Yeast need culture - homebrewing and cloning yeast.

[tartredarrow]

Yeast can mutate. Culturing your own yeast means the stuff you get in the vial is not the same as what you're culturing after a few generations.

[jfo1229a]

I'm sorry, I fell asleep, YOUR FRICKING BORING AS HELL!!

Get Off Youtube!!

[WombatHide]

Thanks merddyn2002 this video is really well done .and also you don't assume people know anything about it already meaning i can actually follow what your saying

[Mitchell556]

Awesome video Merddyn! I've just started using liquid yeast from my local home brew shop and they are about $8.50 a pop. Defiantly going to use this trick from now on! Thanks again for all your awesome help!

[AcuStick1988]

What's the difference (quality/ease) between cloning yeast the way you are demonstrating versus catching it when transferring from your primary to your secondary carboy? like this guy does

[AcuStick1988]

What's the difference (quality/ease) between cloning yeast the way you are demonstrating versus catching it when transferring from your primary to your secondary carboy? like this guy does

[ThomasPaine3]

How much liquid yeast do I need to make one gallon of Mead ?

[shnooks85]

your going to get some serious mutations after about 5-6 generations, try using slants to store yeast long term.

[ruellan2003]

great video..thanks... i am trying to cultivate yeasts from diff fruits and raisins

[bowmasterpigo13]

hey wat type of fruit can u use and i can only buy bakers yeast is that bad thanks for posting 5 stars

[hkbais]

You have a lot to learn

[merddyn2002]

wtf are you talking about?

[HomeDistiller]

sterilization. you need to be spot on. or you WILL get an infection. you need to boil your juice, autoclave (heat in over at about 150°C for about 40mins) everything that will come in contact with the yeast. and you should work close to a flame so the up draft will pull any bacteria that could fall into the culture up and away.

you have some bad practices there.

[merddyn2002]

@HomeDistiller The methods you describe will work and that level of sterilization is needed for things like growing/culturing mushrooms at home but not for this level of home brew. If you start with a pre-packaged product it's already sterile from the manufacturer. so long as you sterilize the equip that comes in contact with the yeast you're golden. I've been doing this for years and never needed flamer sterilization or an autoclave. Boiling is not needed for pre-packaged stuff.

[HomeDistiller]

@merddyn2002 you are right but better to be safe than sorry.. and why did you not outline that in your video? you didn't even mention sterilization, you used what looked like a dirty bottle and you had the dregs of a juice bottle. i would only use juice right from the bottle if i had just opened it.. flaming and autoclaving IS necessary if you wish to reuse the yeast more than about 5 generations.. you are asking for mutations and infections otherwise

[suprchunk]

@merddyn2002 I think he is talking about your poor practices. Plastic screw-top container? No sterilization whatsoever, especially on the regular Welch's grape juice - why you would use that is beyond me to begin with. There is a lot of stuff that you may have done, but you did not mention it - towards keeping your environment clean and free of bacteria. But you did all this at a computer so I would assume that you didn't follow any cleaning/sterilizing practices. The intent is good though.

[merddyn2002]

@suprchunk nope, you're right. i didn't mention that at all. good sanitary practices are 2nd nature to me. I talk about sanitation practices in other videos. I'm not going to go over the same material in every video. I make a habit of talking about that in the more recent videos, but this video was done some time ago. I used welches grape juice in the video because it's readily available anywhere in the world.

[suprchunk]

@merddyn2002 Fair enough, but a mention of it is imperative to new people to brewing. Especially for yeast harvesting. I don't like discouraging new people from continuing to brew. And if they fail miserably because something critically important was not mentioned they tend to pack up and move on to something else.

[merddyn2002]

@suprchunk I agree and based on our conversation I've added a note to the front of the video talking about just that. When you get a chance have a look at the note (it's in the very front of the video) and let me know what you think. Aside from re-shooting the video which isn't really an option at the moment the included note should help draw attention to the situation. I think i will make future plans to re-do this video and include those steps. thanks for the input. it's appreciated.

[suprchunk]

@merddyn2002 Looks good to me brother.

[merddyn2002]

@suprchunk Keep in mind one of my largest viewing audiences is in countries where alcohol is highly illegal. these folks can't even order proper stuff over the internet. For the benefit of those folks I tend to use things in these videos that even they can get ahold of. This video in particular was geared specifically toward them because getting quality yeast is VERY difficult for them. I should make a note of that on the video itself.

[suprchunk]

@merddyn2002 You definitely should note that you are helping people to circumvent laws in their country. Especially since you mention that is you intent.

[rainstormaeroponics]

thanks mate ive got some super yeast im gonna try grow:)

[dbrannon79]

Great info, I'd never thought about using juice!

I have a question about the different yeast strands. what would happen if several different strands or types of yeast were mixed together in a culture like in your video? can that be a good result? or bad?

thanks

[merddyn2002]

never done it but I hear it's been done. I tend to leave the microbe experimentation to those in a lab. they have better toys for that sort of thing.

[fileboy4u]

The videos are great! I was wondering, is it possible to culture yeast from a bottle of beer? So that in effect you would end up with the same yeast that was used to brew that beer.

[merddyn2002]

you might be able to do that from a small micro-brewery beer. I've heard stories of that working. Big commercial beer companies consider their yeast strains to be trade secrets so they do everything they can to kill all yeast cells in a brew.

[fileboy4u]

Thanks, I was thinking along the lines of a Micro-brew. I dont know anyone who wants to reproduce BUD... LOL

[bangingmyhead]

First, thanks for the entertaining and informative videos. I'm about to start my first brew. I'm thinking I should add a cup or so of sugar before I add my yeast, to get a bit higher alcohol volume. Have you tried that and does it work well? Also, you did not go through the complete process in your super simple winemaking videos. Will I need to use, once the fermentation is complete, the campden tablets and the potassium sorbate? Also, are you clarifying your simple wine? Thanks

[merddyn2002]

glad you enjoy the videos. The point of the super simple videos is to keep it simple so i don't go into things like campden tablets and potassium sorbate. If you let it go for a full month the yeast should be dead from lack of sugar. If you want to clarify it or make sure fermentation is done just freeze and thaw it.

[kellyndryanchunk]

I got a shed full of booz now thanks2your videos mate.finished my 1st batch ribena wine 2day(tastes like port!) and its bottled up.cider is nearly done aswell wicked strenth on the cider hammer style,i have thanks2you15 5 ltr batches bubbling away in shed(ran out of room they was in kitchen)er-in-doors didnt like them in there lol i riged up an oil radiator and itson mediun setting,room temp in there.i,ve put the cider on the floor were its cooler and darker,is the wine fermenting inthere be ok?

[merddyn2002]

sounds like you have a little cottage industry rolling. yeah, should be fine.

[brewbsd]

that was a great video!!!  great job

[thegreymen51]

Can you make yeast at home.

[Thescarydutchman]

i haven't done that yet, but temperatures have dropped here in the last week and my house is kind drafty so i guess it i little cold here for yeast to work at optimum speed. the thing i wonder about is that top fermenting yeast is usually Saccharomyces cerevisiae while bottom fermenting yeast is usually Saccharomyces pastorianus. they might have both been present in my original batch but usually the survival of the fittest would make one of the two dominant before i pitched the second batch

[sunderwind]

Can you use sugar water instead of grape juice to prevent additional flavors from being added to your batches? Maybe have to add some yeast nutrient also? Thanks

[merddyn2002]

yep that would probably work, but i normally dont bother with that because taste contamination usually isn't an issue with the small amount the clone batch (1-2 tsp) needed to get your new batch started. That amount of grape juice will have almost no effect on the taste of your finished product so it's not really worth it.

[Thescarydutchman]

i'm wondering if you can actually isolate the natural yeast that grows on grapes and plums and such in this way aswell. and if there is any risk to using these 'wild' yeasts. i'm asking not so much because i'm cheap but i want to make my booze totaly from scratch just to see if it'll be any good. and i'm also just wondering how our ancesters did it.

[merddyn2002]

yep, some alcohol today is still made with "wild" strains of yeast. I don't know how you would go about doing it, but it's been done.

[Thescarydutchman]

so i seem to have managed to isolate a yeast culture from some organic grapes. i just mashed the grapes and pitched the juice into a bottle with some sugarwater and a litle corn starch (so i could actualy see whats going on). it took it's time but it slowly started to ferment. when i thought i had a healthy colony i pitched some into a bottle of applejuice and a strange thing happened, though the grape batch is obviously top fermenting the new batch seems to be bottom fermenting.

[Thescarydutchman]

oh yeah, grolsch is a dutch brand of beer and they've used their swing top botles as a marketing quirk for as long as i can remember.

[merddyn2002]

hmmm, yeah, i dunno man. perhaps the temperature change caused by putting the bottle in the fridge is causing it to do that?

[CoreSpore]

My question that I hope you answer is, 1)Why do you prefer to clone the liquid yeast if it is the "same" except for being a liquid form? 2)Could you possibly explain how to clone the .75 cent powder yeast? I saw you add it directly into your juice in the other video, but I thought you are suppose to mix it with sugar water before adding it to the juice? Anyways, would cloning the powder be exactly the same as this video?

I appreciate your public service; I have a new hobby.

[merddyn2002]

the powder stuff is just freeze dried form of the liquid stuff. There's no difference. The cloning method is only useful for folks who dont want to buy yeast over and over again.

[CoreSpore]

Thanks for your videos! I was wondering what you meant in your other videos by using a coffee strainer after you take it out of the freezer? (to kill yeast) Taking a coffee filter rubber banded to a jar and filtering?

[rha207]

When you use it do you shake the bottle, or don't you want to get anything that settles in your juice.

[merddyn2002]

i usually shake it to distribute the yeast evenly. a little yeast sediment never hurt anyone.

[rha207]

Thanks. Learning a lot from your videos.

[buttkracken]

Is it the same for turbo yeast type yeast? The stuff is a lot of money.

[merddyn2002]

yep, basically.

[pzanello]

what a bunch of crap! Sorry for the language man, but where is your sanitation?

And Grape Juice? WTF, don´t you know that yeasts start "eating" sugars in a methodical way? If you want it to ferment beer you are supposed to put in beer, not in grape juice.

Aeration for growth? Have you ever thought of that?

And

[merddyn2002]

1) I sanitized and sealed those bottles a long time ago. 2) these tutorials are generally for wine, not grape juice. In either case, beer (wort) as a medium doesnt have enough sugar for prolonged storage/culture. 3) Aeration for growth has been shown to produce minimal growth in side by side tests. In any case if we're doing a slow culture to preserve yeast we want a SLOW fermentation, not a fast one. Think before you speak.

[BottleOFishWhiskey]

Interesting. This is alot like making mycellium culture for growing mushrooms. If you like this kinda stuff I suggest you get into mycology. You can grow all sorts of edible and medicinal mushrooms but theoretically the knowledge could also be used to grow mind altering mushrooms if one were so inclined.

[merddyn2002]

i have no idea what you're talking about until you can prove you don't work for law enforcement. :)

[BottleOFishWhiskey]

I'm talking about growing medicinal and edible mushrooms and fungi. Its an interesting and fun passtime. I brought it up because theres similarities between cultivating yeast and cultivating mycellium. Some species of mycellia are illegal but they can be cultivated in the exact same way as the legal ones.

[HerpAndFriends]

Thank you for this great video.

[AForArcher]

um... when you feed the yeast, aerobic respiration produces CO2 and alcohol and when there is enough alcohol in it, it will kill of the yeast, wont it?

[merddyn2002]

yep, but you slow the whole process down by putting it in the fridge. then you renew the fermentation each time by changing the juice once a month.

[gnr90210]

Can I just use water and table sugar?

[merddyn2002]

asked and answered. no.

[gnr90210]

Should I use frozen grape juice or the bottled stuff?

Should I boil the grape juice before using it?

[merddyn2002]

i use frozen all the time. No need to boil it.

[gnr90210]

Thanks for the fast reply man.

Should I use the frozen juice in concentrate form, or should I mix it according to the directions first?

[merddyn2002]

mix it up first.

[hrtpmpr]

Great tip!! Yeast ranching :>) What about mutation? Will the yeast eventually mutate from the original?

[merddyn2002]

i don't think they'll really mutate enough to make a difference.

[outbreak420]

great tip thanks!! i want to do this with a white ale yeast that is quite costly at the homebrew shop. Should I use some wort from a batch that I'm brewing to culture it in?

[mcar5969]

Great info. Love your work! Question,is there a danger of explosion from C02 gas? Should I vent regularly? I start a new 5 gallon batch every week or two. Can I do this with the dry champagne yeast? Keep up the great work. Thanks.

[merddyn2002]

yep, you have to vent the container regularly. i do it about once a week.

[nplazio2002]

Excellent tip

[MartinsBrew]

Very nice!! I'll keep that in mind!!

Anything for Beer yeast?

[merddyn2002]

works exactly the same for beer yeast too. you can even use the same trick for bread yeast if you really want to.

[MartinsBrew]

So would I want to use grape juice or some type of malt?

[merddyn2002]

I would use grape juice with yeast no matter what you're going to do with it. You just need a tablespoon or two of the starter get rolling. There won't be enough grape juice to effect color or flavor.

[MartinsBrew]

Sweet, no more 7 dallor wyeast packages!! LOL

But couldn't you just take the yeast at the bottom of the bucket and wouldn't that kinda be the same thing? Or would that have to much "crap" in it..

Another will do...

[merddyn2002]

ya... it would work but you're assuming you have live yeast cells in bottom of the bucket. You really don't know that for sure. There's also some stuff in that sediment that will give your batch an off flavor.

[coolesrat]

would suger water work better????

you would not have other flavors you would not want.. and its pretty clear /so no wight wine that looks red (lol)

[merddyn2002]

sugar water with yeast nutrient added might work. Color isn't really an issue since you really only need to add a tablespoon or so of the starter to anything you're brewing. It's not enough to notice in the finished product.

[nicdaspic]

very interesing