I had an offer to have a “mason jar of yeast” given to me by a local brewery. Sounds fun, but not sure how I’d store it, use it, etc. Any thoughts are welcomed!
When I do that, it’s for immediate use.
Regarding the quantity, would a mason jar be overkill in a 5 gallon batch?
Yeah, but remember the volume of yeast they deal with…to them, a mason jar is like a tablespoon to us! Use the amount you think you need, then either toss the rest, or store it under beer in your fridge.
Depends on the size of the mason jar.
Put it in the fridge until you are ready to use it, and you will probably need just a little bit. Maybe 100ml.
Think about how much yeast is in a smack pack or vial.
The yeast you are getting will be a thicker slurry and should be healthy and active.
A general rule is 1.2 x 10⁹ cells/mL for harvested slurry.
If they are giving you pure yeast (no trub, extraneous material, etc) it may be as high as 3 x 10⁹ cells/mL.
How would you use this?
Easy, sanitize the top of the jar, swirl it up, and pour around 100-150 mL of slurry into your next batch of chilled, aerated wort. This amount of course, depends on how soon you use it after the brewery harvested it, what size batch you are brewing, and the OG. Those amounts would be good for a 5.5 gallon batch, up to 1 wk old slurry, and average gravity wort (ie 1.050-1.060).
Do you know what strain it is?
Free Pizza! You don’t know what to do with yeast?..make beer or baguettes…and thank them profusely for their generosity…