Liquid yeast - taken the plunge

[CreweBrewer]

After using dried yeasts since I started full-mash brewing, and now I have a few good recipes that I think will do liquid yeasts justice, I've just ordered a vial each of WLP001 and WLP002 with a view to growing it and splitting it up to get a few brews out of it. It's an exciting next step in brewing for me, so we'll see how it goes.

Dave

 

[TheRedDarren]

I highly recommend it mate, it adds a really interesting aspect to brewing and you end up using
Liquid yeast for less than the cost of dried. Win win!

 

[Covrich]

I too am on the same journey.. I am cold crashing my current brew and hoping to scoop out some yeast for another brew.. I dont think I will be using it for more than another brew though because after this I just dont see me doing another one with it for about 3 months.. still even so dividing teh yeast cost in two makes it totally worth it and you get the benefit from perhaps a better yeast variety and well iuf you want your yeast to have character then its the way to go as we are led to believe..

 

[mirsultankhan]

I have been reading a lot of reviews and some experiments and people seem to mostly agree that WLP001, WY1056 and SF-05 are essentially the same yeast strain and that the difference is negligible. Whether this is actually true I cannot say but it sounds plausible. I suspect that in the case of a natural yeast like WLP001 where you don't want the yeast to impart much character to let the hops shine through this may be the case, but if you want the yeast to impart some special qualities then it would make sense to get a specialist strain. I am going for Brewlabs slopes and cultivate my yeast up the reason being that there is some question marks over the viability of yeast that have travelled the Atlantic and sat in warehouses in transit. Again whether these concerns are legitimate I cannot say.

 

[CreweBrewer]

My two vials arrived a couple of days ago. Just waiting for some free time to get some DME from Wilkinsons and I'll be away. The growing process seems pretty lengthy, so I've got some US-05 to keep the brewing going whilst I'm culturing up the liquid stuff.

Dave

 

[MyQul]

My two vials arrived a couple of days ago. Just waiting for some free time to get some DME from Wilkinsons and I'll be away. The growing process seems pretty lengthy, so I've got some US-05 to keep the brewing going whilst I'm culturing up the liquid stuff.

Dave

Fermenting out a starter takes two days. Didn't know wilko's do DME?

 

[CreweBrewer]

Our local one stocks it. Muntons.

I'm after growing some, not just making a starter.

 

[MyQul]

Our local one stocks it. Muntons.

I'm after growing some, not just making a starter.

Same thing really. Are you wanting to grow some from a bottle or from the white labs vials you have?

 

[CreweBrewer]

From the vials, using 500g DME and 8pts of water in a demijohn then split it into around a dozen PET bottles.

http://uk-homebrew.tripod.com/id45.html

 

[CreweBrewer]

Yesterday I pretty much did the first part of my post above, using the WLP002 vial (was a soft packet actually??).

It's going like a good'un now. In a few days it should be ready to mix up and decanted into PET bottles.

Dave

 

[CreweBrewer]

Well this has been an apparent success. I have 12 bottles of little yeast vials. Whether there will be enough in each of them to make enough of a starter for a 23L brew. Guess we'll soon find out.



Dave

 

[clibit]

Brilliant. I'm sure there's enough yeast there, you have enough starters to keep you going for quite a while there.

White labs are switching from vials to pouches at the moment.

 

[CreweBrewer]

Yes it threw me a bit, haha!

I'm hoping to do your London Pride recipe some justice with it.

 

[jeg3]

How long will they last in the fridge?

Do you need to 'restart' after a while? It would take me a year or more to get through 12 starters...

 

[clibit]

How long will they last in the fridge?

Do you need to 'restart' after a while? It would take me a year or more to get through 12 starters...

You use them to make a starter a couple of days before you brew.

 

[jeg3]

So after 12 months in the fridge I could still wake it up making a starter and get a pitchable amount of viable yeast?

 

[MyQul]

So after 12 months in the fridge I could still wake it up making a starter and get a pitchable amount of viable yeast?

After 12 months you'd need to step them up a bit, starting with a weak starter wort of 1.020 then step up from there.

The there way you could do it is every month or so decant off the spent starter wort ad put some fresh wort in the bottles

 

[CreweBrewer]

Brilliant. I'm sure there's enough yeast there, you have enough starters to keep you going for quite a while there.

Just had a peek in the fridge and the sediment has compacted down a bit since this photo was taken. Do you think there'll still be enough yeast at the bottom of each bottle for a full length brew?

Dave

 

[MyQul]

You could always put two in a starter

 

[CreweBrewer]

Aye I was thinking that. Would hate to under pitch.