Let's Freeze Some Yeast

[kcurnow]

So can I bring a vial on Tuesday?

hmmm I don't think I'm that organised to do all the dilution, staining and counting just yet.

 

[Yob]

Mkay

 

[idzy]

Pulled some WY3787 out from February 2014 (~19 months), seems to be doing well. From memory was a 35% glycerine, so put glycerine upto 17ml mark and then filled to top of 50ml with decanted starter.

This is the first one I have started, as I have been freezing, but not needing to re-use the same stains. I was a bit worried because it had a settled solid section on the vial, but it wasn't frozen and a few shakes and the settled section mixed with the rest. Put it into 400ml and then didn't decant and poured onto 800ml of fresh starter wort, due to the yeast type.

 

[Yob]

Pulled some WY3787 out from February 2014 (~19 months), seems to be doing well. From memory was a 35% glycerine, so put glycerine upto 17ml mark and then filled to top of 50ml with decanted starter.

This is the first one I have started, as I have been freezing, but not needing to re-use the same stains. I was a bit worried because it had a settled solid section on the vial, but it wasn't frozen and a few shakes and the settled section mixed with the rest. Put it into 400ml and then didn't decant and poured onto 800ml of fresh starter wort, due to the yeast type.

20151104_180002a.jpg

What time period Idzy?

 

[idzy]

What time period Idzy?

First step was 36, current step has been 24.

 

[michaeld16]

How are folks here calculating pitching rates? Say if im using the brewers friend calculator what do you put in the number of liquid yeast packs/vials field? If I split the pack into 4 vials should I just put .4 and maybe back the manufac date back a bit. What works for others here.

 

[VP Brewing]

Just pitched some wyeast 1275 into a brew this arvo. Has only been frozen for a couple of weeks but the smack pack was almost 4 months old when I split and froze it.
It was 6ml glycerin, 6ml water and ~12ml yeast into a 28ml container.
Thawed and stepped up into 200ml @ 1.030 then 1.2L @ 1.040.
Worked first time no dramas thanks to this thread!
Cheers!

 

[Yob]

How are folks here calculating pitching rates? Say if im using the brewers friend calculator what do you put in the number of liquid yeast packs/vials field? If I split the pack into 4 vials should I just put .4 and maybe back the manufac date back a bit. What works for others here.

Not a direct answer... Sort of.. But doing several starter steps will get you back to the 100 billion or any other number you need

 

[Yob]

I made a little foam shielded container today and put my first ones in.. had a look before and they look to be sitting at about -10'c

1.095 >>>>>>> 1.018 @ day day 6 from pitching.... 2 year old yeast...

just sayin.. :beerbang:

 

[jibba02]

Probably all the bacteria in the water eating all the sugars

 

[Yob]

Sure tastes ok... Probably shouldn't have committed the IIIPA to it though... Will just have to drink it quickly...

 

[mofox1]

Sure tastes ok... Probably shouldn't have committed the IIIPA to it though... Will just have to drink it quickly...

Aaaand the problem being?

 

[Mattrox]

Sure tastes ok... Probably shouldn't have committed the IIIPA to it though... Will just have to drink it quickly...

pfft... It will be fine. RDWAHAHB


I have been following along this thread for a very long time now. It has convinced me that I MUST freeze yeast. For very minimal outlay and really not much extra work, you get the convenience of having a ready supply of different yeasts on hand ready to whip up into a starter.

I am going to try with some Coopers yeast. I have made up a starter, but my only glassware is a 1L Moccona jar. I made up 1L of DME wort and pitched the slurry from 5 Pale Ales into it. It got to wpok straight away.

I put the starter in the fridge to chill after 4 days and poured off the spent wort. Because I only have a 1 L jar I made up 1 more litre of DME starter and poured it over the yeast.

Now this is going to have fermented out before I am really ready to brew so I had planned to chill and pour off the spent wort and store for a couple of days. I was going to rouse the yeast in the little bit of liquid left draw off 20ml for freezing and pitch the rest.

Does this sound like something that would work?

 

[Camo6]

pfft... It will be fine. RDWAHAHB


I have been following along this thread for a very long time now. It has convinced me that I MUST freeze yeast. For very minimal outlay and really not much extra work, you get the convenience of having a ready supply of different yeasts on hand ready to whip up into a starter.

I am going to try with some Coopers yeast. I have made up a starter, but my only glassware is a 1L Moccona jar. I made up 1L of DME wort and pitched the slurry from 5 Pale Ales into it. It got to wpok straight away.

I put the starter in the fridge to chill after 4 days and poured off the spent wort. Because I only have a 1 L jar I made up 1 more litre of DME starter and poured it over the yeast.

Now this is going to have fermented out before I am really ready to brew so I had planned to chill and pour off the spent wort and store for a couple of days. I was going to rouse the yeast in the little bit of liquid left draw off 20ml for freezing and pitch the rest.

Does this sound like something that would work?

Would it work? Yes but with far more risk to preserving a decent sample. Freezing yeast is cheap and easy but it doesn't hurt to be prepared. If you want cheap starter jars then V8 juice bottles work really well.

 

[Mattrox]

Would it work? Yes but with far more risk to preserving a decent sample. Freezing yeast is cheap and easy but it doesn't hurt to be prepared. If you want cheap starter jars then V8 juice bottles work really well.

What aspect would you improve?

The stepping up........

Or should I take out the sample to freeze in 3 days as soon as it is ready?

 

[MartinOC]

If you want cheap starter jars then V8 juice bottles work really well.

If you want even cheaper, then generic Coles/Safeway passata bottles are the go. They're also great for rinsing-down a yeast cake & storing for future use, as they're tall & thin & you can actually see the stratification in the trub/yeast as it settles.

 

[Midnight Brew]

Greenbelt III lives on!

 

[Camo6]

What aspect would you improve?

The stepping up........

Or should I take out the sample to freeze in 3 days as soon as it is ready?

Was just saying that if you go to the trouble of freezing yeast you want to be decently equipped to handle the yeast cleanly. Stepping up a starter from a commercial beer can be a bit risky even before you try freezing it. Not saying it can't be done easily but you might want more than a 1l Moccona jar! I like splitting fresh yeast for the freezer but have occasionally frozen second or third generations (Yob's Greenbelt for example is still in the bottom of the chesty).
Your stepping up method, while not exactly calculated, will grow yeast and is very similar to the approach I was taking before my hiatus from brewing. I'll try and be more clinical when I recommence but it's all so easy to wing it although it doesn't always produce the cleanest ferment.

If you want even cheaper, then generic Coles/Safeway passata bottles are the go. They're also great for rinsing-down a yeast cake & storing for future use, as they're tall & thin & you can actually see the stratification in the trub/yeast as it settles.

Definitely! I probably should have referenced these as I have more of them than the V8 jars. I mainly use the standard jam jar size as these fit in my pressure cooker but the passata jars are great for separating and I even use them as blow off bottles for the brew buckets when I'm not expecting a krausen explosion.
Will be digging out some frozen samples this weekend for the first brew in almost a year. Will probably bash out some basic smash type beers to use up all the old grain and hops I have and get my bearings. Pretty sure most of my frozen hops are Hop Dealz from as far back as 2012!

 

[MastersBrewery]

Good to hear ya gettin back in the saddle Camo!

 

[Mattrox]

Was just saying that if you go to the trouble of freezing yeast you want to be decently equipped to handle the yeast cleanly. Stepping up a starter from a commercial beer can be a bit risky even before you try freezing it. Not saying it can't be done easily but you might want more than a 1l Moccona jar! I like splitting fresh yeast for the freezer but have occasionally frozen second or third generations (Yob's Greenbelt for example is still in the bottom of the chesty).
Your stepping up method, while not exactly calculated, will grow yeast and is very similar to the approach I was taking before my hiatus from brewing. I'll try and be more clinical when I recommence but it's all so easy to wing it although it doesn't always produce the cleanest ferment.

Coopers' instructions say use 6 tablespoons of sugar with 600mL of water for yeast slurry from 4 bottles then pitch at active ferment. Now, assuming is dangerous, but I do assume that this is for most of their Kit and Kilo type recipes which typically end up around 1.045 or so.

So without molar calculations, I used 100g of malt for 1L of water for 5 bottles worth of yeast slurry. But the yeast is going to be pitched on a higher OG wort than 1.045 so being limited in volume, I used the same 100g of malt in 1L of water to "step-up". The big moccona jars hold that easily. And the DIY stir plate worked well and today I had a jar looking like Murray River water. I'll try to calculate the amount of yeast from the "allow the yeast to settle, then pour off the spent wort until equal amounts of yeast and wort remain. Re-suspend the yeast and measure (I'll Calculate) the volume and use the 1B cells per ml" method.

I also read that 100B cells pitched into a 1L starter on a stir plate will yield 246B cells. So that gives me a ball park to work from.

We'll see how the yeast works on the wort. And I'll find out a little about freezing yeast too.