Live brewers yeast

The Homebrew Forum

Help Support The Homebrew Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
ScottM said:
robbarwell said:
Dennis,

the reason why brewers use live yeast is just time really...A good quality brewers yeast from a brewery will be very very viable. It kicks off very quickly thus saving time and possible infections. It finishes off quickly and drops out of suspension quickly. Brewers do not have the time nor the space for batches of beer to be sat on chill awaiting the yeast to drop out prior to finings.

What brewers find is that a new strain of yeast added to their brewery will take a number of brews to be "bedded into" the brewery, if they use a dried yeast, say US05, top cropped and reused then the 3rd generation onwards would be better for them to use than the first generation.

Abbeydale brewery in Sheffield has 5 fermenters, they brew 5 times per week and have separate fridges to keep each batch of yeast separate. the yeast strain is the same across the board (a unique blend of yeasts formulated for them), This lessens the risk of cross infections and keeps the yeast fresh.


So is it basically just a huge starter? Where rather than 10 billion cells being pitched, 100 billion are instead being pitched.. lowering infection, changing sugar to alcohol is a breeze, no need to worry about them multiplying before getting started etc?

Basically like buying a vial of white labs, only instead of using one... you use 10? lol.

not really, it is possible to overpitch...what you have is very hungry and healthy yeasts that start munching straight away
 
Brew with this yeast Saturday, pitched yeast around 5pm, by 10am Sunday it was escaping out of the FV. Never had a ferment like it.
 
robbarwell said:
ScottM said:
robbarwell said:
Dennis,

the reason why brewers use live yeast is just time really...A good quality brewers yeast from a brewery will be very very viable. It kicks off very quickly thus saving time and possible infections. It finishes off quickly and drops out of suspension quickly. Brewers do not have the time nor the space for batches of beer to be sat on chill awaiting the yeast to drop out prior to finings.

What brewers find is that a new strain of yeast added to their brewery will take a number of brews to be "bedded into" the brewery, if they use a dried yeast, say US05, top cropped and reused then the 3rd generation onwards would be better for them to use than the first generation.

Abbeydale brewery in Sheffield has 5 fermenters, they brew 5 times per week and have separate fridges to keep each batch of yeast separate. the yeast strain is the same across the board (a unique blend of yeasts formulated for them), This lessens the risk of cross infections and keeps the yeast fresh.


So is it basically just a huge starter? Where rather than 10 billion cells being pitched, 100 billion are instead being pitched.. lowering infection, changing sugar to alcohol is a breeze, no need to worry about them multiplying before getting started etc?

Basically like buying a vial of white labs, only instead of using one... you use 10? lol.

not really, it is possible to overpitch...what you have is very hungry and healthy yeasts that start munching straight away

What is the difference though? What is it that makes them more viable/hungry? Is it because they are a 2nd/3rd gen or something?

I thought that making a starter makes the yeast more viable, having them colonised and ready to eat, and so thought that was what the difference was.
 
ScottM said:
What is the difference though? What is it that makes them more viable/hungry? Is it because they are a 2nd/3rd gen or something?

I thought that making a starter makes the yeast more viable, having them colonised and ready to eat, and so thought that was what the difference was.

Its not that the yeast is any different per se but you will have more viable cells per millilitre than your normal yeasts. Commercial brewers are able to pitch yeast at a rate that is restrictive to the homebrewer, mainly due to cost, and this will reduce the lag time, get the fermentation complete and get the beer out of primary as quick as possible.

I have managed to get yeast from a local brewery that had been recently acid washed and it is the consistency of blancmange and smells incredibly fresh. I did over pitch once by putting well over a pint of fresh yeast into a 23l batch and I must have stressed the yeast as it struggled to him my FG target and the acetaldehyde took months to settle down. :roll:
 
As I understand the breweries start their yeasts from a very small sample from a plate or slope and grow it up in lab conditions for the first few days before growing it up in the brewery ready to pitch, usually folowing the 10x rule with each step, so you get the right quantity of cells with importantly the right quality of cells.

As home brewers we can't do this, the best we can do is start with what we have got, say a White Lab vial that has travelled half way round the world and has been packaged for several months, and then make a starter from this. However most people think that you make a starter to get the yeast going, but what you are doing is growing the yeast to get to the amount of cells that you want to pitch in your beer. Higher OG beers need more cells as do lagers. So we can influence this process by tailoring growing the yeast to the quantity to suit our beer, and this is where Mr Malty comes into play, also you need the Yeast book by Chris White & the aforementioned Jamil to understand how to grow the yeast by stepping up correctly.

Now if you have ever used the Brewlab yeast slants you will have been impressed at how quickly they take off, and this is because they are so fresh, the slant is cultured up and sent straight out to you, so if you take this and grow it to the right amount for your beer it will go off like a rocket.
 
Good Ed said:
Now if you have ever used the Brewlab yeast slants you will have been impressed at how quickly they take off, and this is because they are so fresh, the slant is cultured up and sent straight out to you, so if you take this and grow it to the right amount for your beer it will go off like a rocket.

I'm interested in trying BrewLabs, supporting a British firm and getting fresher yeast. How does it work? The website seems to be about training and analysis services - no clue that they actually sell yeast to homebrewers?! What did I miss? :wha:
 
bunkerbrewer said:
I'm interested in trying BrewLabs, supporting a British firm and getting fresher yeast. How does it work? The website seems to be about training and analysis services - no clue that they actually sell yeast to homebrewers?! What did I miss? :wha:

Their website is not that clear; from the home page go to Courses and Services then go to Analysis Services and down the page you will come to Home Brew Yeast.

They have a huge data base of yeast other that what is listed, so you can always phone them or email and ask for a particular yeast or just let them know what you are brewing and ask them to recommend something. I have contacted Alison previously using the email [email protected]. Once you order they take 2-3 days to make the slant then ship it to you. Use this with say 30g DME and 300ml water, then step up with a bigger starter to pitch, so you need to plan it a bit to give yourself enough time. Best of luck :cheers:
 
bunkerbrewer said:
I'm interested in trying BrewLabs, supporting a British firm and getting fresher yeast. How does it work? The website seems to be about training and analysis services - no clue that they actually sell yeast to homebrewers?! What did I miss? :wha:
have a look here, about half way down the page under the title of 'Home Brew Yeast' :thumb:
 
joey1002 said:
bunkerbrewer said:
I'm interested in trying BrewLabs, supporting a British firm and getting fresher yeast. How does it work? The website seems to be about training and analysis services - no clue that they actually sell yeast to homebrewers?! What did I miss? :wha:
have a look here, about half way down the page under the title of 'Home Brew Yeast' :thumb:

Aha, thanks! Didn't get past the pro services on that page.
 
I have got my yeast starter going D to try and increase the size before I brew next week. I must say it was lively the sample you sent (most ending up in the sink :evil: ), however it is doing its thing. :thumb: :thumb:
 
graysalchemy said:
I have got my yeast starter going D to try and increase the size before I brew next week. I must say it was lively the sample you sent (most ending up in the sink :evil: ), however it is doing its thing. :thumb: :thumb:

you just want to re create your stout explosion :lol:
 
graysalchemy said:
I have got my yeast starter going D to try and increase the size before I brew next week. I must say it was lively the sample you sent (most ending up in the sink :evil: ), however it is doing its thing. :thumb: :thumb:

Did warn you it wasa lively bugger, I've nicknamed it yeast on speed.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top