Question on liquid yeast vials

[Dan_F_30]

Hey guys,
I've gotten some good, helpful information so far so I thought I would ask another question.
Since I only have a 1 gallon fermenter I theoretically only need 1/5th of the yeast in the vial from White labs. However I pitched the entire vial as I was told by me homebrew store. My question is, is there any way to save some of the yeast so for future batches, either by culturing or saving some of the original yeast from the white lab vial? Since I'm only brewing one gallon the yeast costs $7.80 so it is upping my cost per batch. Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[stratslinger]

First of all, asuming that a 1 gallon batch only requires 1/5 of a vial is, most often, a bad assumption. Depending on the age of that vial and the gravity of your wort, you may need that whole vial for 1 gallon, or half of it, etc... Check out mrmalty.com - there's a great yeast pitching calculator there that'll help you determine how much yeast you need. Plug in your batch size, the date of manufacture of your yeast vial, whether you're making an ale or lager, and the original gravity, and it'll do the rest. You may be surprised.

As to how to make that vial go farther; search HBT for yeast washing - I think there's a sticky in the yeast and fermentation section with all the info you could ask for there. You'd have to scale things a little differently for a 1 gallon fermenter, but the concepts are the same. Similarly, there's a few other threads about building starters and then repackaging the resulting yeast cake. I forget what this concept is calling, but have no doubt someone will swoop in with the right phrase to search for. Either of these methods could allow you to pitch a single vial to MANY beers over time.

 

[frazier]

Absolutely - I would recommend saving the yeast from the gallon jug after it finishes. Yeast Washing Illustrated. Lots of us do this.

ETA: Pitch the entire vial the first time.

 

[Dan_F_30]

Thanks guys. I'll definately be washing this yeast and saving it! Love te link o the yeast washing section. Very helpful.

 

[AgentHubcap]

I've started saving a sample in the original vial to stick in the freezer, and the rest goes into mason jars.

 

[frazier]

Freezing yeast is a dodgy issue. Someone here does it, but uses glycerin to keep the cell walls from rupturing. If you just freeze some yeast sludge, you'll probably kill most or all of it.

If your experience is different, and you can recover viable yeast from the freezer, let me know!

 

[Dan_F_30]

Any idea on how long the yeast are viable for when stored in the refrigerator? The yeast washing sticky shows in his pics a mason jar from about 8 months previous I believe. I could have just waded through the 70 some pages of that sticky but thought I would ask your thoughts instead. Thanks!

 

[AgentHubcap]

Freezing yeast is a dodgy issue. Someone here does it, but uses glycerin to keep the cell walls from rupturing. If you just freeze some yeast sludge, you'll probably kill most or all of it.

If your experience is different, and you can recover viable yeast from the freezer, let me know!

1 part glycerin to 2 parts washed yeast. I haven't tried to use one yet, though.

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

[shameless plug] Have a look at my non-slant/non-freezing method.

MC

 

[broadbill]

Any idea on how long the yeast are viable for when stored in the refrigerator?

Someone asked this very question awhile back and a few of us played with the Mr. Malty website to find out. I believe you can expect about a 15% decrease in viability for every month of storage. I believe the Mr. Malty website used data from White Lab regarding yeast stability at refrigeration temps.

 

[broadbill]

[shameless plug] Have a look at my non-slant/non-freezing method.

MC

How is this different from washing yeast and saving them in mason jars (other than amount of yeast/container)?

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

How is this different from washing yeast and saving them in mason jars (other than amount of yeast/container)?

In my case, one splits the yeast prior to using it in a batch of beer. No need to wash it. It's just a different way of doing it.

Personally, I prefer doing it pre-batch because of the better environmental control that I have in smaller volumes versus larger volumes.

Not saying it's better or anything like that, don't get me wrong. At the brewpub I briefly worked at, we would use the rotate-able racking arm inside the 7 bbl fermenter to get just yeast, leaving the fermentation by products behind (break, hop material, etc).

MC