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What methods do you guys use to store yeast? I use the method in the "Joy of Homebrewing," store in the yeast under beer in the fridge with an airlock. I'll buy a new smack pack and divide it into about six bottles, then build the population up with a starter or two before brewing. I've been pretty successful so far with no contamination, but its kind of a pain keeping water in the air locks in the fridge. Are there other techniques without getting into agar slants and such?

Thanks,

Jason

I don't bother with any of that. I open ferment, and skim the yeast off the top at high krausen and put it in a sanitized container. Then I boil and cool some water and add that to the yeast. Then I cover it and stick it in the fridge. When it's time for the next beer, I pour the water off and add the yeast to a starter wort.

I don't use airlocks either. Mason jars, or just an inverted beaker over the flask.

mr x wrote:I don't use airlocks either. Mason jars, or just an inverted beaker over the flask.

I use tinfoil.
I store my slurry in mason jars that are sealed with no problems. I clean the mouth of the jar with alcohol and,or flame before decanting.

Awesome! Thanks, I was thinking about ditching the air locks. I'd like to try top cropping as well.

Jason

I think stoppers are a bad idea, as it leaves a nice grove around the lip of the flask for bugs and such to collect.

For long term storage we use an agar/DME medium and so far it has been working great. We streak a plate with a wire loop, allow it to grow up for a couple days then pick a colony to place in a falcon tube. Allow that to grow a bit and into the fridge to be sampled from any time we wish to grow up that strain.

Jayme wrote:For long term storage we use an agar/DME medium and so far it has been working great. We streak a plate with a wire loop, allow it to grow up for a couple days then pick a colony to place in a falcon tube. Allow that to grow a bit and into the fridge to be sampled from any time we wish to grow up that strain.

wow. i like it. sounds like a good way to evolve your yeast, too, if you were so inclined... doubt it could be done better than the pros, but who knows!

Yeah I mean Wyeast and White Labs would have -80C long term storage which you could keep all the strains indefinitely. We just have ours in the fridge, so a year or two is about the max, but there's nothing stopping us from just growing them up and starting a new slant. On this scale though it's just nice to save a bit of cash/keep some of the harder to come by strains.

What great info! I am going to be brewing two beers back to back with the same yeast and was planning on washing the yeast from beer 1 and using for beer 2. This will be getting into several generations. ie smackpack -> storage -> starter ->beer 1-> starter -> beer 2. How many times is it safe to do this before you start risking yeast mutation etc, or am I worrying too much?

Thanks!

Jason

It depends on lots of situations how far you can go. I've gone 7 generations with no problems.

So far I've gotten up to 5 with some Wyeast 1272. Each time I've harvested/washed has been from a 1.055 or less beer.

Also are you washing or rinsing your yeast? I believe washing can allow you to go a bit further, at least from a contaminant stand point, but it's more of a pain in the ass. Gravity and yeast strain also will significantly change things as already mentioned.

Yeah, I always wash my yeast. It's a bit of a pain in the ass, but I find that if I do it while I'm cleaning up after bottling/kegging, it usually doesn't take that long.

by Jayme » Mon Jun 11, 2012 9:33 am
For long term storage we use an agar/DME medium and so far it has been working great. We streak a plate with a wire loop, allow it to grow up for a couple days then pick a colony to place in a falcon tube. Allow that to grow a bit and into the fridge to be sampled from any time we wish to grow up that strain.

Where do you get your agar? I assume you're doing slants in your falcon tubes?

John G wrote:

by Jayme » Mon Jun 11, 2012 9:33 am
For long term storage we use an agar/DME medium and so far it has been working great. We streak a plate with a wire loop, allow it to grow up for a couple days then pick a colony to place in a falcon tube. Allow that to grow a bit and into the fridge to be sampled from any time we wish to grow up that strain.

Where do you get your agar? I assume you're doing slants in your falcon tubes?

Indeed - actually I mention the falcon tubes in the bit there you quoted

We bought agar at Planet Organic on Quinpool.

jeffsmith wrote:Yeah, I always wash my yeast. It's a bit of a pain in the ass, but I find that if I do it while I'm cleaning up after bottling/kegging, it usually doesn't take that long.

I've only ever rinsed actually. Do you use phosphoric acid? Where do you buy it?

Used the wrong term I guess. I only rinse with sterile water.

Ah gotcha.

Indeed - actually I mention the falcon tubes in the bit there you quoted

We bought agar at Planet Organic on Quinpool.

Thanks. Just looking for clarification on how you used your falcon tubes (ie as slants, stabs, something else entirely). I've been using test tube slants, but I can see that larger falcon tube slants would have way more surface area as growth medium. Might have to switch to that.

You can get phosphoric acid at most hydroponics stores. I use chlorine dioxide for cleaning up my yeast, sometimes before I store it, and other times when making my starter.

John G wrote:Thanks. Just looking for clarification on how you used your falcon tubes (ie as slants, stabs, something else entirely). I've been using test tube slants, but I can see that larger falcon tube slants would have way more surface area as growth medium. Might have to switch to that.

Ahh my bad! I thought you were just asking if we used falcon tubes in general. We are doing slants in them, exactly for the reason you mentioned; greater surface area.

mr x wrote:You can get phosphoric acid at most hydroponics stores. I use chlorine dioxide for cleaning up my yeast, sometimes before I store it, and other times when making my starter.

Is there an advantage to one over the other or do you just use chlorine dioxide because that's what you have kicking around?

I like it because I can just throw it in the starter, or saved yeast. IIRC, you have to decant off the acid rinse or you can kill the yeast??? Iall have to ask Nash about that. The downside of CLO2 is that it isn't stable, so storage is a problem. The upside of phos acid is stability, and it is good for water pH.

For those of you who wash with phosporic acid, do you mix it with water to hit a certain PH? If so, how much? Also, is this for washing yeast out of the primary or secondary? I top crop my ale yeast, so I probably wouldn't bother washing that, but I take lager yeast from the bottom of the fermenter all winter. That could stand to be washed.

I use it on all yeast to kill the buggies. Won't do shit for brett/wild yeast though.