Yeast in a Growler

[Brewpilot]

Hey, about to brew a Fat Tire... and afterward, instead of racking another brew onto the yeast cake, would it be OKAY to rack about 22oz of the yeast sediment into a growler, cap it off and store it in my fridge... ?? This is cool, right?

Brewpilot

 

[Boston]

What Walker does (IIRC) is make an extra large starter (1/2 gallon?), pitches a quart and saves a quart in the fridge for future use.

 

[Brewpilot]

I dont want to make a starter though, I want to use my Fat Tire, as my starter lol... Is there an issue with using that yeast cake, in a sealed bottle and storing it... for weeks even?

 

[sonvolt]

I've tried this a few times. Once, it worked very well. I stored it in a mason jar (sanitized, of course). I kept it about a week before pitching it again. It worked very well.

The next time I tried it - same yeast strain (Nottingham . . . duh ) - I used the same process. Then, I noticed that the yeast was active after about a week. I twisted on the cap and . . . pooooof . . . .there was a lot of pressure built up. I am lucky I caught it when I did or there would have been an explosion. That yeast went wild after than . . . wouldn't go dormant. I had to vent it about 2 or 3 times a day.

Finally, I just took off the cap and set the jar in the sink to watch it. It foamed and frothed all over. I am not sure what happened with this. There couldn't have been fermentables left in the jar. It didn't smell bad - like autolysis should.

I can only guess that the yeast were consuming themselves, though.

Anyway . . . yeah . . . it can be done. Just keep and eye on it. Do a starter when you are going to revive the yeast, just to be sure they are still healthy and clean.

 

[Yooper]

If you wash the yeast (do a search for "yeast washing") you can do that. Whatever you decide, I think a starter is a good idea. It makes sure that the yeast is viable after storage, as well as gives it a little food to get it out of dormancy.

If you don't wash the yeast before storing it, it could keep fermenting in your fridge I think, I did it, though! I put it in a sanitized mason jar, and keep pouring off the fluid on top as it accumulated. Eventually, all I had was mud. But I did do a starter before using it in a brew. It went like a locomotive, and was great! It was wyeast 1056 (American Ale yeast).

Lorena

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

I agree with Lorena...this procedure is fine, just make sure to do a starter to prove the yeast is viable and to wake it up. It's as simple as just adding a little bit of wort to it.

 

[Brewing Clamper]

Yeap, more support to the starter technique here. I've done the washing yeast thing and I've pitched with & without a starter.. guess which one started in hours and which one scared me because it didn't start for 2 days? Don't be lazy, do a starter... besides, I see it as doing a mini-brew, so I enjoy it...