[yeastmaster]

I just added some 1056 to my yeast ranch .  What cultures are people ranching out there?

[a10t2]

I have 1056, 1272, 1084, 2035, 2206, 3787, 3864, plus Schlafly's wheat strain and Bell's wit. The only thing I haven't settled on yet is a solid English strain.

[ndcube]

My ranch is just mason jars of slurry.

I have:
3787
1214
3522
US-05
1728
1007

[akr71]

My ranch is just mason jars of slurry....

Same here, but right now I only have 1098 & 1084.  I used my 3068 in Roggenbier which is still in the primary and I'm not sure I should save it again.  

edit:
Oh, I forgot I have a 2633 Oktoberfest Lager Blend slurry in the fridge too.

[bendbrew]

Does anyone have a link to an article or a name of a book that would be a good step by step reference for yeast harvesting?

Thanks,

Bill

[ndcube]

My ranch is just mason jars of slurry....

Same here, but right now I only have 1098 & 1084.  I used my 3068 in Roggenbier which is still in the primary and I'm not sure I should save it again. 

I would.  Instead of pitching the slurry next time I might take some of it and make a starter though.

[Robert]

Mason jar farm here. I have 1469, 1450 and 3789 saved. 

[NorthernIke]

Kaiser's site has good info on making plates and slants. I would check that out for instructions:

www.braukaiser.com

[akr71]

Does anyone have a link to an article or a name of a book that would be a good step by step reference for yeast harvesting?

Thanks,

Bill

Kaiser's site has good info on making plates and slants. I would check that out for instructions:

www.braukaiser.com

This thread is pretty good too.

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=11.0

[Hokerer]

Just started not too long ago.  Have slants of WY1056, WY1084, WY1450, WLP023, and WY1007.

[skyler]

i ziploc bag of 1007, and ziploc brand jars of 1450 and WLP037

[bendbrew]

Thank you for the information regarding Kaiser's site.  Excellent resource.  Now I have to muster the courage to try it.

[dimik]

My amber jar slurry ranch has the following:
1007
1056
1084
1272
1762
3333
3711
3787
3944

I also had 1010, but didn't like that yeast and dumped it all out...

[Kaiser]

Thank you for the information regarding Kaiser's site.  Excellent resource.  Now I have to muster the courage to try it.

You’re welcome.

Yeast banking on slants is something that you can easily “ease” yourself into. Start with a few strains and try to propagate from a slant or plate. At each propagation stage give the spent starter beer a taste (with a sanity procedure of course). I pour some into a cup before I commit to the next propagation stage. If it tastes funny and contaminated I discard and try again. But that hasn’t happened in a long while.  I find that having already prepared sterile starter wort volumes of 10 ml and 50 ml makes a big difference in efficiency yeast propagation.

But if you are starting out it is a good idea to have a back-up. That back-up can be a LHBS at which you can pick up yeast or a few packs of dry yeast.  Use the back-up in case your propagation didn’t work. During my propagation attempts I’m concerned with contamination when the population size is small. At this point you want to work not only sanitary but sterile. Once the starter is about 300 ml and going you have so much yeast that contamination isn’t a concern anymore. At this size you are also close to what you would get from a smack pack or vial.

After a while you get more confidence and will find a propagation schedule that works for you and become less and less dependent on yeast from the home brew store. If it doesn’t work out you can also drop it and keep buying.

Kai