My LHBS is charging around $4.50 each. Is this high?
Yes!
I pay $2.75 now and it used to be $1.50 a couple years ago. But aging so were hops…
If you have a vacuum sealer, you could buy the 500 g bricks. They run about the equivalent of $1 a sachet.
Sean, how long does this keep in vacuo?? I want a goodly stash of s-189,
My LHBS is charging $3.75 for US05, $3.50 for S04. Since the price hike I mostly just spend an extra few bucks and go for the liquid yeasts, although I keep a pack of each on hand for emergencies. I reuse yeast so it generally ends up only costing a buck or so a batch.
I’ve got the best deal. Free from the slant in my fridge (actually 1056, not US-05, though). Also, 1450, 1084, WLP023, 1007, 3068, & 1214.
The rule of thumb is that vacuum packed and at refrigerator temps, viability drops by 4%/month. I don’t know that I agree that that’s accurate, or at least that it’s constant. Our stash of dry yeast at the brewery is closing in on its 2-year date, and I’m not picking up any of the off-flavors I’d expect from pitching yeast that was only ~40% viable. With two years being the published expiration date, I’d say you should be fine for at least that long.
So its around $50 a brick? You’d probably spend that much more on the vacuum bags. That’d take you upwards of $2 a pack.
How long does it take to raise up a batch from a single colony? I’d expect you would need to really plan ahead.
Around $3.95 at my LHBS.
How much do you spend in DME to increase the population to a pitchable size, i.e., equivalent to a Wyeast smack pack?
With a slant, you’re not raising up from a single colony (that’s usually what you use plates (petri dishes) for). I grab a couple of loopfuls from the slant and put it into a 12ml vial with 10ml of wort in it. Give that a day and then dump that into a quarter-pint jar of wort. Give that a day and then dump it into a 500ml flask along with an additional pint of wort and stir plate it. Give that a day or two and then dump it into a 2L flash along with an additional quart of wort and stir plate it until ready to brew.
So all in all, maybe about a week.
$0.00. I don’t use DME for anything. My starter wort is whatever’s left over after I brew a batch (pressure canned). Just happened to be talking about that earlier today in another thread… http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=5414.msg65747#msg65747
I figured it would take a week, I was freezing small amounts (2ml) of yeast for awhile and it would take a good week to get them grown up too.
I use 90g of light DME for a 1L starter thats 1.030. At $4/lb thats about $0.80 per starter.
Thanks. Wow, now I’m intrigued. I have to admit that it sounds a bit daunting not having ever done it though. I’ll read the other thread. Can you recommend a book or tutorial laying out the process of making a slant?
It’s pretty simple really. Kai’s site has some good info…
http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Making_Plates_and_Slants
…and the one main thing I do differently is that I don’t mix the agar up and then put it into the vials like he describes. For me, the agar would start to solidify too early and clog the syringe. Instead, I measure 0.25 grams of agar powder into each vial and then add 5 ml wort. Do as many as you want that way and then continue on with the process he describes.
I haven’t priced them out individually, but we just bought 20 bricks and it came to just under $600. So the equivalent of $2 a pack is probably a conservative estimate. That’s still half price. Could be a good group buy for a club or something.
$2.40 at my LHBS. They do mailorder.
http://www.brewbrothers.biz/
Now that’s what I call cheap and easy. You can’t go wrong with S05 and for that price you have to love it.
Great deal!
If you didn’t want to go quite that far, try pricing out an order of 20 or so packets on one of the mail-order sites with flat or low shipping rates for small items. Williams discounts dry yeast in quantities of 12 or higher, so it’s $2.65/packet plus $6.50 shipping to my zone, anyway. So for 40 packets:
Products: $116.00
Discounts: $-10.00
Shipping: $6.50
Tax: $0.00
Total: $112.50
Personally, I find that focusing on improving my efficiency has given me an extra dollar or two in savings per batch, and I go through phases (make liquid-yeast starters, use dry, repitch, etc.). But it’s your money!
I like ritebrew.com for bulk dry yeast. They have a good selection and cheap USPS shipping.
Example: US-O5 is $2.89/pack. If you buy 10 packs the price drops to $2.49/pack. Shipping via usps for 10 packs: $3.35.
They have a good selection also: Dry Beer Yeast
Labelpeelers.com has good dry yeast prices and free shipping. They are good when you just need one pack! They only have Fermentis and Lallemand. No Mangrove Jacks.