar procedure for storing samples.

Today, I’m a big fan of just dumping the entire yeast cake into a sanitized half gallon Snapple bottle. So easy to handle until you figure out what to do with your yeast!