Yeast starter longevity

[mrbubba213]

I have a yeast starter that I made about 7 days ago. The intention was to brew a few days ago, but things happened and it didn't work out. About a few days after the initial starter i added more wort to get a bigger starter. There really is no visible fermentation going on, and with work I won't be able to brew till maybe Christmas. I put it in the refrigerator tonight, and would think that it would be ok till then? Am I correct in this assumption? It's in it's sanitized air locked home and should be able to be taken out the night before brew day and rock on.

[spiderwrangler]

It depends. At the very least, I'd want to do a rinse and put them through another starter closer to when you want to brew.

[Ozwald]

About a few days after the initial starter i added more wort to get a bigger starter. There really is no visible fermentation going on, and with work I won't be able to brew till maybe Christmas.

A little clarification, you added more wort to the starter after it finished the 1st time around? Did you decant the beer from it 1st? The 1st time was normal & when you added more wort nothing happened? Just trying to understand the situation a little better.

I put it in the refrigerator tonight, and would think that it would be ok till then? Am I correct in this assumption? It's in it's sanitized air locked home and should be able to be taken out the night before brew day and rock on.

Again, did you decant the beer from the starter?

Definitely rinse it, regardless of the answers to my questions. If you're going to store it in the fridge for a few weeks that's absolutely fine, but you need to rinse it out first & store it under sterile, deoxygenated water. When you do your rinse, transfer your pitch into a sterile (or at the very least sanitized) mason jar. The yeast will floc out & give you that nice protective water barrier. Use foil while it's cooling, but you can safely cap them with the regular lid after it's down at fridge temp. I have jars in the back of my fridge that are 2+ years old with plenty of viable cells in them for resurection. Hard to tell how far they've mutated until I finally get around to pulling each out, but the 1 jar I did pull recently was completely fine & tasted great. It's also a local wild yeast from our Sourdough Creek, which is probably giving me a bunch of wiggle room as far as mutation, but it's definitely not infected with any sort of bacteria. The others are 1056 (my biggest worry of the bunch), the Ommegang strain & 2 more jars that are escaping me at the moment - and I'm just too lazy to go look at the moment.

Edit: Don't store it with an airlock in the fridge. First, the cooling process is likely to suck liquid & air into the vessel. Second, an airlock sticking up in the fridge is just asking to be bumped & those rubber stoppers don't always stay in so well, especially when they get cold or there's a bit of sani between them and the glass. I've knocked a few off. Foil is plenty good enough.

[spiderwrangler]

Another thing to be mindful of if it's an issue with your fridge (as it is with ours), storing yeast in the back of the fridge can be problematic if your fridge cools unevenly where things in the back tend to freeze and thaw.

[Ozwald]

Another thing to be mindful of if it's an issue with your fridge (as it is with ours), storing yeast in the back of the fridge can be problematic if your fridge cools unevenly where things in the back tend to freeze and thaw.

Oh yes. I adjusted my shelves so that I can put 750's on the top shelf, the bottom shelf is just barely big enough for SN bottles & the middle shelf is super narrow. Pint mason jars of yeast or barely 2 egg cartons stacked. With my particular fridge that middle shelf stays just right for yeast on the back wall.

[adamK]

It's also a local wild yeast from our Sourdough Creek, which is probably giving me a bunch of wiggle room as far as mutation, but it's definitely not infected with any sort of bacteria. The others are 1056 (my biggest worry of the bunch), the Ommegang strain & 2 more jars that are escaping me at the moment - and I'm just too lazy to go look at the moment.

What have you made with that? That sounds pretty interesting.

I thought for short term (such as described here) it was best to store the yeast under beer, and rinse closer to use. I thought I remember that from a Brew Strong, though have no idea when. I think it had to do with the transfer "waking up" the yeast which could cause them to use their glycogen reserves, which then cannot be built again with the water. I trust your experience more than my memory, but am now curious.

[Ozwald]

It's also a local wild yeast from our Sourdough Creek, which is probably giving me a bunch of wiggle room as far as mutation, but it's definitely not infected with any sort of bacteria. The others are 1056 (my biggest worry of the bunch), the Ommegang strain & 2 more jars that are escaping me at the moment - and I'm just too lazy to go look at the moment.

What have you made with that? That sounds pretty interesting.

I thought for short term (such as described here) it was best to store the yeast under beer, and rinse closer to use. I thought I remember that from a Brew Strong, though have no idea when. I think it had to do with the transfer "waking up" the yeast which could cause them to use their glycogen reserves, which then cannot be built again with the water. I trust your experience more than my memory, but am now curious.

Don't let me forget about this again, I just looked at the clock & gotta run to work. I'll edit this out with a real answer later this morning, if I remember.

[adamK]

Don't let me forget about this again, I just looked at the clock & gotta run to work. I'll edit this out with a real answer later this morning, if I remember.

This is a bump reminder...