Saving Yeast

[beerme]

Had good intentions to brew today however plans fell through, problem is I have a yeast starter going which I do not want to loose. Not brewing again for a month or so. Any ideas on how to keep it for next brew.

Thanks in advance

 

[Walker]

let it ferment out, dump off most of the lisuid and put the yeast slurrty into a sanitized bottle (I prefer soda bottles with a screw top) and put it in the fridge. the cold temp will make the yeast go dormant. When you are ready to brew, warm itup to room temp and it should be good to go. I've done this before and it worked great.

 

[woodstone]

You can do as posted earlier and just save the slurry in the fridge, but it will have to be reactivated before use with new boiled/cooled DME, and why touch it more than you have to.

Just leave the starter in the fridge the way it is and just before brewing next month decant off most of the liquids, leave the slurry in the bottom, and top off with boiled/cooled DME...it will start to kick again and you will have doubled your yeast for pitching.

I've stored starters for months and reactivated just before brewing...you can also save some of the slurry from your primary from batch to batch, rather than buying yeast all the time...I'd not want to add a choco-rasperry porter slurry to a light lager though!!! Good luck.

 

[Walker]

You can do as posted earlier and just save the slurry in the fridge, but it will have to be reactivated before use with new boiled/cooled DME, and why touch it more than you have to.

Not necessarily true. I've literally just pulled it out of the fridge, warmed it to room temp, and pitched it. It took off within hours and was fine. I've done this a few times, once with a 2 week old slurry and once with a 5 week old slurry.

-walker

PS: Sorry... my son wanted to add his name and a smiley, so here it is:

GARRON

 

[woodstone]

Way to go Garron! (that should make him happy).

I agree you can pitch dormant but you run your chances vs. pitching active...sounds like you've had good luck no matter what!

Cheers to you... (and Garron).

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

I've pitched both ways with good luck, too. I prefer to wake it up just to satisfy myself that it's viable, but if it's that fresh it really should be okay.

 

[beerme]

Great! Just what I wanted to hear. Thanks