I've been through some brewing spurts and there'll be months where I'll brew every other week or every other thrid week. I've tried to keep about four yeast strains around through these times. I don't often reuse a yeast more than twice, especially if it's a dry strain. I generally just wait too long and have to buy new yeast by the time I'm in need of that strain again. I'm hoping to get some feedback on how many strains some of you guys keep on hand and how often you reuse them. I'm considering marking a day on my callendar to feed the yeasts I have. I think every two months would be adequite if I really want to save some cash on the repurchase of yeast.
I try to get at least a three-to-one ROI on liquid yeast. Depending on what's plugged into the recipe scheduler gumbo-tron ...I might have three or four strains in the fridge at any one time. Works out well b/c brew night is every other Friday evening. If a strain won't be pitched for a while (say about eight weeks)...it'll be refreshed with a starter after about six weeks in the jar...then put back in cold storage. So far. So good.
I generally go 3-4 generations if brewing frequently. I seldom throw out any slurry less than a year old. Starters from 3 year old lager slurry have done very well. I have about 8-9 yeasts on hand at the moment plus a few in the freezer. Slurry keeps pretty well in the back of the fridge and is good for making a lot of starters without going through excessive generations.
How often do you make starters if you're not going to brew with the yeast? I'm also wondering what size starter to use if it's just to keep the yeast kicking and it will go back into the fridge instead of a fulll sized brew.
I usually keep two liquid strains on hand (WLP090, WY1968), but always have two dry on hand (BRY-97, Nottingham). Occasionally will have some more unique strains on hand depending on what I feel like brewing at the moment (ECY stuff, Sour blends, Brett, Lacto). Also have two sour wine barrels housing bugs from Roselare Blend and commercial bugs. Will typically reuse 2-3 times if doing beers from low gravity to high gravity, with starters in between to hit target pitching rates (Using only partial cakes for starters, unless going from say Mild to Imp Stout, which using whole cake hits target pitch rate) . I've started banking my strains in glycerol stocks and storing at work, so I've managed to store about 10 different strains to date, and just grow up as needed from the stocks.
I may go 6 months without making a starter - it just takes longer to get going, like an old smack pack. There's no reason to make a starter until the week before you brew, IMO. I save about 3-4oz of slurry for future starters. This is all assuming you have a dedicated beer fridge that you can keep reasonably sanitary, of course. edit: And as barf said, always keep some dry yeast on hand for emergencies.
I only go to second generation. I like the cost savings, but I'm not full on penny pincher. I also only reuse liquid yeast. I typically have 1-3 strains on hand. I have my "house" strain, and then something secondary that I'm planning on doing several beers with (right now is the West Yorkshire from wyeast, I'm using for an ESB, brown ale, and a stout, and a kolsch strain, I'm using for a kolsch and an alt, on top of my Northwest Ale "house" strain). And as others said... I keep a pack of dry yeast on hand just in case. I used to just keep S-05, but after trying the BRY-97... I may stick with that.
I try to limit my yeasts to 3 generations, but occasionally I'll do 4. The yeast seem to work best during the 2nd and 3rd generation for me. And there are some that I only use once. I usually go through about 8 to 10 different yeast strains per year. I only try to keep a pack of dry yeast around for convenience. I buy liquid as needed.
I usually keep US05 and Nottingham on hand at all times. Then I buy specific liquid strains as needed. I will sometimes wash and store some of the yeast cakes from the liquid strains. I typically only use them one more generation though. I will also pitch new wort directly onto a yeast cake (dry or liquid) that just fermented a previous batch, provided the second batch is a both higher in gravity and one I'm not trying to maximize the amount of esters and phenolics from the yeast in.
I keep dry yeast around for hop forward beers. It just clicks for me and tastes better than 01 or 1056. Maybe it's just in my head by this point.
Keep several packets of US-05 in the fridge. Otherwise, I try to buy fresh liquid yeast as close to the time that I use it. Although I've done it in the past, I am not reusing yeast at this point in time. For me the $ savings do not outweigh the increased infection potential that comes from harvesting and reusing.
