Yeast Bank - Safe Deposit
What would you do if you lost your production yeast tomorrow?
For more than half a century the NCYC has served industry worldwide, providing secure and confidential storage of production strains. We maintain the UK’s largest public collection of yeast cultures in our ISO9001 accredited laboratory and have particular expertise in working with brewing strains. Today we are at the forefront of yeast technology offering services based on our patented DNA fingerprinting methods and use ‘tried and tested’ techniques in cryopreservation which guarantee recovery success.
The NCYC are experts in the preservation of brewing yeast strains, having processed many thousands of yeast strains whilst building the National Collection.
To submit your yeast strain into the NCYC Safe Deposit please complete the ncyc safe deposit form
Preservation of Safe Deposited Cultures
Strains deposited with our confidential safe deposit service are stored by two methods for added security.
The NCYC:
- Carries out QA tests before and after storage to ensure the culture supplied is free of contamination.
- Stores the strains in our dedicated liquid nitrogen storage facility at -196°C.
- Stores a back-up of all strains at a secure remote site.
- Carries out viability tests on strains before and after preservation.
- Stores the strains freeze dried, in ampoules in our dedicated cold room, in locked cabinets.
Security
Strains are held at the Quadram Institute with on-site security. A duplicate collection is also maintained on a separate secure site as a further safeguard. All information regarding strains submitted for safe deposit remains confidential between the depositor and NCYC staff. Information and strains are only released to parties nominated by the depositor.
Each strain will be stored on a strictly confidential basis and will be assigned a ‘reserve-collection’ number which will only be released to the depositor or parties nominated by the depositor.
Strains stored in Safe Deposit remain the property of the depositor.
Access to Cultures
Supply of safe deposited cultures is exclusive to the depositor or according to the depositor’s instructions. Cultures are propagated from storage upon order. Every year 2 slopes or ampoules are provided free of charge, on request. Further slopes can be provided for the standard charge per slope or ampoule. Larger amounts i.e. pitching quantities can also be ordered (P.O.A). We offer express delivery of cultures on a flexible basis designed to meet the requirements of the brewer.
DNA Fingerprinting: an essential quality control method
DNA Fingerprinting detects genetic changes that can affect product quality.
If any mutations or contamination have occurred then we can re-supply the original safe deposited strain in pristine condition.
The NCYC has expertise and patented methods in DNA Fingerprinting, allowing precision quality control of your production cultures. This is included in our Premium Package but also available on request at any time.
DNA Fingerprinting:
- Compares your current production strain with the deposited strain
- Compares strains from different breweries within your company
- Checks for cross-contamination between production cultures
- Checks if production cultures are composed of a mixture of strains
- Checks for genetic drift
- Checks for the presence of wild yeasts