Yeast Shipping

[Langerz]

I was planning ahead a bit on next batches and had a thought about yeast and shipping/ordering. Is it wise to try to plan out batches for the summer/hot months and try to get all my yeast here in February while it’s cold? The counter is then I have to store it for a while. Just curious how people typically handle that. I have searched around the forums and I know there are ways to get around hot temperatures during shipping (ice packs, starters, etc) but was thinking I might just avoid the heat and order a bunch now. I don’t have a LHBS anywhere near me so shipping is really the only option

 

[hotbeer]

I've not had an issue with dry yeast being shipped to me in the hottest of months.

Never used liquid yeast.

 

[Sammy86]

Its not a bid deal to order them now...just throw them in the fridge and you're good to go.

Personally, switching to mainly dry yeast has been a nice change of pace for my brewery. Just grab two packs pitch in wort...no worries!

 

[bellhp]

Same here , Not impressed with the liquid yeast . I've gone back to using dry yeast as I did 30 years ago .

 

[IslandLizard]

There are many threads on our Fermentation & Yeast forum dealing with yeast ordering, shipping, storing, making starters, etc. most pertaining to liquid (or "wet") yeasts.

As @hotbeer already hinted to, dry yeast is very resilient, it can be shipped in fairly cold or hot weather without causing it much harm. It can be refrigerated or even deep frozen for longer periods of storage, 2-3+ years. That is, as long as the contents (the yeast granules) remain dry!

Once a dry yeast pouch is opened (for partial use, small batches, etc.), it would need to be re-sealed well, and double bagged, so no moisture can get inside. Then put it back in the fridge or freezer.

 

[RM-MN]

The problem you can have with buying lots of liquid yeast and storing it is that it begins losing viability from the time it is manufactured until it is used. Buying and storing for 6 months will force you to use starters and you may need to build up the numbers. It depends on your storage ability and the conditions between the supplier and your location. For instance, where I live it can get very cold, like -40 in January. If the yeast is shipped USPS it will be frozen solid by the time I can walk to the mailbox if I see the carrier put the yeast in the box. How it is handled between the shipper and your location will be a big factor too. Will it sit in a cold warehouse over a long weekend? Will it be subjected to strong sunlight and get too warm?

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

@Langerz : it looks like you may be in the next day (or two day) shipping area for RiteBrew and their regional delivery service. With RiteBrew, I place my orders in the early morning, the order ships the same day. Shipping and handling has been excellent - if the roads are good, the order arrives the next day.

 

[wallyLOZ]

I started with dry with good success. Ventured into liquid with mixed results. Back with dry to stay.
I refrigerate all of yeast and have used dry packets that were two years past the expiration date that worked fine. YMMV

 

[jdauria]

Can be a little pricey with the shipping, but check out RVA Yeast Labs RVA Yeast Labs | Yeast and bacteria for professionals and homebrewers They ship yeast via either 1 day or 2 day air mail, in a small styrofoam cooler with ice packs. Makes summer yeast shipping a lot more weather protected. I use them a lot, well not a lot of their commercially available yeasts to the public. but they are also a yeast bank for a patreon group I am in and we can order privately crafted yeasts for that group through them too.

 

[Langerz]

Interesting part of this thread was more related to the wet/dry discussion. I started with dry yeast and was thinking I should venture into liquid, but after reading this I think I'll stay with dry for now (well other than the next batch I already have that yeast in the fridge).

 

[TheCache]

I've ordered liquid yeast up until around mid-May without any issues. I usually place an order for 1-3 packs in late April/Early May and that takes me through mid summer brewing. Even if they are a few months old, a starter will get them going again.

Then I go dry until October. Sometimes I mix dry in at other times depending on what I am brewing, but for sure I don't order liquid after May 15 and before Oct 1.

 

[RM-MN]

@Langerz : it looks like you may be in the next day (or two day) shipping area for RiteBrew and their regional delivery service. With RiteBrew, I place my orders in the early morning, the order ships the same day. Shipping and handling has been excellent - if the roads are good, the order arrives the next day.

Unless you order on Friday morning. If you do, the order comes as far as the intermediate warehouse where it sits for the weekend, then gets delivered on Monday.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Unless you order on Friday morning. If you do, the order comes as far as the intermediate warehouse where it sits for the weekend, then gets delivered on Monday.

Sorry, I left "on Monday" out of my previous post.

When I place my orders early in the day on Monday, the package is almost always on my door step the next day.

I like to order early in the week to build in some "slack" in my supply chain.

 

[BAF]

I've never had any issues with liquid yeast (*knocks on wood*). In the summer, I pay for the ice pack (or order from someone who includes an ice pack), but the yeast usually isn't cold anymore by the time it arrives. I always build a starter when I use liquid yeast, and never had a liquid yeast not take off, even if I've stored it too long.

 

[govner1]

I’ve used liquid yeast for ten plus years and after many misadventures ( looking at you (NB)) I’ve gone to dry yeast in most brews unless a “local” shop happens to have a liquid I can’t replace.

 

[eliastheodosis]

Yeah, if there is a dry yeast alternative then I will almost always go with it. I never have issues with dry. The biggest downside here is that your selection is limited.

I started with dry yeast and was thinking I should venture into liquid

If selection is not a factor for you and dry yeast is working then you're not missing anything in my opinion. I'll always do a mix because I like experimenting with yeast. If you don't have that itch then just sit back, relax, and enjoy the benefits of dry yeast. If you get bored then come back and we can talk more about the wide world of yeast

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

The biggest downside here is that your selection is limited.

Is that still true in 2023?

With brands like Fermentis & Lallemand, I often end up with 3 (or more) choices for my ale recipes. When I look at MJ & CellarScience, I see additional SKUs that appear to offer something unique. (I brewed with MJ 29 French Saison a couple of years ago and I found it to be different from anything else out there at the time).

 

[eliastheodosis]

Is that still true in 2023?

Yeah, I'll stand by that. At the very least for the sake of argument

With brands like Fermentis & Lallemand, I often end up with 3 (or more) choices for my ale recipes. When I look at MJ & CellarScience, I see additional SKUs that appear to offer something unique. (I brewed with MJ 29 French Saison a couple of years ago and I found it to be different from anything else out there at the time).

I love both Fermentis and Lallemand and I have a drawer full of nearly all their available yeasts. They're great! You're right that there are some unique SKUs in there too. I just brewed a beer with Novalager from Lallemand and sooner than later I'll get around to using their non STA-1 negative Farmhouse maybe in a grisette. Fermentis also has a new dry brett that is...intriguing.

However, I also love Omega and Bootleg Biology and have a drawer with Omega Bayern for an upcoming lager, Saisonstein, Jovaru, and Saison Parfait for my next saisons, Hornindal for...something, Kakheti to ensure my wife won't drink from that tap, ARL lager yeast for and giggles, and all of the FerMENTOR series to keep my glass carboys full.

With the exception of the Hornindal I don't know that I can get any of those in dry form. I guess the point I was going after is that if he stays in the world of dry yeast that world will be reasonably smaller than if he includes liquid yeast. There's plenty of fun to be had just trying to explore the world of dry yeast, though. I will readily concede that!

I brewed with MJ 29 French Saison a couple of years ago and I found it to be different from anything else out there at the time)

MJ is not very prevalent around me and I haven't tried it. Do you mind me asking how it was different if you remember? I would think to compare that to Belle but you say it's different from everything. Hopefully the insights into the variations here are applicable to the OP still!

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Do you mind me asking how it was different if you remember?

At the time (it was 2018-ish), I was working with a recipe for a Belgian out of Drew Beechum's "Everthing Homebrewing Book". At the time, MJ French Saison produced the best result for the recipe. I haven't brewed it recently - later in 2018 & 2019, I decided that ambers and browns were more interesting.

 

[eliastheodosis]

At the time (it was 2018-ish), I was working with a recipe for a Belgian out of Drew Beechum's "Everthing Homebrewing Book". At the time, MJ French Saison produced the best result for the recipe.

Interesting, I'll have to get my hands on some and try it. I enjoy Belle but I probably prefer BE-134 from Fermentis for dry saison yeast. I think that came out after your experiments though. Honestly, saisons are one style where I really lean toward the liquid options. Something like a Blaugies just fits my taste better. If you ever venture back into saisons maybe give something like that a try. Nothing wrong with a good amber or brown, though

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

dry saison yeast.

IIRC, I got some samples of 134 & 256 from a HomeBrew Con in 2017/2018. So I tried all three in about that time frame.

If I were to go back to Belgians, I'd "try them again for the 1st time" to see if anything had changed.

 

[IslandLizard]

Interesting part of this thread was more related to the wet/dry discussion.

That seems to be often the case. Welcome to our forums!

Dry yeast is much easier to ship and store, with wide availability, while selection has been growing dramatically the past 5 years.
But it still pales compared to the available selection of liquid (wet) yeast, while many yeasts are unique in liquid form (e.g., there is no DuPont yeast equivalent in dry form, or any Brett). Some dry yeast are unique too, with no comparable strain in liquid form (e.g., Philly Sour).

I started with dry yeast and was thinking I should venture into liquid

When using liquid yeast you will need to make yeast starters:

• to prove viability, and
• ramp up cell count and optimize vitality.

Making starters takes some extra planning ahead of brewing, at least one day, usually 2-4 days, and possibly a week if you're cold crashing before pitching or even longer when doing (multiple) steps-ups.

And... while you're at it, you may as well overbuild that starter so you can save some out for a next starter, and so on. I still run yeast I bought in 2013.

First check for (semi-) local sources. It may be worth driving an hour each way to buy a bunch of packs and maybe other things. Otherwise, timing when mail ordering yeast is essential.
You definitely want to try avoid shipping during extreme hot or cold weather along the route. March, April, September, October, even November may well be the best months for that.
Always check weather forecasts along the shipping route beforehand.

If you do need to mail order liquid yeast during more extreme hot or cold times, count on making step-up starters.

 

[SanPancho]

I just brewed a beer with Novalager from Lallemand

have you started drinking it yet? i've been asking everyone who posts with that one to describe it with no luck. since you obviously have plenty of other yeasts you've brewed with i would ask what does the novalager taste like? clean like a northern euro lager? estery like south german? something else?

 

[eliastheodosis]

or any Brett

Hard to argue with anything you say except for this. Haven't got my hands on any but it does exist!

*edit* gotta actually link it...

https://fermentis.com/en/product/safbrew-br-8/

 

[eliastheodosis]

have you started drinking it yet? i've been asking everyone who posts with that one to describe it with no luck. since you obviously have plenty of other yeasts you've brewed with i would ask what does the novalager taste like? clean like a northern euro lager? estery like south german? something else?

Yeah, I'm floating around those same conversations. I posted initial thoughts of a sample from the fermentor in the warm fermented lager thread.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/warm-fermented-lager-thread.592169/page-49#post-10220951
It's carbing and clearing now and I'm planning to post first thoughts in the next week or so. Then I'll let it condition for a few weeks and post again. I'll try to remember to tag you on that. Basically, it feels like Diamond with maybe a hint of something that straddles the line between green and red apple. A little estery but not overwhelming. Pretty pleasant. I like a little sulfur sometimes and this was almost disturbingly devoid of any sulfur. Not bad at all for an IPA where you don't want the sulfur to fight with the hops, but I'm not sure it will take the place of anything for me in the lager world. We'll see once it clears up some.

 

[palmtrees]

And... while you're at it, you may as well overbuild that starter so you can save some out for a next starter, and so on. I still run yeast I bought in 2013.

This! I started doing this about two years ago, and I'm so happy I did. Yeast used to be annoying for me because I buy ingredients for about 4-6 batches at a time to save on shipping (my lhbs is terrible). I prefer liquid yeast because most of my favorite strains, like Bell's house yeast and Cosmic Punch, don't come in dry, but I didn't like having yeast packs sitting around for months on end.

Now, I rarely buy yeast because I have jars in my fridge of the four or five strains I most commonly use. I just make a starter with them a few days before I brew, then put half the starter back in my fridge. Yeast has gone from being my most expensive and logistically complicated ingredient to my easiest. The yeast starter equipment pays for itself so fast, when you no longer have to spend $12 or more per batch on yeast.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Hard to argue with anything you say except for this. Haven't got my hands on any but it does exist!

*edit* gotta actually link it...

https://fermentis.com/en/product/safbrew-br-8/

Funny, my LHBS doesn't carry US-05, but it apparently does have BR-8 in stock. Not cheap though, priced at $12.99 for 5g.

 

[faithie999]

Now, I rarely buy yeast because I have jars in my fridge of the four or five strains I most commonly use. I just make a starter with them a few days before I brew, then put half the starter back in my fridge. Yeast has gone from being my most expensive and logistically complicated ingredient to my easiest. The yeast starter equipment pays for itself so fast, when you no longer have to spend $12 or more per batch on yeast.

I have also done this from time to time. I normally save about a cup of starter, in a sanitized 1/2 pint ball jar, and then when ready to use step it up into 1 qt of wort at about 1.045SG.

how long do you find that the saved yeast is viable in your fridge?
thanks
Ken

 

[BongoYodeler]

Funny, my LHBS doesn't carry US-05, but it apparently does have BR-8 in stock. Not cheap though, priced at $12.99 for 5g.

I see Williams now has BR-8. They're selling it for $11.49 for a 5g packet. Actually comparable with my LHBS, which, as in most cases of small locals, is generally is a bit more expensive than the larger shops such as Williams, MoreBeer, etc. I wonder why this yeast is so expensive.

 

[palmtrees]

I have also done this from time to time. I normally save about a cup of starter, in a sanitized 1/2 pint ball jar, and then when ready to use step it up into 1 qt of wort at about 1.045SG.

how long do you find that the saved yeast is viable in your fridge?
thanks
Ken

I've only had one jar go bad, and it had been about six months at that point.

 

[faithie999]

I've only had one jar go bad, and it had been about six months at that point.

thanks!

 

[BongoYodeler]

I have also done this from time to time. I normally save about a cup of starter, in a sanitized 1/2 pint ball jar, and then when ready to use step it up into 1 qt of wort at about 1.045SG.

how long do you find that the saved yeast is viable in your fridge?
thanks
Ken

I've only had one jar go bad, and it had been about six months at that point.

I had a small Mason jar of Kveik slurry (may have been Voss, not sure), in the fridge for nearly two years. I took it out and put it on a stir plate with some wort and yeast nutrient and it took right off. I think I brewed a pale ale with it.

 

[eliastheodosis]

I had a small Mason jar of Kveik slurry (may have been Voss, not sure), in the fridge for nearly two years

Yeah, if we're talking about kveik here the pertinent question might be "who will die first?"

 

[wsmith1625]

If you have any breweries in your area, you may be able to buy from them. Or, they may give you some of the yeast dump for free. It's a hail Mary, but I know some brewers that will do it.