Yeast slants/slopes are the dog's dodahs

Simonh82 · Sep 26, 2017

I started using and storing yeast slants about a years or so ago but it's only now that I'm going back and using some of the first ones that I made. They are such a great way to store yeast in the medium to long term.

I'm brewing a beer using the Brewlabs Sussex strain, reputedly from Harvey's Brewery. The yeast slant was first used about 11 months ago when I washed the slant out with wort to make a starter. I didn't immediately bin the slant and noticed that the yeast quickly recolonised the slant so I put it back in the fridge where it sat for 11 months. This is by no means standard practice but shows how well they work as a means of storing yeast.

I dug it out yesterday and made a small 250ml starter with 1.020 wort. From this faint smear of yeast cells I now have a distinct layer of yeast at the bottom of the starter. I'm about to step up to 600ml of 1.040 wort and for safety's sake due to the long dormant period I'm going to step up again to 1.5L in a few days time.

OK the aren't quite as convenient as a fresh vial of yeast from the homebrew shop but as a way of storing fresh yeast they are superb. They allow me to store half a dozen strains without worrying about them dying on me.

Preparing the slants was straightforward if a little fiddly and an hour or so's work which I won't have to repeat for a couple of years.

I thoroughly recommend slanting yeast for anyone who likes to keep multiple strains of fresh yeast but doesn't brew every week.

Zephyr259 · Oct 1, 2017

Thanks for the info. I've just ordered some sterile tube to freeze some yeast. Can store 10 vials which can be pitched straight into a 1 - 1.5 L starter and will keep for a long time.

Simonh82 · Oct 1, 2017

Zephyr259 said:
Thanks for the info. I've just ordered some sterile tube to freeze some yeast. Can store 10 vials which can be pitched straight into a 1 - 1.5 L starter and will keep for a long time.

I've never tried freezing yeast, from what I understand it is quite tricky not to damage the yeast during the freezing and thawing process. Have you read this article on Homebrew Talk?

Personally yeast slants seem like a good balance been effort required and storage stability.

Fore · Oct 2, 2017

Thanks for that. I bought in all the equipment for a yeast starter, but I worry about my brewing frequency, which is about once a month, or less. Yes I'm in a position I can now starter and step up, but if I'm going to keep some for the next brew, I'll have to keep making starters at least every 3 weeks. Particularly if I'm running with more than one strain. That would be a pain in the neck. Slanting could well be my final solution. First I'll get a hang of creating starters and stepping up, then I'll be looking more deeply into this. Thanks again.

Zephyr259 · Oct 2, 2017

Not seen that article but I was working from this one http://www.homebrewtalk.com/maintaining-healthy-yeast-bank

They do recommend slowing the freezing by placing tubes in a jar of isopropyl alcohol as they experienced a bit of lag otherwise but that's not a massive issue.

Slants need to be a bit more on the sterile side, I figure I can avoid the pressure cooked for frozen since they are only using it on part of the process and not every fluid. Guess we'll see.

Simonh82 · Oct 2, 2017

Fore said:
Thanks for that. I bought in all the equipment for a yeast starter, but I worry about my brewing frequency, which is about once a month, or less. Yes I'm in a position I can now starter and step up, but if I'm going to keep some for the next brew, I'll have to keep making starters at least every 3 weeks. Particularly if I'm running with more than one strain. That would be a pain in the neck. Slanting could well be my final solution. First I'll get a hang of creating starters and stepping up, then I'll be looking more deeply into this. Thanks again.

When you feel ready, this is a really useful video covering the whole process of making, inoculating and using yeast slants. He uses a pressure cooker to sterilise his wort. I've just boiled mine for 20-25min in a erlenmeyer flask with tinfoil over the opening. That seems to have sterilised the wort well enough and I've not had any infected slants yet but technically it doesn't get up to 115ÃÂ°C so there could be some very hardy mould spores that might survive.

Malt Muncher · Feb 10, 2018

Hey guys, sorry for bringing this back from the dead. Can you recommend a place I can get the equipment needed for making slants? I should start making some as good yeast is hard to find over here. I'm currently just saving some of my starters and sticking them in the fridge for later, but slants seem a better way of doing it.