Question about using Mr. Malty

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ghank15

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I have a brew going right now. I plan on washing the yeast (my first time). I was looking on Mr. Malty just to get an idea about how much yeast it will take to ferment the next batch properly, however I am getting a bit confused.

Under the repitching from slurry option, there are two factors that affect the amount of slurry required. The "non-yeast percentage" is not bothering me, as it does not affect pitching rate too much.

However, the "yeast concentration billion/ml" is making me a bit nervous, as this affects pitching rate tremendously. How do I determine just how thick the slurry is? I am assuming it will be somewhere around the middle, but I want to do things right.

Any help is appreciated.:tank:
 
There was a discussion about this very thing recently. The consensus was that thick is like cottage cheese--that's how my Notty cake was, and apparent typical of British yeasts--while thin is runny "like thin pancake batter before you cook it.". I don't know if that's exactly what you were looking for, but I hope it helps!

"All your home brew are belong to us!"
 
Ok, so my next question is when is the thickness measured? When I take it from the cake or after its washed and settled?
 
I wish someone more powerful in the ways of yeast washing would chime in, b/c I've only done about seven batches of yeast-washing ales and they're all in the last month.

What I can tell you from my experience is that I judged the thickness of whatever I was going to put in the new wort: sometimes rinsed, sometimes just 1/3 of divided a divided cake (trub & all) into new wort on same day.

In both scenarios, (I'm embarrassed to admit) my beer has fermented faster and come out tasting cleaner and better than it used to do. Looks like I was underpitching a lot even with dry yeast packets and getting undesirable flavors from the stressed yeast. I love that I can save money and get better results at the same time by re-using and rinsing my yeast!!
 
Have you read the online help page for the Mr. Malty Repitch from Slurry function? It gives a bit more insight into what is meant by "yeast concentration"

Yeast Concentration billion/ml

This setting allows you to adjust for how thick a slurry you're measuring. If you've ever seen the yeast packed hard into the bottom of a White Labs vial, that is Thick Yeast at 4.5 billion cells per ml. When you harvest a yeast slurry and it has settled for a few hours, that is a thin slurry. Usually, most homebrewers will let their yeast settle for a few days in the fridge between one batch and the next. When you do, you'll notice the yeast has settled a bit and is sort of jelly-like. That is the default setting on the calculator. You'll need to estimate from there for other yeast thickness, but what is most important is keeping track of what you pitched and the results you get from the beer. If you need to adjust up or down, that is OK, just keep track of how you do things each time.

Once you've determined how much yeast you have in the container, you can shake the container along with any liquid to loosen up the yeast. If you determine there is 200 ml of yeast solids in the container and you want to pitch 100 ml. Shake the container to break up the yeast and then pour 1/2 of this very loose yeast slurry into your beer.

The help page is located here:

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