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Even in the fridge my mason jars build up lots of CO2 from washed yeast over time. Do you guys periodically bleed them of their pressure?
Pressure in mason jars (washed yeast)
- Thread starter petep1980
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wyzazz
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Nope, never even think about it. The yeast are "dormant" in there anyway right?
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conpewter
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I don't screw the ring down all the way tight, so any excess gas can escape.
dstar26t
If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing
Don't screw the lid on that tight. I also put foil around the top to keep anything from getting under the lid.
buzzkill
Well-Known Member
I do bleed the pressure out of mine from time to time.
make sure you're getting the liquid inside diluted down to pure water as much as possible, that helps them stay dormant.
I also don't screw the lids down as tight as possible, so they can 'burp' since mason jars don't hold positive pressure well they'll burp easily if slightly loosened, but still stay sealed enough to keep other stuff out.
I also don't screw the lids down as tight as possible, so they can 'burp' since mason jars don't hold positive pressure well they'll burp easily if slightly loosened, but still stay sealed enough to keep other stuff out.
are you using the same technique from the sticky on this site? if so, there should be no activity in the jar once the yeast has been rinsed a couple times. even if you don't rinse with sterile water there should be very, very little if any co2 produced in the jars. if there is, it would seem to me that the beer wasn't completely fermented when you racked off the yeast. i'm just kinda puzzled as i've never had any pressure built up in any of the stuff i've rinsed.
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I use those techniques. Even months after pressure will build. I have never had infection problems, and performance is usually quite good.
I drill a small hole in the lid and pull pillow stuffing (polyester) through and pressure cook the jar and lid before filling. It is an old filter trick with mycologists, but I'm a beer noob so take this with a grain of salt. Or just drill the hole and put a priority mail envelope between the jar and band, they are free at the post office and made of Tyvek which will act as a micron filter but allow for the jar to maintain no pressure.
i guess as long as the beers brewed with the yeast is good, go for it. i'd just do as the others have suggested and don't crank the band down too much. as long as you're clean going into the mason jar, there's nothing that will 'get in' once the lid is on. i usually keep a spray bottle with isopropyl alcohol VERY handy once i'm ready to either collect or pitch the yeast. it seems to work for me. brew on!
I have six or so jars of washed yeast in my fridge and none of them built up co2.
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I have re-used yeast at least 5 times with no infections.
Right now I have 15 jars in the fridge and all will build up pressure.
Does anyone else find it especially odd since the fridge is around 40 degrees?
jim_reaper1066
Well-Known Member
How could they possibly build up CO2? While in the beer, the yeast have already used all available sugar for fermentation. And when washing with pre-boiled water, there is no additional oxygen input as long as splashing is kept to a minimum. So they are sitting in deoxygenated water, with extremely dilute quantities of non-fermentable sugar and at 4 degrees. The yeast should be completely metabolically inactive, in a state of hibernation. My guess is any perceived positive pressure would be due to temperature changes expanding or shrinking the liquid.
conpewter
Well-Known Member
I've had them build up negative pressure, simply because of the differences in temperature. But mason jars are supposed to work like that.
nutty_gnome
Well-Known Member
I have a similar issue and I dont quite understand why I get pressure in the containers. I store my yeast in clear, 8 ounce beer bottles (Miller High Life 8 ouncers, 8 in a pack). I cap them with beer caps and invariably develop some pressure (sometimes a lot!) in the bottles. I usually wash once and there is some small amount of beer in the mixture... but I dont understand what the yeast are using to create the CO2; the beer has been fermented already!
Lol the first thing I thought when I read this was this guy has grown some mycelium in his day.
hal2814
Well-Known Member
I've also never had a problem with CO2 pressure and I've used jars anywhere from 1 week up to 6 months old. I'm glad to hear about this, because if/when it does happen to me I'll be less worried about using the yeast. Otherwise, I likely would've assumed infection.
Jethro
Active Member
I've had the pressure build up on yeast I wanted to reuse. I had harvested the yeast and stored it in a plastic soda bottle. The bottle was real hard and when I tried to relieve pressure it just wanted to squirt yeast foam. I ended up opening it into a big funnel to capture the fountain of yeast. Plastic bottles will survive a whole lot of pressure, but it may not be so good for beer; my batch turned out real good though.
Anyways.. I learned it's a good idea to wash the yeast and not fill the container to the top and seal it. I'm finding plastic soda bottles work great for storing yeast but I only fill them 3/4 now. Super easy to sanitize too. I pour a soda into a glass, rinse bottle, and then fill with StarSan. I just sanitize the outside of the bottle when I'm ready to use it. A small SS funnel helps getting the yeast in the bottles.
Anyways.. I learned it's a good idea to wash the yeast and not fill the container to the top and seal it. I'm finding plastic soda bottles work great for storing yeast but I only fill them 3/4 now. Super easy to sanitize too. I pour a soda into a glass, rinse bottle, and then fill with StarSan. I just sanitize the outside of the bottle when I'm ready to use it. A small SS funnel helps getting the yeast in the bottles.
