Saving East Coast Yeast

[derfburg]

I now have a few different stains of ECY going. I would like to save and reuse at a later date. I have been looking around and did a search on here too. I see two methods and just want to know what would be the best route to use. Since there are bugs involved.

1. Freeze in small vials and do starters, but would throw off the %'s of bugs to yeast. Could be stored longer and use more often. Just not sure I would get all the good stuff.

2. Save the yeast cake in plastic bottles, pitch that into new beers. Seems like you would have to use faster but much easier than above.

List of yeast I would like to save:
ECY02 Flemish Ale (made a Flanders Red)
ECY08 Saison Brasserie Blend (just got, Thinking RYE Saison)
ECY19 Brettanomyces Custersianus (not used yet)
ECY30 Brett Naardenensis (made using Flanders grain bill)

Thanks for the help with this.

[brewinhard]

One cool tip I got from Bugeater on here was to make a starter with the original vial about 500 mL more than you need for the brew you are prepping for. Let it ferment to completion, then before cold crashing it to drop out the yeast, give your starter a good swirl to fully disperse the yeast and pour off 500 mL into a sanitized mason jar with a slightly tightened lid. Put this in the fridge and over the course of the next couple weeks be sure to check for any pressure buildup and degas the container by loosening the lid to release any CO2 buildup if necessary. After a while you can screw the lid on more tightly. You now have a fresh generation of yeast to make a starter with down the road when needed. I have reused yeast like this several mos later with great results providing your sanitation practices are up to par.

As far as the sour blends are concerned I have simply saved a quart slurry directly from the primary fermenter (from a low hopped beer) with some of the beer still on top. Some say these can be left at room temps following the same procedures as above. I have always felt more comfortable with them in the fridge and have had good results doing so. If some slurry is needed to add to a secondary then simply sanitize the lid and opening of the jar and pour some of the slurry into the fermenter. I do not recommend making a starter on a stir plate with sour blends because the bacteria does not reproduce well in the presence of oxygen. If a starter is needed then be sure to minimize splashing and use an airlock for better results.

[derfburg]

Thank you, that is kind of what I was thinking but wanted another opinion.

The starter w/500ml extra is a great idea too. I will be doing that from here on out.