Bringing Yeast On Slants Back To Life

[Cortez The Killer]

I have some WLP400 on a slant I was given

So I made up a 10ml starter and poured this into the slant

I thought I saw some yeast cake and the tube went psssst when I cracked it a bit

So I dumped this into a 100ml starter which has been sitting there for 36 hours but there doesn't appear to be any activity

Is this normal?

How long do people find it takes for yeast stored on a slant to come back to life?

Also when culturing back up from a slant what methodology do people use?

I fear that I may have step up from the slant to the 100ml start a little prematurely

Searching hasn't really turned up anything conclusive

Cheers

 

[hockadays]

I am still learning with slants as well but what you've done sounds right. How old was the slant? and how long did you leave it on the 10ml starter for?

 

[Cortez The Killer]

18 months I believe

24 hours @ 10ml I think this may be my problem

Not having used slants before (I'm intending to get into it very soon)

I was given a prepared one to had a go with

So I may be jumping the gun - expecting activity already

Cheers

 

[mfdes]

18 months is a bit on the geriatric side for a slant.
I'd have started with 5 mL of wort and left it for at least 2 days to ferment out before stepping up to 25-50 mL. The 50 mL starter I would already put on a stir plate. If your sanitation is good, you may just have to wait a while longer. What temperature are you keeping your starters? Activity on the smaller volume starters can be easy to miss.
From 5 or 10 mL I go to 500 mL, then to 2L for a med. gravity ale, more for hi grav or lager.

MFS.

 

[Cortez The Killer]

About 20*C

Should I be seeing any sort of yeast cake in small starters?

 

[MVZOOM]

Dude - I'd wait another day then dump into 25ml and check for activity..

Cheers -Mike

 

[Linz]

Ive 'heard' that if the starter wort amount isnt sufficient in size(10ml into a 100ml starter) you are only 'refreshing' the yeast.

To get growth you need more volume.

Have a go at putting 10ml into 250-500 ml of wort....

 

[Franko]

Cortez
I would wait a day or 2 them pitch it into 50ml-100ml of starter then work up to 250-500ml

 

[Cortez The Killer]

I leave this one to see how it goes

But in future I wont step up as fast

Cheers

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

FFS can someone tell me what a slant is :huh: I work closely with the Lab at work but I have know idea what everyone is on about :huh: I may call it something else entirely different.

BYB

 

[Cortez The Killer]

See here

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...st&p=296954

 

[Franko]

And here Zwickel shows you
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...ic=21700&hl

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

Ah hah, now it is clear. You know what I will be doing in the near future! Maybe on night shift B)

BYB

 

[Airgead]

Folks

For what its worth, my re-activation method is as follows -

- pour 5ml of work into the slant and shake vigorously to dislodge the yeast from the slant
- Keep the 5m of work in a test tube for 24 hours. After that I usually see a small deposit of yeast at the bottom of the tube and sometimes even some visible fermentation activity
- Pour into 25ml wort and leave for another 24 hours
- Pour into 100ml and leave 24 hours
- Make up to 1l and leave 24-48 hours

Hasn't failed so far. Some of my slants are getting pretty elderly now but they seem to fire up just fine. That reminds me.. I must fire up that slant for my stout over the weekend.

 

[Zwickel]

from my experience, slants older than one year need much longer to revive than fresh ones, also depending on how they got stored (the colder the better).

In case the slant is older than one year, Id fill in a little bit wort, close the vessel and wait until one can see very thin, fine bubbles on the surface.
This can take about 4 days. If I cant see any little bubble (foam) after 4 days, absolutely nothing, Im gonna throw it away.

Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[~MikE]

i'd suggest re-slanting from a slant if it's a year old. more likely to revive on agar plus, reviving later from fresh slant into liquid = better too.

 

[Cortez The Killer]

When moving from slant to slant

I take it the procedure is to add 5-10ml of wort to the original slant - wait for it to fire and then with an inoculation loop

Streak fresh slants

Is this correct?

Cheers

 

[Zwickel]

When moving from slant to slant

I take it the procedure is to add 5-10ml of wort to the original slant - wait for it to fire and then with an inoculation loop

Streak fresh slants

Is this correct?

Cheers

Thats the way Im doing it, although you dont need that much wort, one ml would be enough.

Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Had a look at the starter this morning and there's a very thin white milky residue at the bottom of the flask - visible only when I tilt the flask

Should I wait until this a thicker or should I move it to another larger starter???

Cheers

 

[razz]

Sounds like it's finished. Any bubbles left on the surface ? Can you see any bubbles rising ? If you pop it in the fridge more of the yeast will settle out and you can decant it and pitch it into more wort.