When I buy store bought yeast, which isn’t often, I usually buy Wyeast so it never occurred to me that the white labs vials could be handy for saving yeast in. I recently brewed a Brooklyn Lager clone that asked for white labs bock??? yeast (I think). I made a big stepped up starter, decanted some beer into the sanitized vial, poured most of the yeast slurry in the beer and then emptied some into the vial and tossed it in the lagering fridge. I taped up the cap as well and it looks like there might be just about the same amount in there as when I started, maybe a bit less.
Anyone else do this before? Any reason this should be a problem? Just checking my idea for a general consensus.
I do this all the time. wash/sanitize the vial, mark it for date harvested/generation. Generally though, I will at least make a small starter when doing it this way, even the morning of, just to get the yeast active for a small beer.
Care to share your BK lager recipe? That is a fine, fine beverage.
Here’s the recipe. It is straight out of BYO from a while back. Only change is the bittering charge which I want to say was Willamette(?) but I had just gotten a pound of nugget and figured they would work subbed in to the correct IBUs.
9 lbs Briess Pale Ale Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 1 83.7 %
1 lbs Briess Bonlander Munich Malt (10.0 SRM) Grain 2 9.3 %
12.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 3 7.0 %
0.50 oz Nugget [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 23.3 IBUs
0.50 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [4.00 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 5 5.5 IBUs
0.33 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 6 5.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 2.0 min Hop 7 0.8 IBUs
0.50 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [4.00 %] - Boil 2.0 min Hop 8 0.6 IBUs
1.0 pkg German Bock Lager (White Labs #WLP833) [35.49 ml] Yeast 9 -
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [4.00 %] - Dry Hop 5.0 Days Hop 11 0.0 IBUs
So, you make a small starter before pitching it into another regular starter or just a small starter before pitching into a batch? I kind of figured I’d want to build it up no matter what.
I really like the idea of making a starter from a fresh vial/pack of yeast and then saving some of the yeast for a later recipe, but have some questions about the process:
How much additional starter (on top of the quantity required for the recipe) would one make with the intention of pouring off ~ 100 billion cells into an empty White Labs vial?
Approximately how much decanted starter slurry would be poured into the vial? If not a full vial, would the vial need to be topped up (with wort or water)?
How many generations could one expect to get out of this process before needing to start over with a fresh pack of yeast?
I guess I don’t have any solid answers to your question because this was unplanned and the first time I did it. That said, this was way easier and less messy than taking yeast from the primary which is what I normally do so maybe I’ll keep doing this. Off the top of my head here is what I think:
I guess you should shoot for an extra 100 billion cells in your starter. Or you could take less initially and have to build up more later on.
First I filled it up about 75-80% with decanted starter beer, then I topped off with the yeast. I capped it and tapped the vial with electrical tap to keep air out. I’m going to eyeball a white lab vial at the store next time to see if I have roughly the same amount.
I think this is debatable. Some people use yeast generations for a really long time and don’t think any mutations that may or may not occur have much affect. I know other people will only use a certain yeast a handful of time. 5-10 times maybe? I don’t really know.
How much additional starter (on top of the quantity required for the recipe) would one make with the intention of pouring off ~ 100 billion cells into an empty White Labs vial?
Approximately how much decanted starter slurry would be poured into the vial? If not a full vial, would the vial need to be topped up (with wort or water)?
How many generations could one expect to get out of this process before needing to start over with a fresh pack of yeast?
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I guess I don’t have any solid answers to your question because this was unplanned and the first time I did it. That said, this was way easier and less messy than taking yeast from the primary which is what I normally do so maybe I’ll keep doing this. Off the top of my head here is what I think:
I guess you should shoot for an extra 100 billion cells in your starter. Or you could take less initially and have to build up more later on.
First I filled it up about 75-80% with decanted starter beer, then I topped off with the yeast. I capped it and tapped the vial with electrical tap to keep air out. I’m going to eyeball a white lab vial at the store next time to see if I have roughly the same amount.
I think this is debatable. Some people use yeast generations for a really long time and don’t think any mutations that may or may not occur have much affect. I know other people will only use a certain yeast a handful of time. 5-10 times maybe? I don’t really know.[/quote]
I’ve heard some of the experts (Jamil, Tasty) say 6 generations is their max. Going beyond that and you get some mutant cells. They also say, however, that the 3rd generation is always the best!
In the past I’ve tried the frozen yeast bank method but I have a self defrosting freezer and it didn’t work so well. Right now I actually have a few strains of yeast slants saved up in the lagering fridge which have been working for me so far. I actually ended up going this route because I didn’t have any slants set up and was too lazy to make them. Just wanted a quick way to save a new strain.
