Getting More Out Of Your Wyeast

[Hoops]

It seems there has been a bit of discussion stirred up by the QLD yeast swap coming up. This topic is along the lines of making starters & yeast farming but I think it needs it's own thread as there may be quite a lot of different ideas of how to do this. The question is designed to get a bit of discussion going on how to go about achieving the following:

Me & and a few brew buddys each buy a Wyeast smack pack and want to divide it up so that we each get the purest sample of each of the yeasts. What do you think is the best way to do this?

I have started streaking yeasts and storing under sterile water so I would think the best way is to do the following:
1. Take a tiny amount of yeast with a syringe & put in sterile water (possibly swap test tubes at this stage)
2. Streak this yeast/water sample onto a few agar plates
3. Pull a few colonys off the plate into a few test tubes of sterile water and store them that way, then we all swap the "yeast under water" test tubes

I want to see what people think good and bad about this process.
Also what people think is the best way if you don't streak/slant.

Hoops

 

[Darren]

It seems there has been a bit of discussion stirred up by the QLD yeast swap coming up. This topic is along the lines of making starters & yeast farming but I think it needs it's own thread as there may be quite a lot of different ideas of how to do this. The question is designed to get a bit of discussion going on how to go about achieving the following:

Me & and a few brew buddys each buy a Wyeast smack pack and want to divide it up so that we each get the purest sample of each of the yeasts. What do you think is the best way to do this?

I have started streaking yeasts and storing under sterile water so I would think the best way is to do the following:
1. Take a tiny amount of yeast with a syringe & put in sterile water (possibly swap test tubes at this stage)
2. Streak this yeast/water sample onto a few agar plates
3. Pull a few colonys off the plate into a few test tubes of sterile water and store them that way, then we all swap the "yeast under water" test tubes

I want to see what people think good and bad about this process.
Also what people think is the best way if you don't streak/slant.



Hoops

[post="73042"][/post]​

Hoops,
Your process seems sound to me. Most problems can arise when you start to streak out onto plates. Unless you are a well equipped lab with access to DNA typing the chances of culturing a wild yeast or a completely unrelated strain are high. If you pick say 5 colonies, four of which are the correct strain but one is a wild yeast 20% of your culture will be wild.
If you get some other mould on your plates that is not readily visible by eye it will also be transfered to your culture.
Yeast culture is not rocket science but like rocket science it can easily go wrong. If you have plenty of time on your hand and don't mind dumping beer sure dabble in it.
If it were me I would store the yeast straight from a smack pack in seperate vials and use those vials without streaking. Choose three or four yeasts you like and use them exclusively.
FWIW, I don't culture my yeasts. I buy a small smack-pack pitch a beer onto it (with starter of course). i then use that yeast to make a second beer (after acid washing) then chuck the lot into the garden.
There are so many yeast available and so many styles of beer I know I will never be able to store pure cultures of the entire Wyeast range for long enough to go through them all.
I must admit I do make 70 litre batches and dumping one of those is something I like to do.

Yeast farming is fun so if you feel inclined go forth and multiply them.
cheers
Darren

 

[Hoops]

If it were me I would store the yeast straight from a smack pack in seperate vials and use those vials without streaking. Choose three or four yeasts you like and use them exclusively.

[post="73050"][/post]​

So you would smack the yeast pack, use a syringe and separate into say 10 test tubes and leave like that?
Is this not bad for the yeast being stored with nutrient?
Would it be better to take that small sample in the test tube then fill with sterile water to dilute the nutrients?
Then if your going that far would you not be better diluting, pouring off liquid then topping up again with water ie getting rid of the nutrients?

 

[Darren]

If it were me I would store the yeast straight from a smack pack in seperate vials and use those vials without streaking. Choose three or four yeasts you like and use them exclusively.

[post="73050"][/post]​

So you would smack the yeast pack, use a syringe and separate into say 10 test tubes and leave like that?
Is this not bad for the yeast being stored with nutrient?
Would it be better to take that small sample in the test tube then fill with sterile water to dilute the nutrients?
Then if your going that far would you not be better diluting, pouring off liquid then topping up again with water ie getting rid of the nutrients?

[post="73069"][/post]​

Hoops,
Correct me if I am wrong, I think that the "smack" part of the pack is wort + nutrients.
I wouldn't smack it at all. Just take the dormant yeast from the pack and put that under water. Obviously if you smack it and let it swell you will get more cells. If you do that simply allow it to stop swelling then put more water over the top of it (ie the whole 10ml in the tube). As you say, pouring off the liquid would be a good option.
If you guys are going to get some funky stuff such as Brettomyces species make sure you split that last of all.
darren