i've had good success with washing ale yeast. during washing i get good seperation of the dead yeast and trub, then pour off the good yeast and allow to settle. the results havent been the same with lager yeast, however.
i've been brewing some hybrids recently using s-23 dry yeast fermenting in the low 60's. the beers have come out great. when i tried to wash, though, everything settled out extremely quick and the "cloudy" water that i poured off to settle overnight did not result in too much yeast as compared to ale yeasts. is this because the lager yeast is bottom fermenting, and even the viable yeast is dropping?
i went ahead and used the yeast anyway, even though it was not very much. i made 2 back to back starters to grow the yeast before pitching ( both starters took off like champs) and has been working well so far in the current batch. i havent taken i sample yet to check for any off flavors, esters, attenuation issues, etc. i did oxygenate with oxygen for 2 min prior to pitching.
here is a picture of the yeast cake poured off into a gallon jug after kegging the original batch. it all looks like pretty good yeast to me, i cant see any real trub line.
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what do you guys think? anyone else have washing experience with lager yeast?
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THIS is a trub line.
(Harvested 2308.) This ugly crud, in its second and third generations, made two of the best beers I've ever brewed. I'm in ruv with that strain.
yeah i def see a trub line when i do this with any ale yeasts. when going into the fermenter from the kettle i do let the break trub settle out so i dont pull much sediment into the fermenter at all...
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I have the same question as the last poster. I've read that it's better to wash yeast from the secondary, but I'm wondering if the same holds true when you leave the secondary to lager for a month or so.
anyone have any input with washing lager yeast? any different than ale?
I have had similar issues with most lager strains but also with highly flocculent ale strains like WY1968/WLP002.
Only difference is when I add the boiled/cooled water to the carboy I mix it up, let it sit a few minutes, then mix it up again to try and 'break-up' the yeast flocs a little more so it won't settle so fast. Maybe even mix it up a third time. Other than that I just don't let it settle for as long and live with a little trub in the yeast. I almost always will be pitching it the next day anyway.
__________________ Early brewers were primarily women, mostly because it was deemed a woman's job. Mesopotamian men, of some 3,800 years ago, were obviously complete assclowns and had yet to realize the pleasure of brewing beer.- Beer Advocate
Remember that the smaller boutique style breweries, that seem to be everywhere in recent years, typically do not have access to laboratories, & they do just fine harvesting washing & recycling their preferred yeast strains.
For home brewers its fine if you can get rid of most of the trub but it's not essential.
What you should do, is first decide if the yeast you are considering harvesting is good enough. I would need to be sure that it started quickly, fermented quickly (assume ale yeast here) & at the time of "bottling" the brew tasted clean with absolutely no weird or off flavours.
That then is a candidate for harvesting, if you need to keep things very simple, just pour the yeast & trub remains into a couple of clean beer bottles & refridgerate. The yeast will gradually settle above the trub & if you keep your eye on things you can decant the yeast & top layer fluid into another pair of clean bottles - now label carefully.
This will keep for up to 3 months but if any subsequent brew from this harvested batch should show any tendency for off flavour dump the remaining yeast samples. I have not had to ever dump except when I discovered samples older than 6 months.
You can get involved in much more detailed procedures but it's not necessary for the average home brewer who will soon have more yeast than he know s what to do with.
I harvested yeast from my first lager yesterday and the yield seems much lower than what I have harvested from ales before. Is this typical or just random?
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Mick Arnett
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
"Beer will change the world. I don't know how, but it will."
I was washing some American Lager Wyeast today as I moved it from the primary to the secondary. I am getting good seperation, but I was thinking from my last wash of Ale yeast that the creamy layer in the middle was the yeast. This looks to me like the creamy layer is the bottom. Does lager yeast drop to the bottom or is it still the middle layer and just looks funny?
lager yeast washing
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