Vacuum drying yeast cells

[Pali]

Hello everybody

I'm a homebrewer and a smalltime bioligy geek, among other geek things and I would like to know more about Vacuum drying fresh yeast into dehydrated yeast (dry yeast)

First of this is a hobby project, I have been reusing yeast cakes from different wine brews for the fun of it and yeah to save a bit of money. Now jars of yeast cake takes up too much room in the refrigiator, so I wanted to give it a try with making dry yeast. That way I would be able to store much easyer and take up much less room, making my misses much more pleaced with my projects

So I have been googling around and been told "You can't do that" and I found that very provocative, it's not like it's illegal or anything. Maybe I need a bit of know how and equiptment, but it can deffently be done as I buy dry yeast once in a while from the brewers shop.

Will it be cheaper then buying dry east? proberly not (again im a hobbyist and it's not always about saving money.)

Will it be fun to try? ... YES

Would it be cool to succed? ... YES

Would it be okay to fail? ... Sure I will still have learned something from trying or reading.

To the questions ...


What equiptment will I need, besides the obvius a Vacuum pump, vacuum chamber and a jar of some kind in between to collect what ever fluids from the dehydration process.

And if possible, could someone explain the process in general. As I have not been able to find that info in my basic books or with google, it all metions freezing and the use of microwaves in vacuum drying cells in general. As thats the only info I have been able to find a bit of info on, without paying 40$ per PDF on something im not even sure is the right kind of info im looking for.

I don't know how much you can freeze yeast before it's damaged, and im pretty sure that microwaving yeast will kill it.

So if any of you guys/gals out there know a bit about this, it would be much appreciated if you would care to share it with me


Cheers
Pali