Using vial tubes for washed yeast for storage

[BioHopology]

I can get my hands on some vials from the lab I work at - they hold about 15 ml - 17 ml of liquid or solid. I wonder if this enough space to store rewashed yeast. I'm using ball Mason jars that are taking up too much space. Thinking these new the vials could hold about 50 billion yeast. Just looking for a discussion and experience about this matter. Are the vials too small? Dont want to have to make a double up starter for every vial. Cheers!

 

[coldandbitter]

I've had great results with smaller tubes/vials. The standard White Labs Vials are only 35mL total, so if the storage container I have available is smaller, I just store/pitch two of them. This detail may not be ideal for big beers or lagers, but you will most likely use a starter for yeast vitality more than just numbers in that case. I have been using smaller vials to hit perfectly acceptable cell numers and activity times in one and three gallon batches. If they are stacked pyramid style, I have also been able to store them rather neatly.

Also, if you aren't sure of sterility from work/packaging, make sure to sanitize! I have had several "clean" lab tools turn things foul. That was self-correcting...

 

[CA_Mouse]

The vials that White Labs used to use were 35ml soda bottle pre-forms. You may be able to get 60 billion cells in a 17ml tube, but you would have to do a fairly large starter just to reach an adequate pitching rate for most Ales.

 

[DurtyChemist]

I typically reuse the vial that came with my white labs yeast and harvest from a starter as much as possible. If you're harvesting yeast after fermentation completes I think you'll want to still use a mason jar as part of the process then store as much actual yeast in the vials you're getting from work just so you don't end up storing a bunch of trub and just a little yeast.

 

[m00ps]

I use vials and jam sized mason jars to store my yeast. But I harvest from the starters so I dont get "washed" yeast that a mixture of trub, hops, and yeast. It works much better for consistencies sake IMO. But a vial full from a decanted starter is more than enough to pitch into a decent sized starter ive found. Once everything settles, i probably end up with the vial about 1/3 full of pure yeast, which isnt too far off from when you buy them fresh

 

[BioHopology]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I'm going try it from the next 2L starter. Maybe I was 2nd guessing the vial size vs yeast cells. I always make a 1.2 - 2 L starter so I should be good to go. Trial and error is what science is all about. Cheers!

 

[IslandLizard]

I now store yeast in small 4oz and 8oz "jelly" mason jars. Most are ranched from oversize starters and topped off with starter beer to ~1/4" under the rim. They all go inside a small box in the fridge which saves a lot of space compared to the pint jars I used before, being 1/4-1/2" of yeast and a pint of starter beer.

Those vials maybe a bit small. It's more difficult to get the compacted yeast out if there's not much starter beer/water included to shake them up. But since the vials are small you can fill a few (4) and use 2 of them when making a new starter.

You can probably score a lab grade stainless "spatula" to scoop most yeast cake out, then shake the rest up with starter wort. With good sanitation that should work fine.