So tomorrow my sweetie has volunteered to pick up a full corny keg at a local favorite brewery on her lunch hour. When she dropped the keg off today she found out that she could also collect some yeast if she came in with a mason jar.
Here is my question. If she sterilizes the mason jar and lid tonight, takes it into the brewery during her lunch hour and has it filled; will the yeast be OK in the jar for 4-5 hours before it can be placed in the fridge to store until the next brew day? Should the lid just be loosely closed so that it can off gas if it warms up a bit? Or should I have her take in an Erlenmeyer and air lock? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
It should be fine in a mason jar, but it would be better if you had a little cooler she could keep it in. It might already be pretty warm depending on what stage the beer is in at the brewery, so a cold pack would help too. But even if you can’t do any of that, sticking it in the trunk will keep it cooler than in the car itself.
How long until the next brew day? That might be more of a concern.
It depends a lot on where you are. The trunk in Florida would be the worst place to put yeast.
Keep the lid loose and keep the yeast as cold as possible until she gets home and puts it into the fridge.
Yeah, I’m hoping she has a smalller cooler and cold pack that she can take along as you suggested. Would you close the lid tightly or leave it loose?
The next brew day is likely a couple weeks out. We’ve cranked out (6) 6.5 gallon batches since X-mas and the corny she’s picking up tomorrow will be 5th to go into our new 7.3 cu. ft. Keezer. We need to drain (see drink) one to make room for the next which will be my first forray into the world of all grain. I’m really stoked about the whole deal really! I want to take a shot at a Cascadian Dark Ale clone so I’m REALLY glad to have yeast coming from the brewery that makes the real deal. This site and forum has been tremendously inspiring and helpful!
Really? I would have guessed that with the sun beating down on a parked car the cabin would heat up faster than the trunk, but you live with it so I’ll take your word for it.
Tight or loose, it just depends on how sure you are it won’t spill. Loose is better, but not if it tips over on the drive home. I keep it tight, in a 6-pack cooler, with a cold pack or an ice cube or two if available.
I once picked up a slurry of fresh yeast from my local brewpub. We filled up a quart mason jar and I put it into a cooler with a cold pack then relaxed and had a beer. By the time I got home an hour later the yeast had started to warm up and even with the lid slightly loose it was building up pressure in the jar. So it does depend on the temp the yeast was when harvested - try to match that or keep it even cooler for best results.
I agree, matching it or keeping it cooler is best for yeast health. I wouldn’t worry about the jar though, expansion from warming up isn’t going to be enough to burst a glass jar unless its got a serious flaw. If it hits 100F the yeast are going to be screwed, and the jar should handle that no problem. Or you can use plastic like euge suggests, that works too.
Thanks guys! She’s going to put the jar in a ‘lunch’ cooler and found out she has a fridge at work that she can keep it in until beer thirty.
So a secondary question… How long can one reasonably keep the yeast refrigerated in a sealed Mason jar and expect to be able to make a good healthy starter for pitching? I’m hoping for a couple weeks or so?
A couple of weeks will be no problem. I’ve made starters with yeast from a brewery after it sat for 2 months, and I’m sure it could have gone longer, it was still very vigorous.
Just a thought - in a couple of weeks, when you’re ready to brew, I bet the brewery still has fresh slurry on hand. They’re likely brewing a batch at least once every two weeks, more likely several times a week. The yeast she picks up tomorrow will be fine but there’s nothing like bringing fresh slurry home and using it pronto.
I don’t know if this is normal, but I get yeast quite often from my neighborhood brewery. It’s light and fluffy when we put it in a container and nearly always doubles in size by the time I get it home. Unless I want a yeast bath when opening I give it lots of head space! :o
+1 on euge’s suggestion on using a nalgene or some type of plastic bottle.
there’s always paybacks, that’s why we’ e got the term ‘beer bullets.’ We all think we’ve married well (or why the f*ck did you do it?), but things change. it’s all about balance & partnership. we all have to decide if it’s working or not (and that’s a moving target), but yes… I’d agree… sounds like you married well.
Yes, SHE is a very enthusiastic brewmistress. SHE even sent me a pic of the fresh yeast just after harvest on the way home! Thanks again for all the great pointers folks! OK, now how the heck do you add photos to these posts? img
weird, it always seems to settle and ‘halve’ in size approximately for me. but I put it in a cooler with ice, so maybe you’re is getting warm and causing the expansion.
+1 on plastic if you can - but if you must use mason jars, I would try to not screw the ring part of the lid all the way down, leave it a quarter turn backed off.
Hey Oly,
The Brewmistress was getting one of our Cornies filled with Hopwork’s Secession CDA (my apologies to those averse to this name, at least I kept it to acromym) and she asked about yeast for homebrewers. She said they were more than happy to oblige. I can’t remember the Wyeast number off the top of my head but I looked it up and it’s a London Ale III and she said that the brewer mentioned that it was their standard ale yeast.
Cheers!
