bristela
Well-Known Member
When I first started poking around this forum, being a microbiologist, I quickly found the stickied yeast washing protocol:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/
I've been using this washing for over a year now and haven't had to buy yeast in all that time. Proper thanks go out to Bernie Brewer.
While reading through some of the thread I saw reference to people keeping yeast in the fridge this way for up to a year. I don't remember anybody saying for sure if they had actually done this. There are currently 236 pages of that thread so I haven't been back through to check. Sorry.
I thought I would give this a try. Whenever I wash I always keep two jars worth, one for the next brew and the other for reference in case I need to go back to it. I thought I would try and revive some yeast that I put in the fridge on 12th July 2013, ~13 months ago. You can see it in the first pic with the Wyeast nutrients I use for starter cultures.
I also add honey to my starter cultures before pouring in boiling water so as to discourage growth of other nasties. You can see this covered with foil on my stir plate in the second pic. Once this mixture has reached ambient temperature I pitch in the yeast, after having poured off the supernatant from the canning jar.
On a normal brew day with yeast that has been in the fridge for a few weeks / months, I will let the starter grow for ~4 hours. In this case I saw no sign of activity at that stage. The third pic shows the bubbles I saw just before going to bed, after ~8 hours.
The fourth pics shows growth after ~24 hours at which point I pitched it. I was not prepared to commit to a full brew for this experiment so I thought I could make a gallon batch of cider. This doesn't involve any boiling which is why I call it Lazy Cider.
From past experience I have learned that I need to back-sweeten cider at a ratio of 1/6th the volume. That's what you can see in the fifth pic, just before pitching, with the bottle on the left being kept in the fridge until fermentation has finished. This volume of starter is what I normally use for 5 gallons so I eyeballed ~1/5th the volume when pitching.
The final pic shows the state of it after 3 days in the basement.
Haven't tasted it yet but what's coming out the airlock smells really good. Will update this thread when I do.
If anybody has successfully kept their yeast like this for longer I would love to hear about it.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/
I've been using this washing for over a year now and haven't had to buy yeast in all that time. Proper thanks go out to Bernie Brewer.
While reading through some of the thread I saw reference to people keeping yeast in the fridge this way for up to a year. I don't remember anybody saying for sure if they had actually done this. There are currently 236 pages of that thread so I haven't been back through to check. Sorry.
I thought I would give this a try. Whenever I wash I always keep two jars worth, one for the next brew and the other for reference in case I need to go back to it. I thought I would try and revive some yeast that I put in the fridge on 12th July 2013, ~13 months ago. You can see it in the first pic with the Wyeast nutrients I use for starter cultures.
I also add honey to my starter cultures before pouring in boiling water so as to discourage growth of other nasties. You can see this covered with foil on my stir plate in the second pic. Once this mixture has reached ambient temperature I pitch in the yeast, after having poured off the supernatant from the canning jar.
On a normal brew day with yeast that has been in the fridge for a few weeks / months, I will let the starter grow for ~4 hours. In this case I saw no sign of activity at that stage. The third pic shows the bubbles I saw just before going to bed, after ~8 hours.
The fourth pics shows growth after ~24 hours at which point I pitched it. I was not prepared to commit to a full brew for this experiment so I thought I could make a gallon batch of cider. This doesn't involve any boiling which is why I call it Lazy Cider.
From past experience I have learned that I need to back-sweeten cider at a ratio of 1/6th the volume. That's what you can see in the fifth pic, just before pitching, with the bottle on the left being kept in the fridge until fermentation has finished. This volume of starter is what I normally use for 5 gallons so I eyeballed ~1/5th the volume when pitching.
The final pic shows the state of it after 3 days in the basement.
Haven't tasted it yet but what's coming out the airlock smells really good. Will update this thread when I do.
If anybody has successfully kept their yeast like this for longer I would love to hear about it.