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Date: 17 Aug 2007 14:45:46
From: Bertie Doe
Subject: RCB Yeast and starter bottles
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Hi there
I don't want the expense and hassle of getting a beer-cooler, so I'm
ditching the keg method (Beersphere) after many years and returning to
bottling i.e. it's handy to have a couple of bottles of lager in the fridge.
Having lurked awhile, I was thinking of trying a different yeast with every
brew. Suppose I find a particular yeast that 'hits the spot'.
Question 1 : Can I assume that the manufacturer, will always supply an
identical yeast?
Question 2 : The maker could go bust or stop supplying this particualar
yeast - so would it be ok to keep a starter bottle in the fridge or will
wild yeasts overwhealm the varietal, at some future time. TIA
Bertie
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Date: 17 Aug 2007 14:35:37
From: The Artist Formerly Known as Kap'n Salty
Subject: Re: RCB Yeast and starter bottles
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"Bertie Doe" <montebrasite4@ntl.com > wrote in
news:5iln4dF3nhdcmU1@mid.individual.net:
> Hi there
>
> I don't want the expense and hassle of getting a beer-cooler, so I'm
> ditching the keg method (Beersphere) after many years and returning to
> bottling i.e. it's handy to have a couple of bottles of lager in the
> fridge.
>
> Having lurked awhile, I was thinking of trying a different yeast with
> every brew. Suppose I find a particular yeast that 'hits the spot'.
> Question 1 : Can I assume that the manufacturer, will always supply an
> identical yeast?
> Question 2 : The maker could go bust or stop supplying this
> particualar yeast - so would it be ok to keep a starter bottle in the
> fridge or will wild yeasts overwhealm the varietal, at some future
> time. TIA
>
Hi Bertie -- a culture in a bottle will eventually lose viability. The
amount of time depends it will remain viable depends on the strain, but
lager starins in particular don't do very well in storage. Options for
keeping yeast over the long term include:
Agar slants or stabs (Should be recultured every 3-6 months or so, but
you can go longer)
Agar slants under sterile mineral oil (I'm playing with this, but I
haven't gone long enough to really tell how well this works)
Agar Plates (not so good over the long term)
Sterile distilled water (works poorly for many strains of yeast,
including all the lager strains I've tries)
Liquid nitrogen -- this is the way the professionals do it.
Freezing in glycerol -- works best with a non-frost-free freezer, and can
still be dicey for some strains.
There may be others -- check google. I've tried all of these (except ln)
and have found that over the long run it really isn't woth the hassle --
but your milage may vary.
Overall, it's easiest to just let the yeast companies manage the strain
for you. They devote resources to keeping the strain from drifiting, etc.
Even when a yeast supplier goes out of business, there are usually other
companies banking strains, so your odds of completely losing a strain are
quite low.
--
(Replies: cleanse my address of the Mark of the Beast!)
Teleoperate a roving mobile robot from the web:
http://www.swampgas.com/robotics/rover.html
Coauthor with Dennis Clark of "Building Robot Drive Trains".
Buy several copies today!
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Date: 17 Aug 2007 17:26:29
From: Bertie Doe
Subject: Re: RCB Yeast and starter bottles
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"The Artist Formerly Known as Kap'n Salty" wrote in message
>> "Bertie Doe" wrote in
>> Question 1 : Can I assume that the manufacturer, will always supply an
>> identical yeast?
>> Question 2 : The maker could go bust or stop supplying this
>> particualar yeast - so would it be ok to keep a starter bottle in the
>> fridge or will wild yeasts overwhealm the varietal, at some future
>> time. TIA
>>
>
> Hi Bertie -- a culture in a bottle will eventually lose viability. The
> amount of time depends it will remain viable depends on the strain, but
> lager starins in particular don't do very well in storage. Options for
> keeping yeast over the long term include:
>
Thanks KS, that was quite comprehensive. So it seems overtime, the starter
bottle would loose it's vigor. I got interested a few days ago when I found
a 40 pint lager concentrate, lying forgotten in the garage with a BBD of May
04.
I was unsure if the dried yeast supplied with it would work, so put half in
a starter bottle and it's doing fine. It's been added to the fermenting bin
and all seems well. SSG 1035 so looking to bottle midweek at about 5% -ish,
hopefully.
Bertie
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