How Many Yeast Strains?

GFHomebrew

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Gday all.

Its Friday arvo here in Aus and it seems to me the brewersfriend forum seems to have run dry in the proverbial comments section (or so it seams to me anyways).

So as a Curious Brewer who would love a peep in your brew fridge/freezer/coldroom how many yeast strains have you got lurking in the hidden free recesses of your brewery.

To count off the top of my head atm
1 k97 german ale (this is me oldest yeast)
2 M 54 mangrove jacks californian lager
3 belgian saison yeast mangrove jacks cant remember woops :oops:.
4 WLP 090 Sandiego super yeast this ones at least 5 months since last starter.
5 coopers ale yeast my newest addition ;)
6 one dry yeast pack of s 04 English ale yeast.

So 6 all up.
 

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I keep only a few around
1272 ( gen 3 )
Coopers ale yeast ( gen 6+ ? )
Nottingham ( gen 2 )

Think there's still some BRY-97 and 05 floating around but I seldom use them so will probably just throw it in the boil to feed my preferred yeasts .
 
I got 4

Wlp830 1st gen
34/70 6 dry packets + 1 lager in the fermentor
Wlp001 1st gen
Wlp838 1st gen
 
Oh if im doing generations i forgot my 34/70 woops:rolleyes: its on 3rd gen. So ive got 7 lol. Sandiego super yeast gen 3. saison yeast gen 2 . coopers yeast gen 2 .
 
If I'm remembering then all...
S-23
34/70
US-05 (though I think I just used the last of those)
S-04
K-97
S-33
T-58
Nottingham
WLP-041
Jar of trub from a Cream Ale blend that I made up
Maybe a jar of saved trub from WLP-500

I've been leery of saving yeasts lately because I know I've got some voracious wild yeasts in the environment and I don't trust samples to be completely untainted by the time they get handled and transferred.

I've tried to stock up on ingredients by buying bulk grain and hops and can brew happily for many batches without a trip to the LHBS...though I realize that I really, really enjoy trips to the LHBS and end up just stopping by there every chance I get. :rolleyes::D
 
I have 0. I buy all of my ingredients on a per batch basis.
Same here. If I do use liquid yeast I do 2 or 3 of the same beer over a few months (over growing starters each time) rather than having a fridge full of yeast.
 
I have 2 or 3 saved mostly when i get in the mood to take one and make 6 then I have a couple of dry in the freezer just for back up, nothings worse than being out of yeast lol but they only last wet 6 months in my house then get dumped
 
Since liquid yeast here can add up to 25-35% of my batch cost I kind of have to stretch it out as far as I safely can .

The only way of getting the Cooper's yeast is to reculture it so that's not going to stop either
 
If I'm remembering then all...
S-23
34/70
US-05 (though I think I just used the last of those)
S-04
K-97
S-33
T-58
Nottingham
WLP-041
Jar of trub from a Cream Ale blend that I made up
Maybe a jar of saved trub from WLP-500

I've been leery of saving yeasts lately because I know I've got some voracious wild yeasts in the environment and I don't trust samples to be completely untainted by the time they get handled and transferred.

I've tried to stock up on ingredients by buying bulk grain and hops and can brew happily for many batches without a trip to the LHBS...though I realize that I really, really enjoy trips to the LHBS and end up just stopping by there every chance I get. :rolleyes::D
Sounds like me JA but worse lol. I can't buy some yeast without scavenging some for some later use. What do you mean about wild yeast floating around? Have you been experimenting on the wild side of brewing yeast away from saccharomyces and getting some lacto or brettanomyces brews going?
Yep you can never be too careful when preparing yeast starters that you don't inoculate some outsiders as well. I'll be honest at my hombrew level I know some wild bugs have gotta be getting in but the beers are tasting fine so far and practice makes perfect me thinks;).
 
What do you mean about wild yeast floating around?

There are a lot of trees around and the Salt Cedar here in particular seem to harbor some real beasts. I've captured wild cultures very quickly with wort left out either intentionally or by mistake. When these are left to run they don't quite act like sours but rather like wine yeasts with some really pleasant flavor. I left some excess beer in a bucket for too long and got a hell of a re-fermentation. It was heavenly to taste early on but in the heat it turned to nail polish.
 
Same here. If I do use liquid yeast I do 2 or 3 of the same beer over a few months (over growing starters each time) rather than having a fridge full of yeast.
I was listening to a talk from that dude in America the alchemist the heady topper dude. Well he uses Conan yeast in his brews he said first gen is average but around 5-6 generation out of this yeast produces a beautiful beer but after this Sixth or seventh generation from the yeast he says they start to vairy in performance and flavour sorta up and down from one brew to the next. he used to just continue cultivating the yeast onwards above 10+ generations he now just starts again with fresh yeast from gen 7.

So keeping this in mind I'm guessing most of us aren't getting the full potential out of our first pitch of yeast until a few generations in. This is why I'm curious to keep using my saved starter and see if I get any better or worse flavours attenuation or floculation out of the yeast.. Hey if the big guys do it why can't I.

I know Noseybear has a microscope to check for bad bacteria in his cultures but then again I'd not know what I was looking for lol. Have you noticed any baddies in your yeast cultures @Nosybear ?o_O
 
You're probably right @Trialben. I would be more inclined to go further if I could steralise the gear rather than sanitise (big difference when talking yeast.....). The 'big guys' generally only go up to about gen 7 or 8 (I know of some brands that only allow 4) then recultivate their yeast.
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Sanitising leaves behind bacteria spores that will grow with your yeast. If you can steralise that kills spores as well. A pressure cooker is a good way to do it but I've never got round to getting that involved. I figure one or two generations won't build up enough bacteria to cause me too many issues with sanitization only, but that's why I don't go higher.
 
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I'm not culturing yeast. I've had the idea to do so but haven't, at least for beer (I do have a few "wild" sourdough starters lurking about in various refrigerators). Someone above noted that all beer is contaminated. That's true and it's why we only normally age big beers - the alcohol content is high enough to keep the baddies knocked down. I was drinking an October 2015 vintage 7.5% beer a couple nights ago, still very good. There are undoubtedly bad boys lurking in there but in the anaerobic, alcoholic, hoppy conditions, they can't grow.
 
The Coopers yeast is a tricky beast , any questions with it you can ask me anything you like ...think I've worked it out !
I was perusing your recipe line up the other day Mark how do you think your little creatures pale ale would go crossed with coopers ale yeast? I see recipe calls for Us05 same as Stone and Wood I've found through different sources even though the floculation is high:rolleyes:.
 
I was perusing your recipe line up the other day Mark how do you think your little creatures pale ale would go crossed with coopers ale yeast? I see recipe calls for Us05 same as Stone and Wood I've found through different sources even though the floculation is high:rolleyes:.
Probably very well indeed , provided you keep the temps low (17) through the main fermentation the esters will be mild enough to complement the fruitier hops .
I've been toying with doing a batch of my house Rye XPA with Coopers yeast due to similar ester profile between that and 1272 anyway ( and its cheaper and comes with free beer and extra bottles )
 
I've not become accustomed to this yeast yet I'm drinking my first pints from the stone and wood batch ATM it seams pretty rounded a nice ale some esters I thinko_O but enjoyable not as clean as the Chico strains but has plenty of character. Will find how this goes in my throw together ale it's at 80% attenuation so far gravity = 1.008 four days into fermentation I've upped temp to 20c FG is supposed to be 1.006 I think this may be achievable at this present fermentation progress I'll dry hop this soon with equal amounts of Fuggles and cascade then Leave for five Days hopefully I'll have drunk a keg dry by then;):p.
 

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