Splitting yeast

[Ceejay]

Of course one way of storing yeast for a long time is in bottled beer. . .Just run off from the fv into some 250ml bottles picking up a bit of the yeast sediment. The follow the how to recover yeast from a bottled beer on here when you want to re use it.

I'm intreagued by this. Would this work, say when racking for bottling? So, when you get to the bottom of the FV, you run the last 500ml incuding some slurry into a bottle and then store?

I'd love to re-use some of the yeast from my oatmeal stout, assuming it would adapt to bitters etc...

 

[ChrisG]

Horden Hillbillys site is the best around.....taught me so much!

Cheers Dave!

Chris

There is some great info on his site :thumb: You`ve some nice recipes on yours to chris

Thanks very much, dont really get a lot of folk on my site so cheers!

 

[Aleman]

Of course one way of storing yeast for a long time is in bottled beer. . .Just run off from the fv into some 250ml bottles picking up a bit of the yeast sediment. The follow the how to recover yeast from a bottled beer on here when you want to re use it.

I'm intreagued by this. Would this work, say when racking for bottling? So, when you get to the bottom of the FV, you run the last 500ml incuding some slurry into a bottle and then store?

I'd love to re-use some of the yeast from my oatmeal stout, assuming it would adapt to bitters etc...

Basically yes. When I used to do it, I would run off the majority of beer from the primary into a secondary or bottling bucket,leaving behind 1-2 litres of beer, I'd then tip the bucket and sit it slightly just to get a bit more sediment into suspension, and then bottle the remaining couple of litres in 250ml bottles with no priming. . . . When I wanted to make a batch of beer, make up a starter, open a bottle pour off the beer (apart from an inch or so), swirl it round to resuspend the yeast, add to starter . . . when it was active pitch into main batch.

you really only need a layer of yeast 2 mm thick on the base of the bottle . . . and ideally you store them in a cool temperature stable place to minimise the breakdown of the yeast cells.

 

[Ceejay]

Happy days then :

That link you posted is pure gold! Whoever Horden Hillbilly is, we salute you :thumb:

 

[gurtpint]

Right, my White Labs yeast is now sitting in a 1,5L bottle under cooled boiled water. I will split it between six 0,5L bottles soon. There's a lot of it. I noticed that the yeast looks a bit clumpy as it did already when I got the vial. Wasn't past its bb date and the starter beer didn't have an off taste, so I reckon it will be alright?

I've been careful with the sanitation but I'm of course not able to split my yeast in an absolutely sterile way. How long can I expect the yeast to keep in my fridge? Weeks, months?

 

[dennisking]

I`ve kept it 2-3 months no problem, I`m sure others have kept it longer

 

[gurtpint]

^ Cheers Dennis. I must say that I was a bit baffled about the looks of the yeast, a newbie that I am. The stuff at the bottom of my bottle looks quite different compared to the Wyeast London Ale I have used. Now then, where the *&%@ are my brewing salts to I can get on with it!

 

[gurtpint]

Done. My cohorts lined up before refridgerating: