Let's Freeze Some Yeast

[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

The 50ml vials fit in perfectly so I shielded the walls on the inside and the base on the outside and applied a liberal coating of gaffa tape to it.

Looking forward to pulling one out at the end of the week and putting it into a starter.



ed: photo taken after they had been in the fridge overnight and most of the day and prior to going off to the deep freezer

 

[Grainer]

You will get better recovery rates from smaller vials as there will be less shearing of cells.. remember you have to freeze FAST!!

 

[Yob]

Yeah I know mate, but this is the equipment I have on hand, at the end of the day its essentially a no cost experiment (OK $10 for the Glycerine) so Ive not a lot to lose.

If it remains viable and steps up its a winner, if it doesnt fire I will need to look into other methods or continue as I have been with slurry

:icon_cheers:

 

[MartinOC]

Excellent stuff, Yob, but how does SWMBO feel about having one of her prized snap-lock food containers commandeered indefinitely for yeastie-beastie cryogenic experimentation, Dr Frankenfurter??

 

[Grainer]

Yobbo.. try freezing it in a slushy of ice water to get the temp down faster.. !!!.. flavour it with vodka and espresso and the wifey has a espresso martini afterwards.. Alcohol helps in dropping the temp during freezing .. LMAO

 

[Yob]

Those containers are mine... As is the freezer space..

Mostly she just rolled her eyes when I told her what I was up to .. She is a very understanding lady.. Bless her she needs to be

 

[MartinOC]

I can see her rushing to dial the number for those nice men in clean white coats when you start yelling "It's ALIVE! It's ALIVE!!" in coming months.....

 

[Yob]

Yobbo.. try freezing it in a slushy of ice water to get the temp down faster.. !!!.. flavour it with vodka and espresso and the wifey has a espresso martini afterwards.. Alcohol helps in dropping the temp during freezing .. LMAO

Wouldnt a salt ice water slurry do the same?

 

[Yob]

So I pulled one of of cryo after a week, left in the fridge for 2 days, and threw it on the stirplate this morning, 6-7 hours later I have this..



Looks viable to my eyes, will be interested to see it as the day unfolds.

:icon_cheers:

 

[Yob]

So Im going to call this a raging success, the photo below is at ~8 hrs, by 12 hrs it was trying to jump out of the flask,



at 24 hrs its all over, I turned the stir plate off and it's dropped back, significant change in the colour of the wort.



I could easily pitch this 500ml starter into a 2lt one and be ready to pitch to a brew, from start to finish, in 48 hours.

Overall, Im stoked, the yeast that the above is pictured was frozen solid for a week and to have it fire like that was astonishing fro a first attempt.

Cheers

 

[Yob]

soooo.. thinking snap freezing..

something like >THIS< ?

I get some sun spots due to my fine Scottish heritage that need to be frozen off every so often, got me thinking about application to yeast snap freezing.. current experiments suggest it isnt exactly needed but damn it'd be fun h34r:

 

[Not For Horses]

Just don't keep it near your deodorant...

 

[Yob]

Banking my second lot today, WY1217 and Ive got a little mini WLP001 to go next.. then the WLP High gravity and then WLP San Diago Super Yeast.. I think that'll about do me for starters ( -_- )

:super:

 

[MartinOC]

I think that'll about do me for starters

I see what you did there...clever trousers!

 

[Midnight Brew]

Also going to call this a raging sucess.

My experience with Freezing Yeast.

I've frozen about 4 lots of yeast vials (1 being a fail) and have 3 different yeast in the freezer tubed up as we speak. What I've learnt through discussions with Grainer is the yeast need to be frozen quick, really fast. Otherwise the cells will crystalise and most likely kill them all. I did this once and a clear example too when held next to a vial frozen correctly.

2nd mistake I made was thawing out and putting into a starter. I put about 20 billion (5ml) yeast into a 1 litre starter and for what reason I thought that would work I have no idea. Now I give the vials a day in the fridge, 2 days in a 50ml starter thats shaken intermediatly then 500ml then what ever I need using calculators. YES it's a few starters at this stage because Im freezing amounts of around 7ml which is about 20-30 billion cells depending on factors. I will possibly get into freezing sizes of around 20ml yeast then it will just get a 1L starter which is just over the amount needed for 23L of 1.050 wort.

So far I've trialed 2 tubes of the same strain. One being the fail and the other being the sucess. Now more on the sucess.

Wy Greenbelt a bit of an unknown strain to most which was sourced from Wolfy about 2 years ago. Between Yob and myself its been kept going a few times. Yob gave me a vial which I thawed out, grew in a starter and used in an APA. From that APA I've harvested and rinsed the yeast and now frozen several vials. At this moment one of those vials is rocking away in a starter and is going into an AAA.

Got a batch of Bitter fermenting now with 1469 which will be top cropped and also frozen. This will take me up to 4 strains in the freezer at my disposal.

This is becoming its own hobby! So many options!

 

[manticle]

Inadvertently froze about 5 wyeast packs as my hop fridge thermostat has decided colder is better. I have since transferred to the freezer section of my ferment fridge which seems to stay cold but not frozen and I have brewed a few beers using thawed yeast (always using large active starters first).

So far beers have turned out well including some big (1070-1080) ones. One of them is a Czech pils - be interesting to see if I can get a good result.

Obviously I am not recommending freezing by throwing a whole pack in the freezer as is.

 

[lael]

Midnight, what method are you using to freeze quickly? I've seen the name greenbelt pop up a few times on here. What is it like? Want to swap for some Conan?

 

[Yob]

If MB doesn't, I do

I'd not heard of conan till just now,

Bit of a read up and it sounds pretty good.

Greenbelt is pretty clean and drops like a brides knickers, I love it, haven't used recently as I've been expanding the library (001, 1217, 009 etc)

 

[Midnight Brew]

Midnight, what method are you using to freeze quickly? I've seen the name greenbelt pop up a few times on here. What is it like? Want to swap for some Conan?

Once all the tubes are setup and ready to go they go into an ice bath of water, ice and a bit of salt for a good 10 minutes. Then I place the tubes in a plastic container, fill it with some of the ice and then put into the freezer with a few ice bricks around it. The idea is to have the vials already at 0C or below when they go into the freezer.

WY Greenbelt is a great performer and I love 1272 but prefer greenbelt over it. It gives off this wonderful fruity character that complements American styles. Used it in a big stout about 6 months ago and chewed it from 1.067 to 1.009 in about 5-7 days. I have no doubt Yob's pushed it further then this haha.

I've got them now in 15ml vials (about 5-7ml yeast) and in a few weeks should have some more in 50ml vials (20ml yeast). Happy to send you some. I've got Wy Greenbelt, 1318, 3068 with 1469 on the way.

 

[lael]

I think I've got mine in 30ml vials. Not a ton in there. But have stepped it up successfully. What is 1318? Where was greenbelt from?

Yob, do you have anything else interesting?

So greenbelt is not as clean as 1056 or US05? what temps is it good at? Fave styles to use it for?