Looking to harvest some yeast and wash some other yeast and was curious if you can store in plastic containers? I have several 2oz plastic breast milk (new parents) storage containers that would be perfect, just not sure if plastic will be ok? Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks!
i just washed some yeast from yesterday’s bottling. i used pint glass jars because that’s what i have on hand(no where near new parent) and there is plenty of space. 2oz containers seem a bit small but i don’t know for sure. it seems if the containers are washed well and sanitized they should work.
Two ounces is definitely too small for dealing with the amount of yeast you will need for a batch of beer.
I would suggest working with glass canning jars. I use the really big two quart size just because the one quart size can be a little small sometimes.
Kinda what I figured, but wanted to re-use stuff lying around before buying new stuff if possible. Thanks!
I bought a 12 pack 8 oz canning jars at my local supermarket for less than $8. They work great.
Plastic is fine as long as it seals tightly. I use large plastic collapsible jugs at brewery. Mason jars for homebrew. Make sure the lid it not tight on glass jars containing brewers years.
I’ve done a yeast swap with a homebrewer that cultures yeast, and he uses these:
I’m probably going to pick some up so I can give out / trade slurry at NHC.
I don’t think there’s a problem using the breast milk containers. Just keep in mind that you will need a few if you intend to save a whole pitch worth of slurry. If you plan on regrowing them in starters, then these are probably an ideal size.
I use the bags intended for freezing breast milk to freeze wort for starters. They’re about eight ounces and I can usually get four of them filled from just letting the grain bags drain into a bowl.
For yeast, though, I’ve always just poured the yeast cake into Rubbermaid 1-liter plastic storage bottles. Unless you have a more precise procedure, I would think pouring into a two ounce container could get messy.
All that said, there’s no reason you couldn’t use them to store yeast if you want to. I agree that they would be a good size for growing in a starter.
Plastic’s ok for your baby’s milk but YOUR beer’s yeast?
Just wait until you get the 5 and 8 ounce sizes(oh yeah you will) they will be much better, I don’t use the small ones. They have it marked off in ml too. They work great. When baby food comes along those glass jars work great for hops and other things, I use all the sizes of those.
I just store in ziplock bags that fit in a container to give it shape. Never had a problem…