Yeast Prices - What happened?!!

[Reneauj62]

Yet another reason to overbuild your starters.

EXACTLY!!!!!! I bought 6 yeast packs at the beginning of the year and I overbuild every time.... I even put dry yeast on a stir plate and it works wonderfully...

 

[D.B.Moody]

I have been looking at morebeer.com. The yeast I want is $10.49 just like at all the other places I usually shop. (I haven't checked with the LHBS yet but I don't think they sell Imperial) So I'm thinking about using a packet of S-33 that I have already instead since I'm brewing a British bitter (no idea why Fermantis calls that yeast a Belgian, it's more like a close cousin of Lallemand Windsor)

S-33 is supposed to be the old Edme strain.

 

[Vale71]

some people that don't like making an honest living might get some ideas with thinking like that....

Back off you silly poacher...

 

[Vale71]

FYI prices haven't changed so far on the other side of the pond. Availability might become an issue soon though...

 

[Bobby_M]

Why won't you just say the lab and strain you're looking for instead of allowing for endless speculation? As people have already suggested, Imperial Organic is a 200 Billion pitch count pack which is significantly different from Wyeast and White Labs. Is it worth almost double the price? That very much depends on the gravity of your batch, the batch size, the style of beer, the yeast strain, the yeast pack age and whether or not you're willing to build the cell count with a yeast starter.

 

[Albionwood]

I didn't know that, so I looked it up. Apparently AB-InBev sold them to Back Street Capital in August, 2019. So I apologize: Northern Brewer is no longer owned by the Evil Empire, they're owned by regular, American capital.

I missed that too. Having always been a MB customer, I haven't paid much attention to NB.
(It's Blackstreet Capital Holdings, one of these shell corporations that acquires debt and/or equity in lots of different businesses. So not a "giant" corporate conglomerate, a small-to-middling sized corporate conglomerate without a particular business-line focus. What that means for NB customers is anyone's guess.)

 

[NobleNewt]

I've been having trouble lately with VK taking forever to carbonate, mainly I think because I'm not storing the bottles warm enough. Not a problem if you're kegging it. I agree with your sentiment and I've gotten a lot of mileage out of one pack of OYL061 and it's still going strong, but I'm looking for a good winter yeast that I can repitch over and over. (I think K-97 might be the ticket)

In the winter, I put my bottles on a heating pad. In the summer, I just put them all out in the shed. Usually, they're drinkable in about a week. I've had the same trouble in the past, though. Never noticed any off-flavors by adding heat or leaving them to condition in the heat.

 

[D.B.Moody]

I missed that too. Having always been a MB customer, I haven't paid much attention to NB.
(It's Blackstreet Capital Holdings, one of these shell corporations that acquires debt and/or equity in lots of different businesses. So not a "giant" corporate conglomerate, a small-to-middling sized corporate conglomerate without a particular business-line focus. What that means for NB customers is anyone's guess.)

In the past I have used More Beer. I was using Midwest Brewer when their prices started rising as they were acquired by Northern Brewer. In the last few years most of my ordering has been from Label Peelers. I'm an extract brewer usually preferring Munton's. Present cost of 3 lbs. of Munton's DME:
Northern Brewer 16.99
Midwest 14.99
More Beer not available
Label Peelers 8.34
Label Peelers doesn't have free shipping, but the order that came yesterday had 30 lbs of DME plus other stuff. The freight was 16.06, so the cost with freight for 3 lbs was 9.95. That's a bargain. The main trade offs are a poorer selection on grains, a difficult web sight, and needing to order enough to spread the freight costs out. The 8.34 price is a sale price, but the math works at their usual pricing too, if one doesn't feel a compulsion to wait for the sale.

 

[z-bob]

I forget about Label Peelers. Thanks for the reminder. I've ordered from them before (a bunch of packs of dried yeast) and was happy with them.

 

[Broothru]

Yup. This is why I try to use yeast at least 3 times. Especially as I’m brewing 3 gallon batches.

I will plan recipes in advance that use the same yeast. And brew light to dark, weak to strong, less hoppy to more hoppy. Same way judges judge beer.

1056 might go pale ale, IPA, American barleywine. Could probably squeeze others in if I wanted. 1968 would go blonde ale, bitter or ESB, English IPA. Lots of other combinations and ways to do this. Still trying to find more than 2 to with 1728. 3068 would be a challenge to use more than once as that’s a one trick pony.

You can also over-build the original package. Propagate a 2 liter starter from a single yeast packet. Pitch one liter and save the second one. Next batch make another 2 liter starter from the reserved 1 liter from batch 1. Pitch 1 liter from starter 2 and use the other 1 liter to make the next starter, and so on. A few cans of Propper is a lot cheaper than 4 new vials/packages of new yeast, and they're basically the same yeast as the original with little if any genetic drift.

Brooo Brother

 

[mashpaddled]

Depends on the lab. Some labs are getting around $10-12 but still seeing Wyeast and a few others around the same price.

 

[Conehead]

Yes, I always over build yeast. I bought a brick of US-05 and vacuum sealed them in ready to pitch amounts. I found around my town that DME has gone way up, can't win.

 

[z-bob]

Looks like Label Peelers has Omega and White Labs yeasts on sale right now.

 

[JacktardBrewmeister]

My yeast prices are still 4.99 to 6.99 for Safale, Lallemand, Mangrove Jack. Perhaps your area just raising the price? I did notice morebeer the prices are the same EXCEPT for the organic crap. But I had organic yeast looked at by a few biochemist pals of mine who I play table games with (and who drink my beer) check out the difference between organic yeast and non-organic and they said universally it looks like a gimmick and really you should only care about the taste. b^^ I know that is probably not much help, but that is from what I have seen.

 

[twd000]

You can also over-build the original package. Propagate a 2 liter starter from a single yeast packet. Pitch one liter and save the second one. Next batch make another 2 liter starter from the reserved 1 liter from batch 1. Pitch 1 liter from starter 2 and use the other 1 liter to make the next starter, and so on. A few cans of Propper is a lot cheaper than 4 new vials/packages of new yeast, and they're basically the same yeast as the original with little if any genetic drift.

Brooo Brother

I've been using the overbuilt starter technique as well, but I'm not sure if the statement about genetic drift is true. Isn't every feeding just the same as a miniature 1-Liter batch of beer? After 10 wort feedings, the number of cell replications in the starter jar is the same as it would have been after repitching yeast in 10 successive batches of beer, no? Except for the absence of hops, which shouldn't affect the mutation rate.

 

[Broothru]

I'd agree on the face of it that there shouldn't be any drift. But, we don't brew in laboratory conditions. Wild yeast and rogue bacteria are ubiquitous in the environments where we participate in this hobby. Even though I've taken big steps to clean and disinfect my brew area, I know there are molds, bacteria and yeasts floating around, because I've had mold and bacterial infections in the past. Unless you work in a "clean room" or Level Five containment area, there's no way around it. Even surgical theaters and operating rooms with scrub-in and autoclaved instruments are not immune. So it should come as no surprise that we get drift. How much, and how many generations it takes, is an unknown with many variables, but they are cumulative.

Brooo Brother

 

[twd000]

right, I totally agree about the non-sterile homebrewing environment. I'm just pointing out that overbuilding a starter is equally non-sterile as repitching yeast from a finished batch of beer. Everytime I open the jar lid and pitch fresh wort into my starter flask, I'm opening the window to contaminants and mutation. If anything, the overbuilt starter is more prone to contamination due to the absence of any antiseptic properties of hops.

 

[Teromous]

I came here looking for answers to this same question. MoreBeer just raised their White Labs yeast by $1.

 

[Conehead]

Most of the liquid yeast in Ontario, Canada is around $10 - $13. I can deal with that, but the shipping is stupid. I live 90 min. from Toronto and the yeast was $12.79 and the shipping was over $15. On top of that, it takes Canada Post a week to deliver it. No sale.

 

[trboyden]

I paid less than $8 for Omega Kolsch yeast at Rite Brew a couple weeks back. So, I think this is definitely more of a case of, shop around better. Competition helps to keep prices low, so spread those homebrew dollars around to a few vendors.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

Most of the liquid yeast in Ontario, Canada is around $10 - $13.

$13 CAD = ~$10 USD