I'm a rice wine brewer, but I typically brew pretty small batches. I'd like to use a real sake yeast, but Wyeast's packets are for enormous batches, so I ended up wasting most of the packet the last time I used their sake yeast. Is there a good way to just use some of the yeast and store the rest? Is there a brand of sake yeast that comes in packets intended for smaller batches?
Splitting Wyeast packets to brew small batches?
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I'm not a sake brewer, but I reuse yeast regularly. I would say get some small mason jars--4 oz. canning jars or so--and split the packet into those jars. Sanitize the jars and the lids of course.
I've regularly made yeast starters, used what I needed, and stored the rest in small mason jars. You can make a starter and divide it into several pitches and store the remaining pitches/mason jars in the fridge until you need them again.
I've regularly made yeast starters, used what I needed, and stored the rest in small mason jars. You can make a starter and divide it into several pitches and store the remaining pitches/mason jars in the fridge until you need them again.
There's only about 80 ml of liquid in a WYeast pack, without bursting the nutrient pouch, which you shouldn't in this case.
After just shaking it up and and pouring the thin slurry into 4 4oz jars there will be a lot of air left above the 1/4" yeast slurry layer in the little jars. The oxygen it contains, left on top, is not healthy for the yeast. Stored in the fridge, if you use them up within 1-2 months it's probably just OK, depending on how many cells you'd need for each batch. I'd say half the cells have perished by then, leaving maybe 10 billion at best in each jar after 2 months. Likely less, the more so if your WYeast pack wasn't all that fresh from the start.
How big are your batches? How many cells do you need for each?
I'd make a yeast starter of the right size, divide the result over multiple jars, filling them to 1/4" from the rim. They should be fine for 6-12 months in the fridge.
You can also freeze some of the slurry in centrifuge vials with some glycerin added for longer keeps.
My batches are typically 1 gallon or even less. Not really sure how many cells I need for each. I'm not that advanced yet. How does one calculate that? Making yeast starters sounds fun. I'll have to look into how to do that.
When you say sanitize, do you mean full sterilization with a pressure cooker, or something less intense?
The following calculator is for beer, segregated into pitch rates for Ales and Lagers (Lagers using a double pitch rate to that of Ales). There's also a custom selection in the drop down where you can specify your own pitch rate.
BrewUnited's Yeast Calculator
Say, you've had great results using 1/5 of a WYeast pack (100 billion cells at packaging) in a gallon batch of sake. Did you smack the nutrient bubble? If so, it could make a difference.
1/5 of a pack would be 100/5 = 20 billion cells. If that pack was 3 months old at that time, viability would only have been about 50%, which means you may have pitched as few as 10 billion (viable) cells in that gallon of sake.
Your pitch rate target would thus lie somewhere between 10 and 20 billion cells per gallon of sake at that gravity, depending on the age of your yeast pack. This, assuming the pack was always stored refrigerated and not mishandled at some point, like shipped mid-Summer on a FedEx truck cross-country for 3 days.
Look up yeast starters, especially newer articles, threads and posts over much older ones. Sadly, our own sticky on that topic is a bit outdated in the details, but still gives you a decent oversight in what's involved. We use better techniques now.
![Craft A Brew - Safale S-04 Dry Yeast - Fermentis - English Ale Dry Yeast - For English and American Ales and Hard Apple Ciders - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [1 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41fVGNh6JfL._SL500_.jpg)
Just use sanitation solution such as StarSan or similar.
