Glycerin - Yeast Farming

[MadScienter]

I'm getting ready to farm some yeast for freezing. My question is regarding the glycerin. I know it needs to be "food grade", so can I use any Vegetable Glycerin as opposed to petroleum-based? Walgreens has VG that has a nutrition label complete with calories, but I don't see where it says "Safe for Consumption", or anything like that. There's also different grades... What are you guys using and where do you get it? Thanks.

 

[Praetor]

I don't and I don't think a lot of people freeze yeast. I keep mine in a fridge and they are still good 6 months after putting them in there though I use them long before that time. I always make a starter for my beers from my harvested yeast and have yet to stall fermentation.

I know this doesn't help but no one had commented on this thread.

 

[Brew4Fun]

I used to maintain frozen yeast stocks in glycerin. I used a food grade glycerin from a scientific supplier, Sigma-Aldrich. I also used the -80C freezers located at my office/lab. I mixed the yeast cultures 1:1 with glycerin and chilled them slowly to -80C. They were viable for well over a year.

However, I would have to agree that a healthy slurry of yeast keeps really well in the fridge and is much easier to manage. And now I don't even bother with either--I purchase fresh yeast from my LHBS and pitch it directly into the beer or prepare starters for larger batches. For $8 it's cheap and I don't have to worry about my cultures getting contaminated over time.

 

[The Brew Mentor]

What I've found to work well is what I call succession brewing.
Pick a yeast that will work well for a variety of beers that you want to make and then plan.
Start with low gravity and low hopped beer and move to higher gravity and higher hopped beers.
Brew every 10-14 days and plan to transfer on brew day. During your brew day you'll have plenty of time to transfer or bottle your beer and then recover yeast from your primary.

Example...
WLP001.

1) Cream Ale.
2) American Wheat
3) APA
4) Dry Stout
5) American Amber
6) IPA

1 Yeast, 6 brew sessions.
I rinse and re-use the yeast from the primary.
I can also harvest and brew way more than this if I want to, but 6 uses out of 1 yeast is plenty and almost free.
Brian

 

[MadScienter]

Thanks for the info guys. Sounds like freezing is unnecessary, so I'm over it! If the yeast will remain viable in the fridge for 6 months... that's more than enough time for me.

I like the succession brewing idea, thanks for that info. I haven't rinsed yeast before, so I have a little reading to do... but I like it!!

 

[soccerdad]

What I've found to work well is what I call succession brewing.
Pick a yeast that will work well for a variety of beers that you want to make and then plan.
Start with low gravity and low hopped beer and move to higher gravity and higher hopped beers.
Brew every 10-14 days and plan to transfer on brew day. During your brew day you'll have plenty of time to transfer or bottle your beer and then recover yeast from your primary.

Example...
WLP001.

1) Cream Ale.
2) American Wheat
3) APA
4) Dry Stout
5) American Amber
6) IPA

1 Yeast, 6 brew sessions.
I rinse and re-use the yeast from the primary.
I can also harvest and brew way more than this if I want to, but 6 uses out of 1 yeast is plenty and almost free.
Brian

Not sure why I am seeing this 4 years down the road, but I guess looking for agreement on what I often do .. or what I do lately. Start with fresh yeast and do 4 or 5 beers from slurry. It works well. If I were as organized as Brian I would get 6 batches. I am more likely to get 3.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Not sure why I am seeing this 4 years down the road, but I guess looking for agreement on what I often do .. or what I do lately. Start with fresh yeast and do 4 or 5 beers from slurry. It works well. If I were as organized as Brian I would get 6 batches. I am more likely to get 3.

As gross as the slurry looks it sure does the job. Just have to be spot on in sanitising