Testing the limits of yeast viability

[HItransplant]

thanks bobby for another very helpful thread-- subscribed.

 

[jlpred55]

I use this method all the time now. Have my fridge fillede up with bottles with different yeast strains.

I don’t wash the yeast either, simply swirl up the sediment from my carboy and transfer to bottles and cap, and since I started using this method (8 months ago) I haven’t had an infection or a bad vial either.

I do this as well. I just swirl and dump the yeast into sanatized mason jars, no washing. I must say I don't even boil them for short term storage. I just sanatize and dump the yeast. I just did 2 beers with some saved 1028 for a bitter I made. One was a Barleywine started OG 1.103 and in 6 days hit the expected FG of 1.022. If I am going to store the yeast for longer I will boil the mason jars but I usually only hold on to them for a month or so and have had no problems with the swirl and dump method.

 

[funky_brewster]

I usually only hold on to them for a month or so and have had no problems with the swirl and dump method.

My assumption is that you're collecting trub along with the yeast cake using this method. Is there any noticeable effect from this?

 

[ryclo]

I bought a flat of small mason jam jars and boiled them in some water, then let the lids seal on them while they cool. Now, when I have a primary transfered I just pop two open and dump the water into my pirmary, swish it around and pour it back into two jars. When I brew, I will use one jar to make a starter with and save the second as a back up in case I forget to catch a primary down the road. easy and quick way to save money per batch!

 

[vegas20s]

wow this thread has been going for a while.

Let me get this right, I don't have to wash the yeast I can save some trub in a mason jar for 6+ months and make a starter with it?

I am going to have to rethink some things.

 

[Rivenin]

i was about to ask the same thing!

 

[Bobby_M]

Don't get me wrong, this isn't something I'd recommend or do on a regular basis. I'll collect yeast cake in a sanitary jar in the most sanitary way I can and put it in the fridge. If I find the time to go through a yeast rinsing process, I will. In either case, I'll go ahead and direct pitch that sucker within say a month. If it's been sitting for over a month, I'll make a starter (don't forget to label the jar with strain, generation, and collection date. I guess the main point I wanted to make with the original post is that it's a myth that all the yeast is going to die or get infected in a couple months of sitting around.

 

[Airborneguy]

Add another name to the list of people who do this. I started off re-using yeast by brewing on racking day and pitching right onto the cake. I decided after a few batches that this was TOO much yeast for the new batch. Now I just fill a sanitized mason jar with some trub and re-use it pretty much like Bobby does.

 

[Revvy]

Me three.

 

[sfrisby]

What temps are you storing the mason jars?

 

[Airborneguy]

In my fridge. Probably around 40-45º.

 

[ryclo]

Here is a pic of a 3rd generation safale s-04 dry yeast I bought back in march... This was sitting in my fridge with trub for about 60 days and was recovered from a batch that I pitched right on the cake.

 

[kappclark]

Tell us about your stirplate ?

 

[Ryush806]

Haha is that an old dvd player with some magnets?

 

[Shockerengr]

I just racked a Czech Pilsner to secondary this week made from a wyeast smack pack with a date of Mar 2008. took a few steps on the stirplate (using sterile wort) but I had activity in 24hrs @ 50 degrees.

 

[Aunt_Ester]

Haha is that an old dvd player with some magnets?

No, ryclo, but seriously.

 

[ericwatkins_utk]

I know many people are subscribed to this thread, so I thought I would post my experience. I made a 1L starter yesterday from two jars of washed Brewferm Lager yeast. The sticker I had on the jars was dated 1-11-11. That makes this yeast almost exactly 15 months old. I got up this morning before daylight and it showed no signs of life, and the yeast and settled back to the bottom and my stir plate had threw the magnet. I gave it a shake, put it back stirring and went turkey hunting. I just got home, found a small layer of foam on top. I threw on an airlock for a moment just to see if it was off gassing, and SURPRISE! I'm getting bubbles every 15 seconds. I thought this one was a goner. I'm going to let it do its thing then step it up. Thats proof that these little guys are tougher than we think!

 

[ericwatkins_utk]

Bubbling every 3 seconds now! Its very much alive and well.

 

[SavoryChef]

Thanks for the necro post, learned a lot here.

 

[chefmike]

I gave it a shake, put it back stirring and went turkey hunting. I just got home, found a small layer of foam on top.

Old yeast is easy... did you get your bird?

 

[ericwatkins_utk]

Old yeast is easy... did you get your bird?

Nope. I've determined I have much more likely odds when dealing with the old yeast...

 

[CnnmnSchnpps]

There's a good BrewStrong episode about yeast management (3/8/2010). One thing that was emphasized is that just because the yeast is alive and makes beer doesn't mean it is healthy and will have the flavor profile you would expect of that particular yeast strain.

Then again, if it makes beer that you're happy with, it's certainly a real easy method and very RDWHAHB. I'll be trying this at some point, but eventually a frozen yeast bank is in the cards considering how hard liquid yeast is to get out here

 

[SmallBatchBrew]

I'd like to hear some results with people doing this with a more floccuant yeast. Flocculation, from what I understand, is one of the first things to suffer when reusing unhealthy yeast.

 

[philipCT]

Good thread, even if it's been the walking dead for 2+ years Here's some follow-on material....

I suspect results in this area may differ from strain to strain, so I was encouraged to read a previous post on this thread about Wyeast Belgian Schelde 3655. I'm brewing the BCS Belgian Pale Ale this weekend, which calls for this yeast. When I went to the LHBS, they had exactly one very outdated smack pack of this. They have a fridge dedicated to yeast, so I felt it had probably been well-handled, so I went for it.

So here follows a few posts to chronicle the success or failure of resurrecting this yeast.

@SmallBatchBrew Wyeast calls this the flocculation on this "moderate", so I don't know if this qualifies for your interest.

My recipe is a 1.052 OG, so I don't need a monster starter. I'm brewing 5g so normally, I would just make a 1.8L starter and call it good. I'm going to add one step on this just to ease it back into the world.

The package is dated September 29th, 2014, so it's now about six months old. I warmed it while I was at work today, and smacked the pack at 6:00pm. My plan is to let the pack swell, pitch into an 800ml 1.020 starter, and put it on a spin plate for 24 hours. If that goes well, I'll step that up to 2L.

Here's a shot of the pack about an hour after smacking. No real swelling, but that's normal for smack packs in my experience. I'll post another shot in about two hours when I would normally expect to see significant swelling.

 

[philipCT]

Okay, so I checked on the smack pack at 9pm last night and no swelling. So I filled two six-packs of bottles with two different beers currently on-tap and went off to play poker with the boys.

When I got back at 1am, the packet looked good and fat - photos below. So I cooked up a 1L starter with 50g of DME and 1/8 tsp of yeast nutrient, shooting for 1.020. Chilled and filled a 2L flask. The wort tested out at 1.017, Close enough for government work. I usually boil with 100-200ml extra water to account for boil-off.

Pitched the pack at 2am.

Put on the spin plate and went to bed.

 

[philipCT]

Day 2 in this process - 12 hours after putting this on the stir plate, 2pm check-in.

Good tan yeast color in the flask. Good clean yeast odor with faint phenolics. No signs of krausen, but that's not unusual for step 1 starters in my experience. Plan to let this spin for another 12-18 hours, then cold crash, decant the clear beer, and make a second stage 2L starter.

 

[philipCT]

Day 3. 10am. After 32 hours of spinning. Certainly looks healthy. A bit more dense than yesterday. Good clean yeast odor. Transferred to fridge for cold crashing.

 

[philipCT]

Day 3 - midnight. After a 14 hour cold crash for the Step 1 starter, I made a Step 2 starter, 2 liters, in a bigger flask.

The first close-up is the Step 1 starter after the cold crash. I was happy to see a pretty decent yeast layer on the bottom.

It was late so I decanted the clear beer off the Step 1 starter and threw them both into a fermentation chamber to achieve the same temp overnight. They look nice and cozy in there.

 

[kombat]

I'll re-use yeast that's up to 2 months old, but I don't bother making a starter. I just decant the liquid from the top, swirl up the yeast and dump it in (after doing a sniff test as mentioned by someone else earlier in this thread).

 

[philipCT]

Day 4 - 10am. 2nd Step starter has been spinning for 24 hours. Yesterday was a brewday. I pitched the Step 1 starter to the Step 2 wort at about 10am. By 4pm, I noticed that there was a nice little krasuen.

Here's a shot of it this morning sporting a very healthy tan color.

Coincidentally, it's sitting in a fermentation chamber with a beer that is ready for cold-crashing, so I just removed the stir-plate and crashed the chamber. Should be ready to pitch tomorrow. The wort is sitting patiently in another fermentation chamber at the proper pitching temp - 65F.