Storing Yeast Slurry in Bags... Would you trust these?

Share your experiences of using brewing yeast.
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floydmeddler
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Storing Yeast Slurry in Bags... Would you trust these?

Post by floydmeddler » Sat Jan 07, 2017 11:29 am

Hey folks,

I'm hoping to store yeast slurry in bags in a bid to make pennies go further. Would you trust these? I'd imagine they're sterile...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100-Small-Cle ... BYT7eeGX-A

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Re: Storing Yeast Slurry in Bags... Would you trust these?

Post by alexlark » Sat Jan 07, 2017 11:39 am

Don't know if I would trust them. I'm planning on getting some 500ml PET water bottles from Lidl and use them, 19p each.

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Re: Storing Yeast Slurry in Bags... Would you trust these?

Post by floydmeddler » Sat Jan 07, 2017 12:28 pm

Nice idea, that. You planning on freezing them?

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Re: Storing Yeast Slurry in Bags... Would you trust these?

Post by alexlark » Sat Jan 07, 2017 12:32 pm

Haven't looked into that yet. That would certainly make the slurry go even further. At the moment I have had great success with 1 week old W34/70.

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Re: Storing Yeast Slurry in Bags... Would you trust these?

Post by alexlark » Sat Jan 07, 2017 1:02 pm

Quick search on freezing says to use glycerine. Anyone else done this?

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Re: Storing Yeast Slurry in Bags... Would you trust these?

Post by McMullan » Sat Jan 07, 2017 7:28 pm

Jam jars are better. Don't bother freezing yeast to save money. The correct procedure, equipment and consumables, etc. cost more than fresh yeast. How often are you brewing?

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Re: Storing Yeast Slurry in Bags... Would you trust these?

Post by alexlark » Sat Jan 07, 2017 8:27 pm

Yea that's what I suspected. For now I'm reusing the W34/70 slurry but I got quite a few US-05, S-04 and Nottingham sachets to see me through 2017.

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Re: Storing Yeast Slurry in Bags... Would you trust these?

Post by f00b4r » Sat Jan 07, 2017 11:37 pm

McMullan wrote:Jam jars are better. Don't bother freezing yeast to save money. The correct procedure, equipment and consumables, etc. cost more than fresh yeast. How often are you brewing?
Out of interest any idea of what would happen if slurry was sealed in a bag using a vacuum chamber sealer?

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Re: Storing Yeast Slurry in Bags... Would you trust these?

Post by Fil » Sun Jan 08, 2017 1:30 am

why not buy the vials that folk use for making slants, you can sanitise them in a pressure cooker and reuse them.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Plastic-Centr ... Z8UJEaNr6A

add a bit of glycerine to the slurry and you can freeze them.

Or if feeling olde worlde school you could even wash repeatedly and eventually with pure water and store @ room temp, its how it was done before fridges were common place in labs, apparently devoid of anything but yeast cells in suspension they go dormant on their own.
ist update for months n months..
Fermnting: not a lot..
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Re: Storing Yeast Slurry in Bags... Would you trust these?

Post by McMullan » Sun Jan 08, 2017 1:56 pm

Freezing yeast successfully requires more than blogosphere lore. Next time I freeze some, I'll document the process to give an idea.

Storing 'washed' yeast in pure water is blogosphere lore too. At room temperature, mortality becomes detectable after a few weeks. So, at best, it's short term therefore not worth the effort, if done properly.

Slants are easier, if you can maintain yeast health, but you'll have to invest in some basic microbiological equipment (e.g. Bunsen burner, inoculation loop and a decent pressure cooker) as well as consumables. Depending on how often you brew and how many strains you use, this isn't necessarily as economical as simply buying some yeast.

If you are looking for a cheap and effective method that selects sufficiently for healthy yeast, you need to think about carefully harvesting from a fermentation. Slurry is not very sustainable, it's not pure yeast for long. Not all strains top crop well. My advice would be try IPA's method. I've tried it a few times. It works well. Add yeast nutrient at the end of the boil, if you want to help produce healthy yeast to harvest.

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=74852

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Storing Yeast Slurry in Bags... Would you trust these?

Post by f00b4r » Sun Jan 08, 2017 2:10 pm

I've used IPA's method as well as slurry in jars that I have pressure cooked alongside a fully stainless steel gravy ladle to collect the slurry, the IPA method seems to be a better bet, especially if wanting to dry hop.
The chamber sealed vacuum bags question was just curious hypothetical (it has the ability to control the strength of vacuum to reduce any stress on the yeast so I was wondering more about storing in a chilled anaerobic environment than anything else).

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Re: Storing Yeast Slurry in Bags... Would you trust these?

Post by orlando » Sun Jan 08, 2017 2:55 pm

I wouldn't use anything I can't sterilise that comes into contact with yeast. Saving a few pennies palls a little as your efforts go down the sink or at best requires a little nose holding as you drink. :D
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Re: Storing Yeast Slurry in Bags... Would you trust these?

Post by rpt » Sun Jan 08, 2017 3:45 pm

Going back to the original question. It doesn't say they are good safe or that they are sterile.

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Re: Storing Yeast Slurry in Bags... Would you trust these?

Post by McMullan » Sun Jan 08, 2017 6:12 pm

If harvesting spent slurry, it doesn't matter how well things are sterilised, problems will grow soon enough.

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Re: Storing Yeast Slurry in Bags... Would you trust these?

Post by rpt » Mon Jan 09, 2017 9:11 am

It doesn't say they are FOOD safe!

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