Liquid Yeast Storage

[DarrenSL]

What do folks use for storing their liquid yeast? I'm using 15ml centrifuge tubes at the moment but filling these with yeast slurry only gives 2-5ml of yeast once everything's settled. It's too much faff to grow a pitchable yeast size from this every time I brew so I'm thinking of other solutions. Maybe 50ml tubes and then its just a one (maybe 2) step yeast starter a couple of days before brew day.

 

[Leon103]

Kilner jar or a old jam jar

 

[Gerryjo]

As @Leon103 has stated though I don't bother with a starter as I'll warm it up or pitch it straight from the fridge. Just give the slurry a good shake and your fine.

 

[Rodcx500z]

I just use a kilner or jam jar, got a brew on now with slurry thats been in the fridge 3 weeks cml no1 voss was off like a rocket

 

[DarrenSL]

So you mostly re-use yeast from the fermenter? I've always been a little nervous about breeding imperfections and off flavours so I usually just take a bit off the first step yeast starter from a fresh pack/vial. How many times do you recycle the trub before buying new?

 

[Zephyr259]

I over build my starters by 100 bn cells and keep that in a kilner jar until next brew, where I over build again. Think my West Yorkshire strain got to generation 7 or 8 before I've stopped using it.

 

[Gerryjo]

So you mostly re-use yeast from the fermenter? I've always been a little nervous about breeding imperfections and off flavours so I usually just take a bit off the first step yeast starter from a fresh pack/vial. How many times do you recycle the trub before buying new?

Basically when you notice a change but if you keep a variety it can last a good while..

 

[SteveA]

Kilner jar or a old jam jar

Hi,I’ve just started doing this- jam jar also! My first attempt only needed storing in the fridge overnight, and I left the lid slightly loose. Re-pitch seems to have worked on this occasion, but if I was storing for any longer should it always be sealed tightly? Thanks

 

[Galena]

I always make an additional 100bn cells when making a 1.5L starter, after 48 hours I shake it up and decant into a 500ml Kilner jar and leave 1 litre in the flask, both go in the fridge, the Kilner jar stays there and becomes my stored culture and after 24 hours in the fridge I pour most of the beer off the flask and pitch into the wort. Next starter I start from the jar, decant the beer and pour into flask.

 

[HoppingMad]

So, am I right in thinking that you'd use a fresh yeast (I have a White Labs WLP005 - English Ale Yeast for example), create a yeast starter, split the starter in 1/2 and put half in a jar and 1/2 in your brew, and then repeat with the starter you put in the jar next time?

Is there a 'guide' to doing it as I'm always looking at making brew days more efficient and the liquid yeast isn't cheap?

 

[foxbat]

So, am I right in thinking that you'd use a fresh yeast (I have a White Labs WLP005 - English Ale Yeast for example), create a yeast starter, split the starter in 1/2 and put half in a jar and 1/2 in your brew, and then repeat with the starter you put in the jar next time?

Is there a 'guide' to doing it as I'm always looking at making brew days more efficient and the liquid yeast isn't cheap?

Yes in principle but it's not necessarily half you keep back. Use this calculator to work out your starter size with 0 as the 'overbuild cell count'. Then do it again with 100bn as the overbuild cell count. The size difference between the two is what you keep back. Then when it's time to brew again go back to the calculator and enter 100bn as the starting size and use the date you put it in the fridge as the production date.

In practice, for ales of normal strength I find that it's about 500ml you keep back and a litre-ish you brew with.

 

[Corbières]

Yes in principle but it's not necessarily half you keep back. Use this calculator to work out your starter size with 0 as the 'overbuild cell count'. Then do it again with 100bn as the overbuild cell count. The size difference between the two is what you keep back. Then when it's time to brew again go back to the calculator and enter 100bn as the starting size and use the date you put it in the fridge as the production date.

In practice, for ales of normal strength I find that it's about 500ml you keep back and a litre-ish you brew with.

Sorry to ask the obvious, but, Using the calculator, do you simply keep back ‘THE AMOUNT TO HARVEST’ given ?

 

[Galena]

Sorry to ask the obvious, but, Using the calculator, do you simply keep back ‘THE AMOUNT TO HARVEST’ given ?

If you make up (say) a 1 litre starter, the calculator may say pitch 0.68L and keep 0.32L, so what you should do in theory is, once the yeast has finished in the flask, give it a good shake up and pour 0.32L into another sanitised jar to store in the fridge for later use, then put the 0.68L in the flask into the fridge to cold crash, once settled you can pour off the excess and pitch into your brew.
In practice, what I do is as above except that I always pour off 0.5L into a 0.5L Mason jar as I think it is better to have no air in there, it has not failed me yet. Or else get some smaller jars.