Yeast Culturing (temperature and viable life)

[GobeBardelli]

Hello! I'm a new home brewer, and I got a few doubt's about yeast culturing;

I'm planning to save some money by start harvesting yeast in petri-plates or flasks and storing them in a controled temperature.

I read a lot about that, but in none of the articles I've read I've found info's about the viable life of a yeast culture stored at the right temperature?

Here goes the doubts:

1) which is the best temperature to keep the yeast colognes and to guarantee a healthy and good "sleep"?
2) If I keep this temperature, how long can my cologne can last?
3) Do I need to propagate the yeast cultures after that they have grown, and than store them in vials like the liquid yeasts from White Labs (this is just an exemple of a vial flask, actually it's the first exemple that came up to my mind!) to guarantee that they will be able to live longer in a healthy enviroment?


There is any article, book or even a post that you can recomend about this issues?

Thank you!

Marcos Bardelli - Curitiba, Brazil

 

[ColoHox]

Hello! I'm a new home brewer, and I got a few doubt's about yeast culturing;

I'm planning to save some money by start harvesting yeast in petri-plates or flasks and storing them in a controled temperature.

I read a lot about that, but in none of the articles I've read I've found info's about the viable life of a yeast culture stored at the right temperature?

Here goes the doubts:

1) which is the best temperature to keep the yeast colognes and to guarantee a healthy and good "sleep"?
2) If I keep this temperature, how long can my cologne can last?
3) Do I need to propagate the yeast cultures after that they have grown, and than store them in vials like the liquid yeasts from White Labs (this is just an exemple of a vial flask, actually it's the first exemple that came up to my mind!) to guarantee that they will be able to live longer in a healthy enviroment?


There is any article, book or even a post that you can recomend about this issues?

Thank you!

Marcos Bardelli - Curitiba, Brazil

Every strain is different, and there is always someone who will chime in and say "well actually, I did this way and it worked fine." But, in general, here are some tips:
1. The best temperature is -80C. That is hard for someone at home, so get as cold as you can.
2. The colder you can store them, the longer they will last. In an average home freezer at about -20C, you could keep a properly stored yeast for a year, maybe longer.
3. The general method for propagation and storage is to grow the yeast in a flask (or similar), cold crash, and decant the liquid. A cryoprotectant such as glycerin/glycerol should be added to about 10% of the total volume of yeast slurry, then harvest the yeast from that flask into freeze-proof tubes for long term storage.

There are many techniques, but that is the overview. The yeast-slanting sticky has many good tips, in addition to various other threads.

 

[GobeBardelli]

Thank you ColoHox, this was really helpfull!