Let's Freeze Some Yeast

[Camo6]

The old white labs vials did

Never tried it myself but read they tend to get a bit soft and distort? Then again, so did my autoclavable type when I left the lid tight... :unsure:

 

[SBOB]

so, first attempt at creating some vials of yeast to freeze. Currently sitting in the fridge (or yeast transfer station for Yob)

Do these look like viable samples. Seems a little low on the 'solids' part compared (was 40ml of water/glycol and 40ml of slurry from a starter).. Perhaps too watery a slurry?

https://goo.gl/photos/UqqssHsgUySdKm547

Its a Wyeast 1056 batch, so not the end of the world if its too small a sample.. next attempt is a Wyeast 1217 (West Coast IPA, which is a limited release), so hoping to identify any issues on this round

 

[Mardoo]

They'll be fine. You can start from a speck. I myself put a bit more than that.

 

[SBOB]

They'll be fine. You can start from a speck. I myself put a bit more than that.

if you are decanting from a starter, how do you manage to get a larger sample/thicker slurry?

 

[Mardoo]

Into a 50ml tube I put 25 ml of 50/50 water/glycerine solution. Pressure cook. Decant spent wort from starter leaving either a bit of wort, or fully decant spent wort and use sterile water to thin slurry as you wish. Add 25ml of the slurry. My slurry usually ends up around 50% liquid, 50% yeast, so you end up with 12.5ml of yeast, or so. It's not precise.

 

[Moad]

Fired up my first frozen tube today. Pulled it out of freezer Wednesday then out of the fridge today, let it warm to room temp then into 200ml of 1.020 wort. On the stirplate now. Next time will likely start with 50ml then into 200.

 

[SBOB]

I did one this week.. Sample only frozen for a week though, but 500ml 1.020 and then 2l 1.040 steps kicked it off well...

 

[Yob]

Fired up my first frozen tube today. Pulled it out of freezer Wednesday then out of the fridge today, let it warm to room temp then into 200ml of 1.020 wort. On the stirplate now. Next time will likely start with 50ml then into 200.

what volume of yeast solid?

 

[Moad]

About 5ml in the tube when it dropped out

 

[Moad]

Its alive!!! Only frozen for 2 months but there is a nice layer of yeast after 2 days, just stepped up to 1.8 L at ~1.040.

Will then pour some off to be rinsed and refrozen and pitch the rest. Awesome

 

[fishingbrad]

I've got Vials prepped as per above however I did not shake the vials after refridging for 24hrs, and now frozen I can see the yeast has separated from the mix. Is this normal ? or should the yeast be mixed in solution ?

Cheers.

 

[Yob]

its normal for them to floc out,

RDWAFTV

 

[Yob]

The Yeast Bank - Coming soon to a freezer near me h34r:

 

[SBOB]

patent pending

 

[Mardoo]

The Yeast Bank - Coming soon to a freezer near me h34r:

My freezer is near your place

 

[Yob]

Ha.. I'll need a prototype tester

 

[Moad]

damn this thread, 40 more vials, a yeast forge and a freezer are on their way.

It's real nice having a choice of yeasts only a few days away whenever I like.

cheers to all who have contributed!

 

[Yob]

Make beer for cheap they said...

You'll save money they said...

You don't NEED much equipment they said...

 

[MastersBrewery]

Make beer for cheap they said...

You'll save money they said...

You don't NEED much equipment they said...

 

[Camo6]

Spun up a couple of vials from the freezer the other day. One was top-cropped 1469 and the other some recultured Greenbelt from the Yobster. Both were dated around Jan 2015. Stepped from 50mls to 500mls and they were climbing out of the flask within a couple of days. That Greenbelt is a monster.