Good idea for a group this one.  I'm just about to get a freezer space dedicated to brewing - so I'll have room to keep a small yeast bank away from the frozen bread, lamb roasts and kids iceblocks!

Strains I've currently got access to (either underway brewing or stored in the fridge under sterile water) are:

WY 3522, WY 1318, WY 1084, WY 2782, WL 833, WL 029,

I don't do anything very complicated at the moment - just wash with sterilised water and store in the fridge though I'm keen to know more about slants/ freezing et al. particularly if a few of us are looking to send these around the country. 

hi tilt,would you mind telling me a bit more about storing in distilled water-how much yeast do you store,building a starter,keeping the master going etc.

it sounds like a good method,i've read it stays good for 6 months when stored at room temperature,but i'm unsure about a few of the details.

cheers

martin

Hey Martin,

I'm don't use distilled water - just sterilised tap water. Generally I save about 125ml washed 1st gen slurry from my first beer with a yeast in a 250ml jar stored under water in the fridge.  When I make a starter I take half of this and kick it off with 50-100ml of 1030-40 wort.  The time it takes to start up depends on how long its been stored.  I then split the cake of the second gen post brew into 2 and use one half straight away while storing a second "library yeast" jar for subsequent brews.  The remaining half of the original 1st gen slurry I keep as a more pure source and get into this if I pick up an infection of I notice changes in character I don't like. I haven't been doing this for long enough (< 2 years) to warrant anything more complicated.  The longest time I've stored yeast without using so far has been 14months and its taken about 2 1/2 weeks from first rousing to a have a 2L ready to go ale yeast pitch.  I use a stir plate too that visibly increased my yeast volume when I started using it.

My system isn't particularly complicated - but seems to work for now.  I s'pose I'm also not too fussed about investing heaps of time and effort in it because if I get a dud lot then I'll chuck it - there's plenty of other tasty yeasts out there to try.

at the moment i have the following-

wlp 011 european ale

wlp 566  saison 2

wlp 862 cry havoc

wlp 838 southern german lager

wy1010 american wheat

wy1762 belgian abbey 2

wy2487 helle bock

wy3068 weizen

wy 3728 farmhouse ale

How are you storing these yeasts Martin?  I'm not sure of the best way to be sending strains around the country unless they're in slants (i.e in a relatively stable medium - agar or gelatin).  

It might be good to discuss and decide as a group on some sort of relatively easy yet reliable  method to use.

hi tilt,i store mine on slants,i have been doing a bit of reading on storing in distilled water as it sounds like a good method. so far the trades i've done have been slants sent and received,doesn't seem to bother the yeasties and it's easy to re-slant when they arrive,my slants are made with gelatin. i'm personally not to bothered how i receive the yeast,as i'd just slant it when it arrived so i'm open to whatever suits the group.

Slants sound a good way to go.  Does it take much to get set up for using them?  Where do you get your gear from - tubes, gelatin etc?

That all sounds pretty easy to access then. 

Re the bulk buy option - anyone else interested in a "getting set up for slants" bulk buy from labwarehouse or alphatech?

We could then look to kick this group off into an active collective.

i was looking to get some more screwtop vials from labwarehouse maybe 50.i'm open to others though if anyone has any other preferences

Does anyone have wy1764 (pacman)?

Hi guys

I am looking to start my yeast library, just about to order all the lab equipment required, but was wondering about "borrowing" a slant of whatever everyone has, if I offer to keep a number of slants for whoever wants them in the future? Short of that, I'm looking for anyone to do a bulk buy with some other users?

do you mean borrowing the strain or the actual slant?i'm due to reslant my collection soon so you can have whichever strain/s you want as long as your in no rush-i'm building my own place at the moment so my brewing activities have been dormant for a while

keen to be involved.

I got prices for everything from the ellerslie place but ran out of time and cash , reinterested again ,   also interested in the gycol and freeze method.

Hey Peter, what place in Ellerslie? Ive been on trademe (with mixed luck) & found a couple of companies that sell to the education sector (luckily I have a couple of teacher mates, so will get them at extreme discount)

Martin, really I will only need the strain, after that I will make my own streaks & slants. I am looking to just use the refrigeration method, so I'm well aware that I will need to re-slant every 6 months. What strains do you have?

Up till now I have always used dry yeasts & hydrated them prior to pitching, the need came about to do this when I started making an imperial stout & suddenly the yeast bill alone was $21 for a 23L batch

http://www.alphatech.co.nz/

I rang them and they must supply brewing industry....  they had everything I wanted...

agree they have good stuff too but I live close to Alpha so there was a) no freight costs and b) I could go and eyeball the goods.    If we really wanted enough I think Allibaba may also be a good option...

Just out of curiosity, most of the instructional videos I have seen use 12ml Screw cap Vials, what do you guys use for your slants?

i use screw cap vials from labwarehouse,not sure what size-they were the cheapest ones

you can slant anything,your reheydrated yeast will work,any bottled conditioned beer(strain id might be an issue though) slurry from someone elses brew etc what type of strains are you looking for?theyre tucked away at the back of the fridge at the moment

Hi, thanks for the info Martin.

I will start with the dry yeasts that I have here, that'll be things like US-05, T-58 & a couple of the mangrove jacks strains.

I am after some Wheat beer yeast, a couple of lager yeasts (will be moving to lagering in the next few months) & any english ale yeast strains. Cheers :)

I have 2 Wyeast larger yeasts in live prod, I have 2124 under a james p beer (will be another 3-4 weeks before rack) and the munch larger 2308, both have done one gen after big 5L+ starters.    I am racking off the 2308 and will brew another lager possibly tonight, maybe tomorrow if home early enough.   I will collect a large jar for you and put into fridge if you are interested PM me.   I plan to keep both online going forward.   The hydro sample from the munich helles tastes real nice, no off flavours.

Hi ,  I am after a bottle of beer that used 1084 irish ale yeast to build up a starter from,  I can swap for a bottle of lager   either 2124 or 2308...

PM me thanks if keen

I have some Wyeast 1275 Thames valley ale    looking to swap for  some WL530 Abbey ale yeast for my leffe clone...  PM me 

also have wyeast london ale and 1272 both still in smack pack,   can break open and do starters if anyone interested in a a swap    AKL based

I have a bottle of 1/2 trub 1/2 beer from a wit I brewed a while back with wyeast 3463 Forbidden Fruit in the fridge that I had been saving. But I have completely gone off Belgian style beers. So free to a good home. I'm guessing its been there 6 months to a year so should still have plenty of live yeast for a re culture if anyone wants it.

In Napier.

Has anyone in AKL got any Wyeast 1007 German ale yeast they could swap? 

I have or will have in next few weeks a bit of 565, 007 , 3711 ,1968 (London ESB), 3068, MJ27 I am looking to re acquire 1084 and any UK ale yeasts ....   PM me

Hi peter, I will have some WLP 530 ready in a few weeks as I'm also doing a leffe clone this weekend.. I'm looking for some WYEAST 3068 for my first attempt at a Belgian wheat..

Hi all, I'm keen on any lager, Belgian or English ale strains. I currently have (all WY)

1272

1010

1214

3944

2000

2278

3726

2487

1968

1275

3068

I'm in Dunedin for a local trade, or happy to swap by post (have done this before). 

Cheers

I have a few for you 

What have you got Peter?

Ones you dont have and ones that I think are clean

I have clean never  under beer Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale

I have WL 802 czech lager (so far my fav lager yeast after trying a few others....)   def under beer but love this yeast

have WL 565 bel saison (almost a BPA imho) makes a good BPA/Saison drops real clean

I will send you bottles of beer, lets them clear carb as per instruction and if you think they are clean harvest 

would love a beer with 1275 under it thats clean

over in London UK

Posts on Yeast Banking:

• Available yeasts
• Yeast Banking I: Managing a large bank
• Yeast Banking II: Methods to manage the bank
• Yeast Banking III: Stepping up to pitchable amounts
• Yeast Banking IV: Simple step-up table