Simple Yeast Storage Procedure

[spittybug]

Very little harm in planning a day or two early and 'risking' a bit of dme for a starter.... if it looks good, brew away. If not, little lost.

 

[rhys333]

Thanks guys. I did the right thing and tossed it yesterday.

 

[enkamania]

Sunday, I used yeast I captured on January 3rd. I did a starter of about 1200 ml and then did a vitality starter (about 550 ml, starting 4 hours before pitching.) The yeast took off pretty quickly and will be done at day 3.

 

[JJ900]

Hi All,
I have read through all these pages in the past and this may have been answered already but its brew day today i.e. time sensitive... I am going to just dump the slurry in, no starter. When I take yeast out of fridge to warm to room temp, do I decant as soon as it comes out of fridge, or 3-4 hours later when its at room temp?
thanks!!

 

[IslandLizard]

Hi All,
I have read through all these pages in the past and this may have been answered already but its brew day today i.e. time sensitive... I am going to just dump the slurry in, no starter. When I take yeast out of fridge to warm to room temp, do I decant as soon as it comes out of fridge, or 3-4 hours later when its at room temp?
thanks!!

Decant as soon as you pull it out of the fridge. It warms up quicker that way.

How old is that slurry and how much do you have? How large is your brew batch today and what's its gravity? Lager or Ale?

Take a look at this yeast calculator and make an educated guess at how many cells you have vs. what you need.

 

[stever1000]

Sunday, I used yeast I captured on January 3rd. I did a starter of about 1200 ml and then did a vitality starter (about 550 ml, starting 4 hours before pitching.) The yeast took off pretty quickly and will be done at day 3.

I did something similar, but used yeast over a year old (no date, but sometime in 2015) and used leftover wort that didn't fit in my fermenter (1.040 magically!) Left it on the stirplate for 24 hours, crashed it in the fridge, then used it in my next batch. It took off within hours and was bubbling solidly for the last 2 days.

 

[JJ900]

IslandLizard
This is about 125ml slurry from Conan harvested and fridged yesterday. Its going into a 1.065 2.5gal batch. Thanks for the calculator, I will use it in the future! The biggest reason I was asking today was that after my yeast sat on the counter for 90 minutes it started to look like the yeast from post #224 of this thread, with lots of gunk rising to the surface, stuff floating up top like a sea sponge. It made me think I should have decanted ASAP. I let it sit and eventually all of the top floating berg just settled back down to the bottom. I decanted and pitched after about 4 1/2 hours of counter time.

 

[IslandLizard]

IslandLizard
This is about 125ml slurry from Conan harvested and fridged yesterday. Its going into a 1.065 2.5gal batch. Thanks for the calculator, I will use it in the future! The biggest reason I was asking today was that after my yeast sat on the counter for 90 minutes it started to look like the yeast from post #224 of this thread, with lots of gunk rising to the surface, stuff floating up top like a sea sponge. It made me think I should have decanted ASAP. I let it sit and eventually all of the top floating berg just settled back down to the bottom. I decanted and pitched after about 4 1/2 hours of counter time.

Yeah, that's another reason to decant ASAP when you take it out of the fridge. Some yeast rises like that.

Your 1-day young harvested yeast slurry is as fresh as can be. Ready to pitch! After 3-4 weeks in the fridge I'd start thinking about making another starter or at least a vitality starter.

Another thing I have learned is to always smell and taste the decanted beer coming off the slurry for any off flavors or sourness. If it's off or suspect, you have time to find another (yeast) solution or decide to brew another day.

 

[mgr_stl]

I'm doing this a little different than most, because I'm starting with a new package of yeast as opposed to using slurry from after a brew day. Does this photo seem like I have a reasonable yeast cake on the bottom of my cold crashed 2L starter? It looks small to me. I cold crashed it about 36 hours after starting the starter.

I pitched half of a package of omega OYL-052 into my starter in hopes of freezing this and then making another starter with the other half for my brew day this Friday.

So from here, I guess I'll decant. If I leave about the same amount of beer as yeast and then swirl it, would I add 10% of the total volume glycerin and then freeze it?

https://goo.gl/photos/LHsYGogyMd7hQSSm9

 

[stever1000]

My yeast slurry has a lot of trub in it (the whole carboy filled about 4+ quarts). How can I separate the excess trub without losing the more valuable yeast? I don't want to pitch 1/2 quart of slurry having a small amount of total yeast in it

 

[rhys333]

My yeast slurry has a lot of trub in it (the whole carboy filled about 4+ quarts). How can I separate the excess trub without losing the more valuable yeast? I don't want to pitch 1/2 quart of slurry having a small amount of total yeast in it

As long as this is a standard all-grain batch, the trub isn't a concern. There's no benefit to rinsing the yeast, and if anything the extra handling puts it at greater risk of picking up something undesirable. Just swirl, portion out what you need into sterilized jars and dump the rest. That said, if this was a mega-hopped beer or you used fruit or something in primary, then you probably don't want to reuse this yeast.

 

[stever1000]

As long as this is a standard all-grain batch, the trub isn't a concern. There's no benefit to rinsing the yeast, and if anything the extra handling puts it at greater risk of picking up something undesirable. Just swirl, portion out what you need into sterilized jars and dump the rest. That said, if this was a mega-hopped beer or you used fruit or something in primary, then you probably don't want to reuse this yeast.

Okay, so despite how much trub I have in each jar, there should be enough yeast in each?
What about....clumps? I swirled it thoroughly and clumps still make it into the jars

 

[rhys333]

Okay, so despite how much trub I have in each jar, there should be enough yeast in each?
What about....clumps? I swirled it thoroughly and clumps still make it into the jars

Based on OP's research into this, you should have about 1.5B cells/ml in that slurry, so you'll need only 130 ml (1/2 cup) for a standard 5 gallon batch as long as it's relatively fresh. You can just direct pitch it up to about a month in cold storage. You'll lose approximately 15% viability per month, so I like to make small starter for anything over 3 weeks.

 

[stever1000]

I usually pitch the full 1/2 quart jar because I have so much trub. I'm hoping with my hop spider and BIAB bag I will have less making it into the fermenter in the future.

I have had good luck doing this after storing for a full year, but I did make a starter for that one...

 

[rhys333]

Even just straining out your hop and break material on its way from kettle to fermentor should minimize the junk by quite a bit. Just wondering why you have more trub than normal.

 

[thunderwagn]

I've saved yeast from stouts and mega hopped beers and used them over with no discernable difference in the next batch. Tomorrow I'm using slurry in a pale ale that I saved from a stout. It's easy to decant after a few weeks in the fridge, and pitch into a starter.

 

[NicolasZA]

Do these look like they contain yeast or is it just trub? I dumped the trub from yesterday's bottling session into two 2l or 2qt jars and just left it overnight in the fridge. Should I shake them? Pour of the beer? jJust keep it or dump it? Confused sorry.

 

[VikeMan]

Do these look like they contain yeast or is it just trub? I dumped the trub from yesterday's bottling session into two 2l or 2qt jars and just left it overnight in the fridge. Should I shake them? Pour of the beer? jJust keep it or dump it? Confused sorry.
View attachment 689756View attachment 689757

There's definitely yeast in there. Doing a rinse would help separate it cleanly from the trub.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

I use wide mouth mason jar, plastic lids with the silicone gasket. Drill a hole in the lid and use a airlock gasket in the lid.

Photo shows lager fermenting and a yeast from a prior brew in the mason jar I will use in a few weeks. Picture may look a bit grainy as the items are inside a beverage center and photo was taken thru the beverage center door.

 

[Brewer dad]

Newbie question. I bottled last night but didn't get to boiling my jars and lids. Instead I soaked them in Star San(they were otherwise clean), I'm assuming this should be sufficient?

 

[NeoBrew]

Newbie question. I bottled last night but didn't get to boiling my jars and lids. Instead I soaked them in Star San(they were otherwise clean), I'm assuming this should be sufficient?

You might get lucky.

Star San is a sanitizer, not a sterilizer. It is intended for brewing equipment where we can anticipate the yeast growing quickly and overwhelming any possible small infection that might be in there. Generally people who are storing yeast try to sterilize the equipment. Because the yeast is going to be stored dormant, and some of the nasty stuff you do not want can still grow in storage, it provides you some extra assurance that when you go to use your yeast it will still be in good shape.

 

[IslandLizard]

Newbie question. I bottled last night but didn't get to boiling my jars and lids. Instead I soaked them in Star San(they were otherwise clean), I'm assuming this should be sufficient?

Although what, oops, @NeoBrew said is the preferred way, I rarely boil the jars and lids, but they do get thoroughly cleaned (hot Washing Soda, Generic Oxiclean, or homemade PBW), rinsed well, then soaked in a Starsan bucket for at least 10 minutes. Never had an (at least noticeable to me) infection from doing that. I've made well over a 100 starters over the years, never had an issue.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

I clean mine with soap and water, rinse and then dip in Star San too. IMO and experience you should be OK. Of course, I do hope we're not writing about long term storage. We're only writing about storage until the next brew or the brew afterward.

 

[Brewer dad]

Thanks guys your answers make sense. I guess there's a reason folks who can food boil their equipment and don't use starsan... I'll plan on using it in the next couple weeks soon as I have ingredients. It's currently sitting in a 40 degree fridge.

Will slurry exhibit any noticeable signs its not good to use?

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Thanks guys your answers make sense. I guess there's a reason folks who can food boil their equipment and don't use starsan... I'll plan on using it in the next couple weeks soon as I have ingredients. It's currently sitting in a 40 degree fridge.

Will slurry exhibit any noticeable signs its not good to use?

Smell it! You'll know.

If smells OK, taste just a bit. No, I'm not leading into a Cheech and Chong comedy bit. Is it sour? If no, then it's probably OK.

If yeast seems sluggish then pitch a pack of dry yeast. I always have a variety of dry yeast on hand just in case...

I normally take the mason jar with yeast out of the cool environment (my beverage center) a day or two before brewing to wake it up (meaning the mason jar is sitting in my basement brewery. Normally 65F all year.)

 

[Brewer dad]

First of thanks for all prior advice. Have done two beers with leftover slurry so far. My next question is regarding slurry from a cider I bottled last night that came out at 9.19%.

Previous posts indicate once we break 8% it can start killing off yeast if stored in the beer(this case cider). I'm thinking about taking all the slurry I harvested yesterday and making a starter with it tonight (decanting off cider).

Thought is that given relative newness of slurry and placing it in healthy environment for some time will allow it to make up losses from alcohol. Thoughts?

 

[beerfactory]

Great thread - I've enjoyed reading through. Have learned and applied some of the knowledge. Looking forward to experimenting in the future.

I use a kegmenter and bought a 5 oz ladle w/ a 12.5" handle to recover slurry yeast after racking to a serving keg.

Only have a small sample size of brews and I haven't stored for more than a couple weeks (yet) - but I can definitely attest to having successfully pitched flocculated Nottingham after decanting the beer from my simple yeast storage jars.