Yeast Washing Question
 

So I followed the sticky'd yeast washing guide above yesterday for the first time and saved 2 pint bottles of WLP002 yeast. My question is, how bad is it if there's still some trub in the yeast bottles? I followed as above, but I'm sure it's not completely clean. How much of a negative effect does this really have?

Also, I didn't boil my water before adding it to the primary and swirling. I also just sanitized several plastic bottles with Iodopher and filled those up. Will they still be okay?

It would be fine, except for the non-boiled water ...not sure I would want to take a chance..

You will probably be OK, but in future, use pre-boiled water just to be safe. After all, those yeast do all the heavy lifting, right ?

The boil also removes oxygen from the watter. It's probably important for long term storage.

So what is the point in boiling the water other than to remove oxygen? I plan to use the yeast in the next week so I don't need it for long term storage. How can I tell if the yeast is bad right now? Should I just buy some? I'd rather not risk a batch of beer with bad yeast over $5.

Sterilization.

I would assume that if the batch of beer that came off it is okay, there hasn't been any comprimisation of the yeast quality. If you're going to use the yeast soon, there is little reason to wash, as i understand it. The point is to clean it up & remove the trub for long-term storage.

One thing i noticed in this forum is that it's seemingly populated with experts who look like they are into contests and professional brewing for the most part, so it's no wonder if most of the techniques here seem overkill to amateur people like me.

And im sure their results must be top notch and amazing compared to mine.

And As far as sanitation is concerned, i couldn't argue about anything said on here, but saving yeasts?
know what i do?

I pre wash and sanitize a couple of bottles a small spoon and a little funnel on the day i know i'll be transfering to carboy or secondary if you prefer, then when this is done, i pick what is left at the bottom of the primary using the spoon, funnel in the bottle, i take everything in there from the very bottom and i make sure i get some liquid as well until i reach a good two inches of that mud into the bottle, then i cap these bottles and off to the fridge they go.

Always worked very nicely for me, just the other day i used one of these bottles which was sitting there for about 6 months and the starter worked perfectly fine using it.

You can use the washed yeast to make a simple starter. Check for krauzen/fermentation activity & you'll know you've got viable yeast. That's kind of the whole point of washing yeast right ?.... save the 5 bucks for other stuff.

If you boil the water & put the yeast into a dormant state, you're going to get better viability for a longer time.... allowing you to keep using the same strain over a longer period. You can also stretch out the generations by saving yeast from the first washing, vs. washing yeast from future generations on each subsequent batch.

Another ?, if I rack off my brew into a secondary and leave a 1/4" of liquid on top can I cover it and wash it later, say a week?

I've done this before; just be mindful of your temps. Keep it cool (somewhere in the 50s).

Thanks for the replies guys, I ended up pitching the bottles I had in my fridge to be safe. Even after 4 days the water was still very dark with only a tiny layer of stuff on the bottom. I've switched gears and am using a package of US-05 I have in my fridge instead.