On the fence about using yeast slury....

[McMullan]

Too much of anything is bad for living things generally. Less than 1.010 is supposed to keep yeast cells in an 'aerobic' state, metabolically*. But for most brewers it's practically impossible to maintain such low gravities for optimised yeast growth - it's not simply a case of making a starter @ <1.010. Most brewers are completely oblivious of fundamental biology. Procedures rarely respect yeast as living organisms. Expect some wild claims, especially when unconfirmed hunches are considered to be established facts.

*Ironically, fermentation - despite producing less ATP (biological currency of all living cells) - is less costly overall. It's a relatively simple metabolic network. Respiration's a tad superfluous, for yeast.

 

[cactusgarrett]

So are you suggesting there's merit to this and the practice is a viable alternative to the long-held undertanding?

 

[McMullan]

No, unless you can maintain sugar at <1.010. Because you'd need to do so - maintain a constant low sugar level - over time - to actually get the claimed benefits. Otherwise it's just an idea running on too many assumptions and wishful thinks - just brulosophy fundamentalists talking crap. The recent ideas about 'CO2 pressure' assumed as 'new facts' by said fundamentalists just blew me away, in laughter.

 

[cactusgarrett]

No, unless you can maintain sugar at <1.010.

Sounds like the studies this concept is based on didn't maintain sugar content (ie. keep feeding the system just enough sugar to maintain the target level). I'm not arguing one way or the other, just trying to determine the efficacy of this approach, while trying to temper any biases against the Brulosophy guys and their "hot takes".

Start at 38:00

 

[McMullan]

You can't break the laws of physics. That's the bottom line. Offering the impression you get more cell growth from making starters at 1.008 rather than about 1.040 is what I'd confidently describe as 'guff'. 'Random guff'.

 

[renstyle]

Sounds like the studies this concept is based on didn't maintain sugar content (ie. keep feeding the system just enough sugar to maintain the target level). I'm not arguing one way or the other, just trying to determine the efficacy of this approach, while trying to temper any biases against the Brulosophy guys and their "hot takes".

That's where I am with this as well, efficacy. The science being discussed was interesting.

 

[SeeMont]

Pitching Slurry. I had a slurry of Nottingham, stored in a growler with about 1 inch of beer on top, in the frig for a little over two months. I removed the growler of chilled slurry to let it warm up for use. The test I use is the Smell, bad yeast slurry smells bad. When the slurry is warming, It goes nuts, foams, builds up pressure for loosen the cap, This makes a mess so be ready.
Decided to us this old slurry on an English porter. , I decanted the slurry, and pitched a 1 1/2 cups for 6 gallons. This beer turned out great, Finished at my target FG.
This is the longest I have saved a slurry. I would do this again.

 

[Dog House Brew]

Yesterday was yeast day. I took all of my slurries that I had in the fridge and woke them up. Some were from February, some were from June. Obviously the slurry from June took off within a couple hours. The ones from February took until this morning. I only have two stir plates. The others were pitched into shaken growers. My Conan from February was going nearly as fast as my 021 and 3864 yeasts from June. Conan must be stealthy, I’ve never used it before, but keeping it going.

 

[troxerX]

Guys this is going to hurt but got to cough it out my chest, please don’t get offended — we’ve managed to resuscitate 2,000+ year old yeast from the harshest desertic conditions at the Sphinx and tombs of Tutancamel and brew awesome beer with it, and as of recent, everyone’s raving about Kveik yeast which God knows how many hundreds if not thousands of generations old it is, handled at the worst non-aseptic conditions and here we are worried about 2 month old yeasts and 1.060 wort gravities…

 

[Ninoid]

Sanitize 4 small glass jars by putting them into boiling water. Leave a little beer on top of the yeast/trub when you bottle, then just swirl it up and pour it into the sanitized jars, about 1/4 of it into each jar. Put a sanitized lid on the jar, loosely so any excess CO2 can escape, then set them in the refrigerator. It would be a good idea to label each jar as to the variety of yeast saved in them and the date.

Does the lid have to be loosely fitted?
Can it pull something bad from food that is also stored in the refrigerator?
A year ago, maybe more, I reused yeast from yeast slurry and stored it for up to two weeks in a well-sealed jar in the refrigerator where food for the house is kept. I used it until the 5th generation.