Storing temperature question

Ok, I have nottingham yeast, Irish Ale yeast, and American Ale yeast all harvested sitting in my fridge, which is pretty cold.

I also have a Wine Fridge in my basement, which gets down to around 48 - 50 degress at the lowest. What do you think about storing the yeast in that, is that too warm?

I read somewhere (think it was CW & JZ YEAST book) that it may be possible to even store yeast under water at room temperature without unduly reducing their viability. Depending on how long you intend to keep yeast before using it is most likely not a problem at all.

Ok thanks. The yeast gets stored anywhere from 2 weeks to 3 - 4 months for me. I just wanted to free up some space in our main fridge and put them in that one.

Anyone else have thoughts on this? Just want to make sure that is fine before I move them today.

I would think colder is better. Yeast are asleep below 40, can become active above that. I think asleep is better for storage.

I need to buy a better thermometer, I had planned on using this for kegs as well. If it is indeed 48 - 50 degrees, then I'll have to sell it and get a new one.

jflongo said:

I need to buy a better thermometer, I had planned on using this for kegs as well. If it is indeed 48 - 50 degrees, then I'll have to sell it and get a new one.

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If you are just planning to use it to store kegs that haven't been tapped, that is plenty cold. It may even be too cold for the beer to mature properly.

If you intend to use it for a kegerator, then you might want something colder although many home brews will have great aromas at that temp which they will lose if you chill them more.

RM-MN said:

If you are just planning to use it to store kegs that haven't been tapped, that is plenty cold. It may even be too cold for the beer to mature properly.

If you intend to use it for a kegerator, then you might want something colder although many home brews will have great aromas at that temp which they will lose if you chill them more.

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I had planned on putting a couple of kegs in their with picnic taps. I can store kegs for maturing in my basement, which keeps things around 64 - 66 degrees. I wanted to use this for a couple of kegs for serving and storing yeast.

Main reason is, I already own this. Maybe I should just bite the bullet, sell it, and get another small chest freezer.