Yeast cultivating practices'

I picked them all. I use different methods depending on my situation.

30 generations is pretty amazing. That's never even crossed my mind. I've probably gone as high as 8-9 gens. Currently I only ever go to 3-4 gens, but that's more of a usage thing for me. I probably use 6-10 different yeast per year so I don't have a need for many generations.

One method I use (not listed) for storing yeast is bottle conditioning. I'll bottle a portion of a batch exclusively for saving the yeast. I'll use the dregs to get to pitching levels.

 

I do what you do, it is easy to pull a small amount out of a 2L starter, I use baby food jars to store a couple samples. I have successfully resurrected after at least 6 months, maybe more, but I can't remember off the top of my head. I also get "excited" by new to me yeast descriptions so I keep trying new vs. resurrecting old. I probably have some dead yeast in the back of the fridge

I also try to plan by brew days so I can pitch on cakes. I never use the whole cake, just estimate what I need and dump the rest.

 

I am with @Naugled as each instance leads to a different method. I have been washing and then reusing lately, and typically keep a slurry of the yeast washed in the fridge.

I also plate most all my yeast strains that are single strains (Dupont is a mixed blend and I want to keep it that way, not sure I could differentiate between each one on a plate to ensure I have all 4 in the correct proportions). I am getting ready to move many of them over to slants in the near future so they will keep longer. I grew a 5 gallon pitch up off a plate through 3 steps in 6 days and had fermentation rocking in under 8 hours.

Seeing as I am moving through my recipes to refine them and lock down my house yeast I will be repitching in successive batches from here on out.

 

I like your method of propagation. If I understand you correctly though, it would be more accurate to say that you keep first generation yeast going for 20 pitches rather than calling it 20 generations. That method is essentially batch propagation similar to what yeast labs do to get less used yeast strains ready to ship. The other method of propagation is continuous propagation where yeast is constantly being fed and aerated and can allow a yeast lab to have popular yeast strains constantly ready to ship. Your method is about the same as what I use when I need to use a true top cropping yeast strain for multiple beers and I'm limited with my ability to top crop in our conical fermenters.

If you are storing your yeast for long periods of time and you want to keep it as completely ideal as possible, I would recommend feeding your stored yeast wort on a weekly basis if possible. That will help to keep the yeast vital and prevent yeast death as well.

If you are reusing your yeast and harvesting from fermenters, it is best to only reuse yeast from beers that were <16 degrees plato and ideally lower IBU's. If you do so and you get the yeast out from the fermenter quickly after hitting terminal gravity, than 7-8 generations of yeast should be easy to achieve. You should also be able to get enough yeast from each cake for 2-3 more fermentations, so when you add all that up, you could easily have enough yeast for hundreds of beers. I never go beyond 5 generations at my brewery, partially because most of our beers are a little higher gravity and also because I use too many different yeast strains to keep one going for much longer.

The main reason I recommend staying below 7 or 8 generations is because yeast can typically reproduce 20 times before dying. In a well pitched beer, yeast will reproduce 3 times. So when you get to that 7th generation, you will likely have some yeast that has reproduced 20 times and it will begin to die. However, if you top crop yeast, you can typically get away with many more repitches. A lot of people point to breweries in Scotland and Belgium that have reused yeast for hundreds of years, but the thing to realize is that those yeast strains are constantly evolving and (as far as I know) anyone that reuses yeast for that many generations uses true top cropping yeast and takes advantage of it.

 

I was thinking of harvesting some yeast for the first time, so it's convenient that this thread popped up, because I have a few questions. I'm making an ESB with White Labs 002, OG of about 1.059. I was going to let it ferment for 3 weeks before kegging and then harvest some from the cake at the bottom of the bucket. Will the yeast still be viable and healthy by that time? And what technique would you recommend for harvesting in this case?

 

Since we've started using the stainless conical, I have been pulling out the middle of the yeast cake and storing the slurry in a sanitized Corney keg until reuse. Only at 3 generations presently, as the conical is pretty new and we don't go through beer very quickly (well, the two of us don't go through 1 BBL batches by ourselves that quickly, relatively speaking...). Started with WLP029 in a 1.048, 27 IBU Koelsch, and repitched in a 1.053, 30 IBU Rauchbier...then onto another batch of Rauchbier with similar numbers. Has been working great so far. About to get some FVs with removable lids, so I plan to get into top-cropping soon. Should be interesting.

 

I top crop now, but as I tend to brew only every month or so I store the yeast in a jar covered with beer. I usually use Tennents as its cheap, tasteless and sterile. Then will do a starter when needed

I used to do yeast washing (or should that be rinsing?) based on a guide on homebrewtalk but have since dropped doing that as it's more work and less sanitary

 

I'm bottling tonight and have had 3 unsuccessful yeast washing attempts. How do you manage to separate the hops from the yeast? If I pour in sterile water to rinse everything around, then pour into a sanitized jar, it just all settles as one chunk. Any advice?

 

What about bottle dregs from your own bottles? Would that work?

 

I've always used the yeast washing technique. Never thought of the oversized starter idea, think im going to start doing that on my next batch as it would save me some time.

 

well said, the only thing i would add is i wouldn't repitch a yeast from a beer that was dry-hopped, unless you pull the yeast before dry-hopping. the resins coat the yeast cells and inhibit growth and activity. style comes into play as well, obviously. if you under pitch and produce a lot of esters from the yeast, reusing the yeast will most likely produce higher esters even if pitched at the proper rate in future generations. roughly speaking i repitch lower gravity to higher gravity(but as @honkey mentioned above 16P or 1.065 is about the limit), lower ibu to higher ibu, lighter to darker.

 

What I would recommend for those who brew frequently is a yeast brink cornelius keg. Pitch a healthy pitch of whatever yeast to ~3 gallons of wort into the brink about a week before your brew day, use the gas in post for blowoff tube or airlock, let ferment and on day or two before brew day take off the airlock disconnect to let pressure build up in keg, then on brewday shake up well and pour off 2 pints from liquid out post to pitch into your batch. Replace that 2 pints of volume with 2 pints of the fresh wort you just brewed and repeat.

All of this is only as good as your cleaning and sanitation practices. It is important to shake well before harvesting yeast off the brink to get a good mix of both flocculant and less flocculant cells. If you don't shake, you'll be selectively harvesting the more flocculant, less attenuative cells.

 

I need to do this as well. Repitching yeast will be much easier if I do it this way.

 

Yeast - - - The Final Frontier

I used to slave through yeast washing, now it's reserved for emergency yeast-collecting. My two primaries methods are over-sized starter and harvesting from bottles . . . this is how gentlemen collect yeast.

Not a fan of the WL vials cause I never could get them to stand up straight and baby food jars are for ... well ... babies. I store my tiny little fellows in Mason jars just like grandpa used to:

Also a fan of E-flasks . . . and some flasks that don't even have a name:

Because I have no suppliers nearby and it's HOT year-round, buying/shipping new yeast is down the list for me. But harvesting strains from commercial bottles are a big part of my process. My Big Four are DuPont, Ommegang, Blaugies, & Conan. Have never pitched on a yeast cake and my attempt at top-cropping was dismal.

Have not played with feeding yeast, instead I try to re-use within 3 months. If not possible then will re-harvest something new and start over. With washing's I could go up to 7 gens, now that I am an oversizer'er I suspect the limit on generations will be how careful (clean) I maintain them.

This has never been a problem for me. Are you sure you are washing/settling correctly? Here's a decent video on the process that has worked well for me.

If discussing c & m I would do it in hushed tones . . . Big Brother patrols these threads . . .