Yeast Washing Illustrated

How long ago did you wash that yeast? Mr. Malty's calculator lets you calculate the amount of slurry you need. And you can put in the date it was harvested to get its viability. so if you can measure the slurry in your jar, based on what you need, you technically shouldn't need a starter.

Everyone will tell you to have a starter, but if you can't, take it out of the fridge, maybe over estimate a little, let it warm up, give it a shake, and pitch.

So it says that even if my slurry was extra liquidy, and 25% of the liquid was non-yeast material, that I would only need to pitch 238ml? So I guess just pitching one whole pint jar (which I figure would be around 350ml) straight into the fermenter.

The yeast was washed yesterday night. Planning on brewing tomorrowish.

Was your full jar yeast slurry? It means the slurry for that calculation, not the volume of wort on top (of which the yeast should settle down into the slurry, out of the wort, if it was in your fridge). But yeah, as long as you had enough slurry, should be fine. When you have fermentation let me know how it goes.

I still have 3 pint jars of 1084 left, but the new stuff that I pitched was bubbling within hours. I will try the yeast starter again, though.

My calculations for the OG indicate that I only had 1.015 SG potential; I did not test the OG. The starter was at about 1.010 FG after sitting for a week, so I may have succeeded in starting the yeast back up.

It is difficult to test the specific gravity in a flask as there is not much liquid to test and then it is not sanitary after I uncork the foam stopper to pour it into a tube for the SG test. Is there another method for doing the SG test that is more sanitary?

I added boiled cooled water in to the primary after the beer was siphoned off. That was 2 days ago. I forgot to finish washing because I got pulled away. Is it ok to continue to wash the yeast? Took a whiff and it smells ok. Thanks.

This is the third time I've followed the process and I've had good results. This particular time, though, my jars have a very hazy, pale straw color. I've attached a pic. This doesn't look like any of the other yeast I've washed. Typically the color of the water on top is pale brown. Have you guys had any look like this? This was the second use of a WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch. Thanks!

MJDore said:

This is the third time I've followed the process and I've had good results. This particular time, though, my jars have a very hazy, pale straw color. I've attached a pic. This doesn't look like any of the other yeast I've washed. Typically the color of the water on top is pale brown. Have you guys had any look like this? This was the second use of a WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch. Thanks!

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I had the exact same situation with the same strain. It cleared up eventually. Doesn't really matter what's on top anyway. It what's on bottom.

Okay so I looked up what the slurry is actually supposed to look like, and that picture above helped, and I figured I didn't have enough to pitch straight into the fermenter. I thought I'd done something wrong to get such a small little pool of slurry at the bottom, but it looks like that's what it's supposed to be. So I fiddled around with the Mr Malty calculator and I see that if it's a super thick slurry, then all I need would be a couple ounces (like a double shot glasses worth). So how would I tell how thick exactly it is according to that slider? I mean I don't really want to pour the liquid off until I use it, so should I just guess and hope for the best?

I have an extra packet of dry yeast coming in the mail tomorrow just in case it doesn't work, but I'd like to try this yeast if it's viable.

The Bone2 said:

If I do wash and save my yeast, I should only re-use this yeast for a recipe that calls specifically for the yeast strain that it originally came from, correct? If this is correct, then that leads me to believe after one has experimented and come up with some "reliable" beers they like, this would really be the ticket....

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Unless you wanted to start a new strain of yeast for a wildly new and exotic beer! Think of the posibilites!

How do you estimate your cell counts after washing?? I used a Wyeast smack pack and made a 1.5L starter from that. This was my first smack pack and will be my first washing......and was my first AG!

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I'm planning on washing yeast for the first time tomorrow, and wanted to use half-pint instead of pint jars. I've searched this thread and found plenty of evidence that people are using half-pint jars and that as a practice it is "OK."

But I can't find any discussion about the difference in cell count between a pint and a half pint of washed yeast slurry. Does anyone know how the number of cells in a half pint would compare to a Wyeast smack pack?

If one half pint can inoculate a starter as effectively as a smack pack, I'll RDWHAHB.

You can use the Mr. Malty calculator for this. It lists how much slurry to pitch - based on the date harvested (which gives an estimated viability for the yeast).

So in your half pint jars, measure out some lines for mL. Then as long as your slurry is more yeast, less trub, that calculator should tell you how much slurry to use.

luke2080 said:

You can use the Mr. Malty calculator for this. It lists how much slurry to pitch - based on the date harvested (which gives an estimated viability for the yeast).

So in your half pint jars, measure out some lines for mL. Then as long as your slurry is more yeast, less trub, that calculator should tell you how much slurry to use.

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I have used the repitch tab on the calculator before. But I as I understood that tab, the default non-yeast percentage and the default cell concentration represents the amount of yeast in a slurry of UNWASHED yeast, after about 7 days of settling in a beer medium. On a Brew Strong podcast (I think?) Jamil Zainasheff said that if you slide the controls to their extremes (4.5 billion cells / ml, 0% non-yeast content), you'd have the amount of yeast that comes in a White Labs vial.

I'm trying to figure out where the washed yeast at the bottom of a half-pint jar falls between those two extremes. Is it more like a vial / smack pack of concentrated, pure yeast, or is it more like unwashed week-old harvested yeast?

If it's the latter, it seems like a half-pint jar wouldn't be a big enough yeast pitch to get the desired growth from a starter. Seems like you'd need to collect your washed yeast in a pint jar in order to grow an effective starter.

Any thoughts?

Two half pint jars? Not trying to be a wise ass but I have the small jars as well and didn't want to buy bigger jars. You could use one jar and step it up in the starter. Not really scientific but I know what 1 vial of WLP001 does to my 2L starter, so if I pitch one jar of washed yeast and I don't get a similar result I can pitch more or step it up.

Thanks, samc. That makes sense. I was hoping for a best-case scenario where every half-pint I saved was roughly equivalent to a fresh package of yeast from my LHBS. I'll just plan on monitoring the growth in my starter.

A full Pint = 473 mL (from the calculator I am using....varies on what country you are in, for what a "Pint" is)

So a half pint is 260 ish.... lets say you can actually fit 125 mL of slurry in a half pint jar, with wort on top. Also - this is washed yeast.

The Mr. Malty calculator says not to go below 10% for a "non-yeast percentage" with washed yeast. Lets be conservative and say washing yeast is hard, and you are at 20% non-yeast.

I'm leaving the yeast concentration slider in the middle. Defaults are good. I don't know what thin or thick slurry is.

I harvested my yeast 1 week ago, to use today. That makes the viability at 83%.

For a 1.048, 5 gallon batch, I would need 98 mL of slurry. Lets round that up to 120 mL. That 22 mL increase, increases the estimated yeast count from 168 billion, to 207 billion. Everyone here agrees it is hard to estimate the number of viable yeast cells in your slurry, so over estimate.

This still means if you are using a half pint jar, depending on the measurement of actual washed slurry, you should be good. Technically, if it is only a week old and using these calculations, it is equal to a new yeast vial that has had a starter. If its older then a week, you may want to use less and use a starter, whatever. (And most will say here, always use a starter)

But depending on your method, half a pint jar is fine, and could be setup to be ready for a 5 gallon batch.

I'm going to be attempting this for the first time tomorrow. already have my jars in the fridge. I'm washing some White Labs Cali so hopefully it goes well!

C-Rider said:

I read about 10 of the 100 pages and didn't see this come up. I want to harvest the Cooper's yeast from bottles after I drink the ale. I have about a 6 pack left from Sparkling Ale and I'd like to clone using the same yeast strain.

Sould I boil some water and use a little in each empty bottle and then pour the contents into a sanitized mason jar?

What would I use as a starter to add to this yeast? Corn sugar/cane sugar?

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Here is a what Coopers recommend
http://www.coopers.com.au/the-brewers-guild/talk-brewing?g=posts&m=12607#post12607

I have done it successfully or multiple occassions using just one stubby (375ml) of Coopers Pale Ale. I chuck the dregs into a small erlenmeyer flask on a stir plate.

Coopers recommend the culturing be done from Pale Ale (4.5%) rather than Sparkling Ale(5.8%) due to the higher ABV in Sparkling Ale. Both use the same yeast but apparently the higher ABV makes the yeast in a Sparkling Ale less viable for culturing.

Just more good results. I pitched yeast yesterday that was from August 09. I did a starter the day before just to give it a hand, and it is going strong as we speak. I normally wouldn't go that old, but I wanted to see how it would do. I'd feel comfortable with and will harvest upon completion. (WLP400)

Cayuga said:

Just more good results. I pitched yeast yesterday that was from August 09. I did a starter the day before just to give it a hand, and it is going strong as we speak. I normally wouldn't go that old, but I wanted to see how it would do. I'd feel comfortable with and will harvest upon completion. (WLP400)

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just out of curiosity what temp was the yeast kept at. Normal refridgeration or temp controlled ie a A419 control ? thanks.

Normal fridge. Mine hangs out around 38*. It was a slow starter, but still faster than my grandma getting out of her chair. I expect this with age.

Cayuga said:

Normal fridge. Mine hangs out around 38*. It was a slow starter, but still faster than my grandma getting out of her chair. I expect this with age.

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lol good to know ..... I just washed some wlp500 and wondered how long i could let her go for.

I'm washing yeast for the first time tonight!

AdamCanFly said:

I'm washing yeast for the first time tonight!

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That's a great thing!

I'm pretty certain that it was Bernie Brewer's info that inspired me to do it in the first place several years ago. I never used that yeast because I was too busy to brew at the time, but right now I've done thirty gallons from just a few Bell's Pale Ales and I have four more jars ready to go!

Thanks Bernie!

So I was in the middle of washing my yeast and had to go to work. I got the water cooled and poured it in the carboy. I put the carboy and empty jars in the garage fridge. Will it be ok to continue when I get home tomorrow?

AdamCanFly said:

So I was in the middle of washing my yeast and had to go to work. I got the water cooled and poured it in the carboy. I put the carboy and empty jars in the garage fridge. Will it be ok to continue when I get home tomorrow?

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My thought would be to let it come back up to room temp and swirl it around some and let it settle again for the first go and continue from there. Should be just fine.

Oh, take some pics!

Since the trunk confuses me. I shake let it settle and make step up starter from the clear liquid to grow yeast. Is that a problem?

Edit: what the heck is trunk? Lol. A little drunk last night. Trunk = trub

If you don't do that more than a few times in a row you should be ok. More than that an you are selecting the less floculant yeast to carry over to each batch. Artificial evolution!

nicely written, however one question: Why is there a bottle of red stripe in your fridge?

retardedsloth said:

nicely written, however one question: Why is there a bottle of red stripe in your fridge?

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LOL! I bought a Sixer of that crap for a Buffett concert and could only choke down one while tailgating. That one in the pic is prolly 2 years old at the lime of posting, and has long since been dumped.............

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Ok.

1,072 posts later, all I have to say is, "Thanks- it works!"

I harvested 1968 and 1056 last weekend from a couple batches that came out of their primaries and used the poorest-looking jar to make starters ~24hr prior to pitching. The starters were vigorous, so I can't wait to check the basement to look for signs of fermentation now that it's been 12 hours since pitching...

I love the extra mad-scientist bent and cost savings this adds.

Thought I'd contribute the dumbest thing to this thread: Living in the San Fernando Valley, I don't even know where to buy mason jars. We're just far too detached from the 20th century to bother with anything like canning.

Stater Brothers, or a large grocery store would have them. Just ask at the store.

Since I'm lazy I store trub and all into Mason jars and refrigerate them. Should I bring it up to room temp when I attempt to wash when I have time? Or feel motivated?

I have washed yeast successfully from the primary on my past two brews and used one in a brew today and it took off like crazy with the 2L starter. These were washed from primary after 2 weeks while racking to secondary.

Is there any issue using yeast that has been in primary for 4-5 weeks because I am going to quit using secondary in my future brews and go straight primary.

Thanks!

I am interested in using this yeast washing method but I have a question. What is the real reason for even doing it? I have heard of people who rack a beer to a keg the same day that they brew and just put the wort directly from the chiller into the carboy they just racked with the yeast still in it.

Is there any real problem doing that?

Ther's no problem doing that, but if you want to store the yeast for a while, you can wash it to a more convenient container than your carboy Not much space in the fridge to keep a carboy on ice.

If you take the exhausted yeast out, you do need to feed it again to get a good culture going in the wort. If you take yeast out of the primary, there is a risk that it won't reproduce as it should. The longer the yeast is on the bottom of the wort, the less active it is.
( I THINK) The reason people do yeast washing is you can get very good results and not have to spend money for yeast. You also can get very good repeatability since you are using yeast that has been proven to work. I personally don't reuse yeast because my brew cycles are too far apart to make it viable.