Keeping hops/yeast refridgerated

[regulated]

Hi all,

I have been checking out all the HB shops in Brissy lately and have noticed that four of the shops associated with Brew Cellar don't actually keep their yeast and hops refridgerated. Most independant shops keep everything but the kits/cans cold. Is there a reason for this? Maybe Brew Cellar have done some testing and found it doesn't make too much of a difference. I'm not really keen in paying top dollar for yeast thats been in 35-40'C heat in the shop.

Cheers

BJ

[chadjaja]

I've asked the Nth Melb store about their brewceller yeasts and hops as only a fraction of them are in a fridge. They told me that they sell so much of them that they sit there for only a short amount of time making no difference. I've yet to see anyone else buying beer ingredients in the store though and they are pretty clueless about beer making. I voted with my feet.

[Trough Lolly]

Hops and yeast are fresh, temperature sensitive ingredients. Hops will happily sit at room temperature, and quickly decay in quality while they're at it! We use a fridge or freezer to prolong the life of hops and extend their useful life. Yeast will also happily exist at room temperature (especially when we want them to ferment sugars!) but they too will also go beyond their use-by date if you dont take steps to render them dormant and the most convenient way to do that is to lower their temperature in the fridge, or freeze them in a solution that doesn't damage their cell walls, hence the use of slants and tubes in the freezer.

Basically, HBS that dont use temperature control on their fresh ingredients, including hops and yeast, are not worth buying from - they are asking you to pay full price for ingredients that they are too lazy to store appropriately. You will never brew top quality beer without top quality ingredients...

Cheers,
TL

[regulated]

Thanks for that chad and TL, thats was what I was thinking as well. I have used saflager yeast that came under the cap of a ESB 3kg brew before and didn't think it performed anywhere near as good as the the fresh stuff out of the fridge.
Saying that their stock moves too quick is a bit of a lie I think. They leave every brand yeast and hops out and some of the packets looked pretty old. I think I will be sticking to the friendly independant HB shops from now on.

Cheers

[earle]

I learnt this lesson a while back. Normally I get my yeast from Craftbrewer but a while ago I picked up 2 packets of Brewcellar? 'premium' yeast off the shelf at the Bowen HBS. Result - 2 shit tasting batches of beer. Kicking myself afterwards as I should have known better.