I started with a kit called the "Yeast Bank" (tm) made by CountryWines.  It contained several 10 cc plastic tubes with nice attached caps, a typical plastic freezer container for holding them (the "Bank"-with a cute stick on label even), an eyedropper, instructions, and most importantly, "Freeze Shield" (tm).  The later is a blue tinted, thickish liquid which the mfg. recommends be kept frozen between uses.  It maybe a glycerine solution since folks have reported in the HBDigest  that they've used glycerine for freezing yeast. Info on ordering the Yeast Bank and Shield are here.

The Basics from the Manufacturer's Instructions:

• Make a starter (how I prepare them is here) and pitch it with yeast.
• When fermenting strongly, swirl to suspend the yeast and then fill tube(s) to about 1/2" from top with starter solution.  The caps on the tubes have two positions- full down and partially down. Cap in the partially down position and place the tube(s) up-right in a fridge.  The remaining starter can be used for pitching into a brew.
• The next day, sanitize the eyedropper and draw off the liquid above the settled yeast.  Fill the tube (with yeast in the bottom) about 3/4 full of thawed Freeze Shield.  Cap tightly, shake and place upright in a cup with tissue in it (to slow freezing).  Place cup/tube(s) in the coldest part of your freezer.  Record yeast variety, the date and, if applicable, the number of times the yeast has been recycled.
• The next day, quickly reseat the tube caps if they've sprung up.    Can store the yeast so frozen for  "many months".  Put in a container padded inside with tissue paper if you store them in a frost-free freezer.  Also, do not let the tubes thaw prematurely (e.g., while you're defrosting the freezer).
• To use, make a ~ 1 pint starter then thaw the  tube in luke-warm waterand pitch into starter just as soon as it's thawed.

If the Country Wines instructions are followed, much yeast will settle before the solution freezes.  To see if this was a bad thing, I tried placing a tube into a qt. container of a propylene glycol/water solution that had been in the freezer several days.  Not much yeast settled out but performance wise, I couldn't  tell any difference betweenthe two methods.  One day, I hope to try a side-by-side experiment.   Similiarly, I've done a few tubes with 1/2 of the recommended Freeze Shieldand haven't noticed any problems.

The tubes and caps that come with the Yeast Bank are really nice bu tI've used plain plastic culture tubes with screw tops with good results. I've also frozen harvested yeast from the primary dregs with good results, but I think this is tempting faith.

After the yeast is frozen, I put them into a zip-lock bag on which the data on the yeast has been written with a Sharpie.

Country Wines themanufacturers the Yeast Bank and Freeze Shield.  I can't find either on their web site, so, here's the poop as of Feb. 2001:

Catalog item 1800  Yeast Bank $5.95  2 lb. shipping weight <---- A real steal IMHO
Catalog Item 1801 Freeze Shield $1.95 7 oz. shipping weight
Catalog Item 1802 Extra Freezing Tube $  .55 1 oz. shipping weight

3333 Babcock Blvd. Suite 2
Pittsburgh, PA 15237-2421
Phone: 412-366-0151
FAX: 412-366-9809
info@countrywines.com

miserable failure