Shelf life

[Steve B]

I'd like to order some supplies, and economize by one shipment, or go with
someone who has free shipping over $XX.

What is the shelf life and best storage medium for:

LME
DME
HOPS
YEAST

TIA

Steve

[T.J. Higgins]

Post by Steve B
I'd like to order some supplies, and economize by one shipment, or go with
someone who has free shipping over $XX.
LME
DME
HOPS
YEAST

I would not try to store LME long-term. There have been a few
exceptions, but I can almost always tell a beer that is from LME
due to the oxidized flavor, aka "that homebrew twang (THT)."

DME keeps for years if you keep it dry and away from the insects
and rodents. Refrigeration works well.

Hops can keep a couple of years or more if frozen, especially if
they are in the vacuum-sealed packets.

Dry yeast can be stored nearly indefinitely at room temperature.
Liquid yeast does not store well long-term.

[Steve Bonine]

Post by T.J. Higgins
Liquid yeast does not store well long-term.

Amen.

We have a "brew supply store" in my small town. I put it in quotes
because it's mostly a place to buy wine-making supplies, and it doesn't
get enough traffic from local beer brewers to insure fresh inventory.
When I shop there I try to be aware of this and only buy things that
don't need to be fresh, or check the date on what I do buy. ("Things
that don't need to be fresh" include caps, carboys, and such.)

A few weeks ago I "bought" a couple of smack packs. The owner actually
gave them to me because he said they were old. I realized when I got
home that I had mis-read the manufacturing date; I hadn't looked
carefully at the _year_ and they were more than a year old. I decided
to try making a starter from them, just as an experiment.

They were both completely dead. No activity at all in the starter.

I know I'm preaching to the choir, but two things I re-learned from this
experience. (1) Pay attention to the expiration/manufacture date when
you buy supplies (2) be sure your yeast is viable before pitching it.

[Steve B]

Post by T.J. Higgins
Dry yeast can be stored nearly indefinitely at room temperature.
Liquid yeast does not store well long-term.
--
TJH

Upon reading about this more, I read that people harvest yeast, and if they
brew often enough, do not use new yeast. Seems like it would be possible,
but also easy to contaminate, or have a strain go weak or sour on you.
Anyone do this?

Steve

[Doug Freyburger]

Post by Steve B
Upon reading about this more, I read that people harvest yeast, and if they
brew often enough, do not use new yeast. Seems like it would be possible,
but also easy to contaminate, or have a strain go weak or sour on you.
Anyone do this?

I watched the TV show Brewmasters for a while. Professional brewers
culture their own yeast and they typically keep several cultures at
different locations in case one of their cultures go bad. I don't think
any of the brewing friends I've met in person do that.

One of my hobbies is old stuff, as in before ale brewing standardized on
hops. I tend to brew by volume so I don't target consistancy. I do
different recipes each time anyways. This year I brewed a batch
bittered with woodruff instead of hops. It's been very popular with
everyone who has tried it. Last week I went through my herbalist's home
garden and she promised me a goodly double handfull of fresh mead sweet
aka meadow sweet leaves next year. In exchange for several liters of
the resulting brew of course, same deal as this year. Now I know what
I'll be brewing next spring. Bittered with meadow sweet instead of
hops. Maybe with a darker malt than the amber woodruff I am now
starting to run low on.

Anyways, keeping my own sorta sourdough starter looking culture thing
and using it to pitch a batch would match my hobby of old stuff. Not
this year but maybe someday.

[Dan Logcher]

Post by Steve B

Post by T.J. Higgins
Dry yeast can be stored nearly indefinitely at room temperature.
Liquid yeast does not store well long-term.
--
TJH

Upon reading about this more, I read that people harvest yeast, and if they
brew often enough, do not use new yeast. Seems like it would be possible,
but also easy to contaminate, or have a strain go weak or sour on you.
Anyone do this?

I often re-use yeast from a previous batch by scooping half a Ball jar worth
from primary. Cap it and put in the fridge, occasionally releasing the pressure.
Remove from fridge when you start brewing and you will see bubbles resume soon
after it warms up..

I have re-used yeast two times in a row, but tend to dump after that. You can
get a mutated strain after a while. For best results you need to practice yeast
washing.

[Steve Bonine]

Post by Dan Logcher
I have re-used yeast two times in a row, but tend to dump after that.
You can
get a mutated strain after a while. For best results you need to
practice yeast
washing.

I find that pouring a new beer right over the yeast cake from the batch
I just racked to secondary provides a very vigorous fermentation for the
second batch; the yeast cake operates like a large starter for the
second batch. Like you, I am uncomfortable using yeast more than twice.

I don't go to the trouble to try to save yeast by washing or other
techniques. Yeast is cheap; unless there's a reason to maintain a
specific strain, it isn't worth my time to fiddle with it. I'm a klutz;
the risk of introducing an infection during the process hugely offsets
the cost of new yeast.

[Dan Logcher]

Post by Steve Bonine

Post by Dan Logcher
I have re-used yeast two times in a row, but tend to dump after that.
You can
get a mutated strain after a while. For best results you need to
practice yeast
washing.

I find that pouring a new beer right over the yeast cake from the batch
I just racked to secondary provides a very vigorous fermentation for the
second batch; the yeast cake operates like a large starter for the
second batch. Like you, I am uncomfortable using yeast more than twice.
I don't go to the trouble to try to save yeast by washing or other
techniques. Yeast is cheap; unless there's a reason to maintain a
specific strain, it isn't worth my time to fiddle with it. I'm a klutz;
the risk of introducing an infection during the process hugely offsets
the cost of new yeast.

Its true, but some people are interested in yeast usage. I know a brewer
that does yeast washing, then supended in geletin and froze it. He pulled
out a cube and made a viable starter a month later.

If I know I'm doing back to back batches, I'll reuse the yeast cake or save
a jar worth for the next.. but I did ruin one batch by going to far. So if
you're uncertain, don't risk it. If you want to get into yeast farming,
there's lots to learn.

[Dan Logcher]

Post by Steve B
I'd like to order some supplies, and economize by one shipment, or go with
someone who has free shipping over $XX.
LME
DME
HOPS
YEAST

LME sealed in 1/2 gallon jugs for months to a year.
DME sealed in vacuum 1#-3# bags room temp for a year+
HOPS sealed in 1oz vacuum bags in freezer for years
YEAST in packet (dried) in fridge for years (has date on it)

Putting LME in the freezer will length the shelf life, but you
should use vacuum bags for that.