What to do with a 500g yeast brick?

[fokram]

Hey guys, came 2nd in a homebrewing competition and won a 500g brick of US-05 among other things. Unfortunately I don't do 1000 litre batches (yet), so how can I make the most of this yeast? I'm going to be doing a back to back brew with 15g in each, and I'll give some to a friend who's brewing, but how can I store the rest of the yeast without it losing too much viability until the next brew?

 

[Pkrd]

Read up on burst carbing and have an IPA grain to glass in 6 hrs?

 

[MaryB]

Contact your brew club and have a contest, same malt, same hop, same yeast with up to 1 added ingredient f choice and see who makes the best beer!

 

[Mer-man]

Vacuum seal it and store it in the freezer. Assume 2-5% die-off per month if you want to be safe. Moisture in the air will reactivate some yeast but freezing will halt any metabolism. Nobody has done a study, even informal, that I know about on this. Probably because on the homebrew scale, we would find that it is a very economical way to use dried yeast over a long period of time.

Oh wait, you could do it. Do you have a microscope and hemocytometer?

 

[Jim311]

Read up on burst carbing and have an IPA grain to glass in 6 hrs?

Make sure to ferment in a 55 gallon drum so you have enough head space

 

[mikescooling]

I take the pound of yeast and store it in 50 ml vials. Each vial is 50 grams

 

[BrewerBrad82]

Those 500g packs are pretty dense. Have a neighbor you dislike? Here you go:

 

[nDub]

Wow lucky you!

If i had that much yeast
I'd make it rain.

 

[Hinodriver]

I buys these 500g bricks once a year and split it with a friend. I keep mine in a sanitized mason jar. When it’s time to pitch yeast I take a sanitized and dried stainless tablespoon, get a generous tablespoon and pour it into my glass Carboy through a funnel. Give it a good rock back and forth and 12hours later liftoff! I don’t measure I find I’m very close to the 11g packs per tablespoon. I’ve used this method with year old dried yeast like us-05 and it still takes off like the day I bought it. I keep it in the fridge and not the freezer.

 

[Golyo]

I buys these 500g bricks once a year and split it with a friend. I keep mine in a sanitized mason jar. When it’s time to pitch yeast I take a sanitized and dried stainless tablespoon, get a generous tablespoon and pour it into my glass Carboy through a funnel. Give it a good rock back and forth and 12hours later liftoff! I don’t measure I find I’m very close to the 11g packs per tablespoon. I’ve used this method with year old dried yeast like us-05 and it still takes off like the day I bought it. I keep it in the fridge and not the freezer.

Try rehydration once, it makes a great difference!

 

[Hinodriver]

Try rehydration once, it makes a great difference!

Just rehydrated yesterday for the first time. Boiled and cool 4oz water. Sprinkled the yeast on the cooled water in a sanitized mason jar. 30 mins later swirled and pitched it into my wort. Took off in about a hour. I think this is my new method. Thanks Golyo

 

[fokram]

I buys these 500g bricks once a year and split it with a friend. I keep mine in a sanitized mason jar. When it’s time to pitch yeast I take a sanitized and dried stainless tablespoon, get a generous tablespoon and pour it into my glass Carboy through a funnel. Give it a good rock back and forth and 12hours later liftoff! I don’t measure I find I’m very close to the 11g packs per tablespoon. I’ve used this method with year old dried yeast like us-05 and it still takes off like the day I bought it. I keep it in the fridge and not the freezer.

Here's an update haha: I've been doing a similar thing with my yeast. Put it in a clip-lock tupperware container in the fridge, and spoon out 11 or 12g each usage and immediately close the container and put it back. My yeast has yet to fail me

So there's a cool tip, if you want to save money on dried yeast, buy a brick.