Starting a yeast bank

[Techbrau]

For a variety of reasons, I decided to start a yeast bank.

Here's some freshly sterilized agar slants setting. I'm using an All-American 910 pressure canner as an autoclave.

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Here's a slant that was inoculated with 2206 after a week of incubation

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40 16mm slants fit nicely on the back shelf of my kitchen fridge

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[lupulus]

What precautions are you taking to overcome the lack of a hood?

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[Techbrau]

I set up a working area around a burner on my stove by laying down a sheet of aluminum foil rubbed/sprayed with rubbing alcohol or sanitizer. The vials get dipped in sanitizing solution before I open them up, and the only thing that touches the inside is my nichrome loop which gets flame sterilized. When inoculating a vial, I keep the cap open-side-down on the foil, work as close to the flame as I can, and as quickly as possible.

[lupulus]

Thanks. Is it only for fun or do you have rare yeasts not yet in the market you want to preserve?

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[Techbrau]

Mostly for fun, but partially because I've had one too many bad experiences with the homebrew yeast suppliers. My recent order of WLP835 from the White Labs vault died during shipment - one of the vials even exploded into the envelope it was shipped in, and White Labs customer service hasn't responded to my emails. I'd like to have more control over my yeast, and vote with my dollars by ceasing to give them any more business.

Of course, the bank comes in handy too if I ever do get the opportunity to bank a rare strain or two.

[Natebriscoe]

I have been wanting to do this as well.

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[Bilsch]

A great idea.. wish I had the patience to do this as well.

[Techbrau]