Harvesting from a Yeastcake

Never done it...know to use sterilized, airtight container, but how much should I harvest in a quart container, and how much should I use for a 5 gallon pale ale?
thanks

You do NOT want an airtight container. LOOSELY cover the container or pressure may build up. Here is what I do:
- Boil 3 quarts of water and cool
- Sanitize 4 or 5 quart mason jars and tin foil (for covers)
- Dump water onto yeast cake, shake it all up very well and pour liquid into mason jars
- Wash the yeast a few times
The amount of yeast you end up with really depends on how many times you wash it and the amount that is in the bottom of your fermenter. The amount you use for your next batch depends on it's OG.

If the fermentation is done, and the yeast is washed (no fermentables in it), why don't you want to tightly close it? I don't understand that.

I wash yeast, put in sterilized jars in the fridge, with the tops on tightly. I don't want them to get contaminated.

YooperBrew said:

If the fermentation is done, and the yeast is washed (no fermentables in it), why don't you want to tightly close it? I don't understand that.

I wash yeast, put in sterilized jars in the fridge, with the tops on tightly. I don't want them to get contaminated.

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Same here, especially with ball jars, which wont hold a positive seal anyways.

I haven't quite put my arms around the "washing process"

I dump out half of the yeast cake, seal up the fermenter with an airlock, pitch my next brew when ready.

Unless the first batch was infected, your fermenter is most likely still "clean".

cbdeacon said:

I haven't quite put my arms around the "washing process"

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Start here. It has worked great for me. I now have 4 different types of yeast stored in my fridge.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/

I think the process I was told not to seal the container was during washing, not necessarily harvesting. If there was not a block on the site, I would check it (Illustrated Brewing) to see if my thinking it is on there is right.

I keep washed yeast in jars (or Grolsch bottles) that have been boiled, even the lids. Then, it's stored in my fridge. The yeast will last a long time that way, and all I have to do is take out a Grolsch bottle of yeast and add it to a starter and have all the yeast I need.

Right now, I have about 5 different yeast strains washed and in my fridge. It's much better than paying $6 (or more) a vial!

Whenever I buy a vial of yeast I try to reuse it at least once.
One day when I've got enough cold storage I'd like to create a frozen yeast bank... long ways off though.

cbdeacon said:

how much should I harvest in a quart container?

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1 quart I'd fill that puppy up! Depending on what you're harvesting from I might sanitize two or three quart jars and fill them all. You'll want to let the jars settle in a fridge for a few days then decant the excess liquid.

How much of the yeast you want to put into your pale ale depends on the original gravity and how long you wait after you harvest the yeast. Within a week, you shouldn't need to make a starter. After a week, I would recommend it.

Let's say you want to brew a 1.050 pale ale and are harvesting on Monday and brewing on Wednesday, you'd only need 100ML of yeast slurry.

Best bet is to go here to find out how much slurry you'll need for your beer:

http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

Great answer!!...thanks