What yeast to bank?

[elmoMakesBeer]

I’m planning to start a frozen yeast bank following these instructions Making a Frozen Stock Yeast Bank - Homebrew Notes

Now I’ve got to decide what yeast to include. Till now I’ve only used dry yeasts: mostly US-05 (and once BRY-97) in IPAs, an amber ale with S-04, and currently fermenting my first lager (pilsner style I hope) with W-34/70. Any suggestions for liquid yeasts? Next brew is probably going to be another hoppy IPA, so a suitable ale yeast is where I’ll start. But open to trying different styles.

 

[An Ankoù]

I’m planning to start a frozen yeast bank following these instructions Making a Frozen Stock Yeast Bank - Homebrew Notes

Now I’ve got to decide what yeast to include. Till now I’ve only used dry yeasts: mostly US-05 (and once BRY-97) in IPAs, an amber ale with S-04, and currently fermenting my first lager (pilsner style I hope) with W-34/70. Any suggestions for liquid yeasts? Next brew is probably going to be another hoppy IPA, so a suitable ale yeast is where I’ll start. But open to trying different styles.

Sounds like a great project and thanks for the link.
I'd seriously recommend you read this book, especially the final section on setting up your own yeast lab. It'll answer a lot of questions and is co-authored by the owner of White Labs.
https://www.amazon.com.au/Yeast-Pra...877982&sprefix=yeast+the+ptact,aps,416&sr=8-1

 

[kadmium]

London Ale III for pale ales, NEIPAS and any IPA etc. I love London III

Czech Bohemian Pilsner for lagers

Dennys favourite 50 for stouts and porters

 

[MHB]

The obvious answer is to bank yeasts you want to use.
Every other answer is what the respondent would like to have to hand.

My house(ish) Ale is W 1084 have a look at it, pretty versatile.
For Pilsner probably Czech Pilsner (Budvar) W 2000

You should work out what you want to use and play withthat.
Mark

 

[elmoMakesBeer]

Sounds like a great project and thanks for the link.
I'd seriously recommend you read this book, especially the final section on setting up your own yeast lab. It'll answer a lot of questions and is co-authored by the owner of White Labs.
https://www.amazon.com.au/Yeast-Pra...877982&sprefix=yeast+the+ptact,aps,416&sr=8-1

Thanks for the suggestion - I'll look into it.

 

[elmoMakesBeer]

The obvious answer is to bank yeasts you want to use.

Every other answer is what the respondent would like to have to hand.

Of course you are right! My "problem" - a good problem to have - is that my local homebrew shop list >60 different liquid yeasts in stock, noting they will happily import others, and I haven't tried any of them. I know there is not "correct" answer to my question but figure other people's favourites could be a decent starting point.

My house(ish) Ale is W 1084 have a look at it, pretty versatile.

For Pilsner probably Czech Pilsner (Budvar) W 2000


You should work out what you want to use and play withthat.

Mark

London Ale III for pale ales, NEIPAS and any IPA etc. I love London III


Czech Bohemian Pilsner for lagers


Dennys favourite 50 for stouts and porters

Excellent. Thank you both very much. Your suggestions are just what I was looking for. I'll try, and freeze, both of these ale yeasts over the coming months. When I get to brewing another lager (I usually choose to drink ales but there are exceptions - I struggle to go past a Weihenstephaner Helles for example) I'll give one of those Czech Pilsner yeasts a go.

 

[kadmium]

Of course you are right! My "problem" - a good problem to have - is that my local homebrew shop list >60 different liquid yeasts in stock, noting they will happily import others, and I haven't tried any of them. I know there is not "correct" answer to my question but figure other people's favourites could be a decent starting point.







Excellent. Thank you both very much. Your suggestions are just what I was looking for. I'll try, and freeze, both of these ale yeasts over the coming months. When I get to brewing another lager (I usually choose to drink ales but there are exceptions - I struggle to go past a Weihenstephaner Helles for example) I'll give one of those Czech Pilsner yeasts a go.

Yeah the 2000 is a great yeast!

Agree with MHB, I figured you were looking for suggestions. Those are my house strains, I do use other liquid yeast or dry yeasts on occasion.

 

[Nullnvoid]

WLP029 - Kolsch Yeast.

WLP001 - California Ale

WYEAST1450 - Denny's Favourite

Greenbelt - super dooper dooper hard to get that's why I have a frozen supply.

YMMV but these work for me.

Also, I'm pretty much solely using WLP029 for everything now, sessions, to IPA to RIS. Such a universal clean yeast

 

[An Ankoù]

Thanks for the suggestion - I'll look into it.

Just read the link you posted to homebrewnotes. It's amazing and I'd never heard of them. Thanks again. Looks like a real treasure trove.

 

[elmoMakesBeer]

Just read the link you posted to homebrewnotes. It's amazing and I'd never heard of them. Thanks again. Looks like a real treasure trove.

As with anything online, telling the difference between a trustworthy source from somebody knowledgeable and experienced, and the advice of somebody who just wants attention or ad revenue isn't easy. This seems worth my time and minimal medium-long term cost and freezer space.

 

[elmoMakesBeer]

I built a starter of Wyeast 1318 London Ale III (thanks @kadmium for the suggestion), and froze 10 tubes yesterday to kick off the yeast bank. So far so good but the test will be seeing if the yeast is still viable when it comes to using it.
Each tube has 10ml of yeast slurry from the cold-crashed starter, and 1.5ml of glycerine. The guide said to use 5-6ml of yeast and 5-6ml of glycerine solution (25% glycerine and 75% water). Either way the sample ends up being ~13% glycerine, which is supposedly enough to protect the yeast, but my way gets twice as many yeast cells in each tube.
I stepped up the leftover yeast slurry with another starter and pitched it today into a reasonably strong IPA wort - 1.064 OG, 96% pale malt and 4% crystal, ~50 IBU, hopped with CTZ (bittering), cascade, and will be dry-hopped with cascade and simcoe. This will be my first beer with this yeast. I'm looking forward to tasting the beer but I'm not sure if much yeast flavour will punch through.

Ed: London Ale III (not II)

 

[Coalminer]

I'd be more inclined to use 30% glycerine, 20% water and 50% yeast slurry
Keep an eye out for Seasonal yeasts that only are available on rare occasions. (Wyeast PC collections) With those in your bank you can use them all year round.

 

[MHB]

Snip
I stepped up the leftover yeast slurry with another starter and pitched it today into a reasonably strong IPA wort - 1.064 OG, 96% pale malt and 4% crystal, ~50 IBU, hopped with CTZ (bittering), cascade, and will be dry-hopped with cascade and simcoe. This will be my first beer with this yeast. I'm looking forward to tasting the beer but I'm not sure if much yeast flavour will punch through.

I think most people wont know CZT (Columbus, Zeus and Tomahawk) as all being the same hop with different names (probably).
Its an appellation that's gone out of fashion, haven't seen anything labeled Zeus or Tomahawk for a few years either, so probably easiest to just call it Columbus.
Mark

 

[DJR]

Here's a couple of liquids I just enjoy using and are different enough from what you can get in dry form to make them worth having and culturing:

WLP860 / L17 Harvest for lagers
WLP644 Sacc Trois for hazies and anything you want to throw lots of pineapple and mango, lower temps also works for clean ales
Wyeast 3787 for anything belgian
Gigayeast Brett Brux Blend
The Yeast Bay Saison/Brett Blend - but just got some WLP670 to use instead for a change

But i must admit I've mostly been using dry yeast - voss, us05, verdant IPA, S-33 and a couple of the crossmyloof yeasts - because they're just so convenient

One liquid you can take off the list now is London Ale III - the Verdant IPA strain appears pretty much the same thing.

 

[elmoMakesBeer]

I'd be more inclined to use 30% glycerine, 20% water and 50% yeast slurry
Keep an eye out for Seasonal yeasts that only are available on rare occasions. (Wyeast PC collections) With those in your bank you can use them all year round.

I'll see how the yeast goes once thawed. Most sources I could find suggested 12-15% glycerine, one was 25% I think.
Good call with the PC yeasts. I'll keep an eye out but the ones on offer from my local at the moment aren't jumping out at me right now.

 

[elmoMakesBeer]

I think most people wont know CZT (Columbus, Zeus and Tomahawk) as all being the same hop with different names (probably).
Its an appellation that's gone out of fashion, haven't seen anything labeled Zeus or Tomahawk for a few years either, so probably easiest to just call it Columbus.
Mark

Thanks - I've seen it called both (or Columbus CTZ, which is what is written on the pack in my freezer) but I'm a lazy typist on my phone.

 

[elmoMakesBeer]

Here's a couple of liquids I just enjoy using and are different enough from what you can get in dry form to make them worth having and culturing:

WLP860 / L17 Harvest for lagers
WLP644 Sacc Trois for hazies and anything you want to throw lots of pineapple and mango, lower temps also works for clean ales
Wyeast 3787 for anything belgian
Gigayeast Brett Brux Blend
The Yeast Bay Saison/Brett Blend - but just got some WLP670 to use instead for a change

But i must admit I've mostly been using dry yeast - voss, us05, verdant IPA, S-33 and a couple of the crossmyloof yeasts - because they're just so convenient

One liquid you can take off the list now is London Ale III - the Verdant IPA strain appears pretty much the same thing.

Thanks for the suggestions. And funny you say I should take the London Ale III off the list - it's the only one I have so far. Doubt I'll need to buy more anytime soon.

 

[Tony121]

I'll see how the yeast goes once thawed. Most sources I could find suggested 12-15% glycerine, one was 25% I think.
Good call with the PC yeasts. I'll keep an eye out but the ones on offer from my local at the moment aren't jumping out at me right now.

25%. There is a thread on here called “let’s freeze some yeast” (or the like) with a lot of experienced members experimenting and landed on that number. I’ve personally frozen with the method described in that thread since 2017 and regularly spin up 3+ year old yeast with great success.

Tony

 

[kadmium]

Thanks for the suggestions. And funny you say I should take the London Ale III off the list - it's the only one I have so far. Doubt I'll need to buy more anytime soon.

Verdant is a mutation of London III and throws huge apricot for me. I prefer normal London III to verdant. Just my thoughts though.

 

[DJR]

Verdant is a mutation of London III and throws huge apricot for me. I prefer normal London III to verdant. Just my thoughts though.

Yeah, that's true, I don't mind the apricot though! I found normal LA3 a bit underwhelming, but I wasn't underpitching as much as i was with the verdant. Haze amount & stability, biotransformation levels, temperature ranges and pitching rate all seem close enough to me.