Yeast Washing Illustrated

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madavis25 said:
I washed my yeast from Wyeast 1056 a couple months ago. How do I know if my sanitation was adequate? I don't think tasting a starter would work because it will be oxidized. I'd hate to ruin a batch if my washing is contaminated.

Smell it? Check color? Hiccup. ...
 
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?
 
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?

Definitely use some dme if you have some (ive read some things about goya if you don't). I boiled my mini-wort first, poured the first two bottles into my glass, and just kept adding as I drank. I drank all six though.
 
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?

Here is how John Palmer says to harvest yeast from bottles in How to Brew
 
How do I keep getting this? That yummy, creamy white layer is the yeast, right?

image-3483895243.jpg
 
Wyeast 1056 American ale. I thought maybe cuz I crashed it, the yeast was dense and heavy. Buy after a few days in the fridge, I shook it up (yeast on the very bottom did NOT want to come up) and when it settled, same results. That's okay, though. I'll just roust the trub and dump it off.
 
What is the best method for combining jars?

Can i decant 2 and pour it into an jar with existing yeast? Or is it better to totally sanitize another jar, decant and combine into that one?

Bumping this question because I never really got an answer.
 
TacoGuthrie said:
Bumping this question because I never really got an answer.

I just decant and use existing jars. I like to have a small container of sanitizer on standby, those lid seals like to roll away sometimes.
If I have an extra jar of water that I didn't use, I'll decant all of the liquid, pour some water in to swirl, combine the jars of yeast, and top off with the water.
 
I attempted to wash yeast from a beer I bottled last night. I followed all of the steps except that I poured the whole yeast cake into 4 quart mason cars. This includes the trub in all. Looking at the containers after settling for a day in the fridge I cannot see a seperation between any yeast and the trub material. Is it possible to save this yeast? Or should I scrap it and harvest the next batch of yeast?
 
Hedgehog - are the jars different colors? You can always repeat the process, and decant the yeasty liquid off the trub. Also, what kind of beer is it? I find darker beers have darker trub and the opposite for lighter brews. You can always just save it all and pitch it into another batch; or make a starter and decant the yeast out of that, leaving the trub behind.
 
Chefencore - The beer was an English Brown Ale, so the trub is fairly dark. I have decanted the liquid off of it and added more water to rinse it more. I discarded the liquid because it appeared to be the same as the beer I had racked off and bottled. If I just pitched the hole container how much would the trub effect the flavors of the other beer?
 
So after reading this thread a week ago, last night I decided to give this a go. But - my roommate failed to provide me some jars, and apparently my retention of what I read is not what it once was.

I put some water in the carboy (not boiled, or distilled, from the tap) swirled, and put into two sanitized drinking glasses. Putting tinfoil on top. (I think I got the tin foil concept from yeast starts..not washing for storage). And now they have sat for 24 hours like that. Then I re-read this thread about boiling water, sanitation, de-oxygenating, etc.

I know I could get jars and decant re-wash. But I'm assuming not using my brain (was drinking and watching the Bruins beat the Canucks) and not using boiled water means it isn't worth trying to do anything with this yeast. Any thoughts?

Either way - looks like I'll toss and try again next week. Hopefully will utilize some brains next time.

Question though - I see the Mr. Malty calculation app for Yeast to pitch, but I still don't quite get this. Based on a harvest date of a couple of weeks ago, it reads I need 181 ML of yeast. This is smaller then the 500 to 1000 ML most people seem to use as a starter. And from my washed yeast (when I do it right) do I use the yeast from the 1 quart jar? .5 quarts? Does it even matter, because it goes into a starter and maximizes its potential after 2 days anyway?

If anyone has a good sticky or link to that, let me know. I'm finding some basic info, and the consensus seems to be "as a homebrewer, it is tough to overpitch, so go big or go home".....but I'd like to do this right....
 
hey I'm jumping in really late and my question is probably asked somewhere in this huge chain of questions but here it is again. When washing the yeast should I be using distilled water , spring water, I assume stay away from tap water. I am washing wlp500 tommorow using this method and wanted to get things rolling tonight so I can refrigerate the water overnight. Thanks in advance for any aadvice.
 
I just boil unfiltered tap water. I boil all the jars in a big pot, then just cap that boiled water in there. Boiling will drive off the bad stuff.
 
I have been brewing quite a while and I never have tried this. Perhaps I was just overwhelmed and then forgot. I think I will try to salvage some US-05 that is in fermentation stage now. The guide here is superb!
 
So the last few batches I made I decided to save the yeast. I took sanitized mason jars and poured what was left over after kegging from the bottom of my fermenter...left over beer and all. I put it in the fridge in the middle of March. It's now almost July and I plan on making a starter from it next weekend. Is this an acceptable way of doing it or should I go pick up some new vials of yeast? I really didn't wash it...I just collected what didn't fit in my keg and put it in the mason jar. The bottom half is all yeast and the top half is beer.
 
So the last few batches I made I decided to save the yeast. I took sanitized mason jars and poured what was left over after kegging from the bottom of my fermenter...left over beer and all. I put it in the fridge in the middle of March. It's now almost July and I plan on making a starter from it next weekend. Is this an acceptable way of doing it or should I go pick up some new vials of yeast? I really didn't wash it...I just collected what didn't fit in my keg and put it in the mason jar. The bottom half is all yeast and the top half is beer.
I do the same; only the longest I have stored in the fridge has been 1 month. I decant the beer & make a starter if it's more than 1 week old. You should be fine.
 
So the last few batches I made I decided to save the yeast. I took sanitized mason jars and poured what was left over after kegging from the bottom of my fermenter...left over beer and all. I put it in the fridge in the middle of March. It's now almost July and I plan on making a starter from it next weekend. Is this an acceptable way of doing it or should I go pick up some new vials of yeast? I really didn't wash it...I just collected what didn't fit in my keg and put it in the mason jar. The bottom half is all yeast and the top half is beer.

It may not re-activate. See article at White Labs:

http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/craft_yeast_storage.html
 
really dumb questions here:

1) Looking at the page 1 pictures, why not just give the remaining bit of beer in the primary, the trub, and the yeast a good shake...what's the point of adding water?

Also what really is the point of washing, just to separate the trub from the yeast and beer? You aren't really "washing" it as in separating it from the rest of the beer that was left over from racking, you are really only separating it from the trub and left over hops, right?

I want to make a cider tonight on an ale yeast cake but I used my bottling bucket (and need it) as my primary so in addition to racking the beer to secondary, I plan to remove all the trub/yeast/beer and put it into a new fermenter to throw the apple juice on top of. Is my best plan of attack, since I'm going through the trouble of moving the yeast to a new vessel, to follow the steps described in the illustrations? What else could I do more quickly to most efficiently separate the yeast from the trub/hops? How much of the slurry should I use, and (just to reiterate my original questions) what really am I trying to do in keeping just the 'stuff' that has not settled after shaking and let sit for 20 minutes?
 
really dumb questions here:

1) Looking at the page 1 pictures, why not just give the remaining bit of beer in the primary, the trub, and the yeast a good shake...what's the point of adding water?

The water gives the yeast a clean place to ‘hang out’ while all the trub falls out. It has been sanitized by the boil. Also, if you plan to store the yeast, the boil removes oxygen, so your beasties will sleep.

Also what really is the point of washing, just to separate the trub from the yeast and beer? You aren't really "washing" it as in separating it from the rest of the beer that was left over from racking, you are really only separating it from the trub and left over hops, right?

Yes. The intention is to essentially leave you with just yeast. There will always be some stuff left in it, though.

I want to make a cider tonight on an ale yeast cake but I used my bottling bucket (and need it) as my primary so in addition to racking the beer to secondary, I plan to remove all the trub/yeast/beer and put it into a new fermenter to throw the apple juice on top of. Is my best plan of attack, since I'm going through the trouble of moving the yeast to a new vessel, to follow the steps described in the illustrations? What else could I do more quickly to most efficiently separate the yeast from the trub/hops? How much of the slurry should I use, and (just to reiterate my original questions) what really am I trying to do in keeping just the 'stuff' that has not settled after shaking and let sit for 20 minutes?

You can just sanitize well (I use a spray bottle) and transfer the entire cake to your fermenter.

If you want to wash, I suggest you use your bottling bucket. Just put in your boiled, cooled water, swirl, and wait. After 20 minutes or so, just open the valve and let the trub out. Then transfer your yeast slurry to your fermenter or whatever sanitized vessel you choose, leaving the ‘beer’ on top. (This will work best if you have one of those devices connected to the inside of your spigot that reaches to the bottom of your bottling bucket.) Just remember that this will add to the volume of your fermenter for your applewine.
 
Thanks! So another question, is there any way for me to guesstimate how much of this yeast I need to use to start off a new batch?
 
I washed some 1084 Irish Ale yeast from a primary fermenter. I boiled water and pint mason jars and stored it in my fridge for about a month. I tried to restart the yeast in a flask with 1/4 cup of DME and 600ml water, which was boiled and chilled to 70 degrees. I poured off most of the excess water and added the yeast that had separated out into two distinct layers on the bottom of the mason jar.

Since then, I have not detected much yeast activity. The bottom creamy layer may have increased, but no bubbles of CO2 perculating. There were some surface foam bubbles, but not much. I poured some off and tasted it and it did not taste sweet.

My question is the yeast dead?
 
Brent_in_Aurora said:
I washed some 1084 Irish Ale yeast from a primary fermenter. I boiled water and pint mason jars and stored it in my fridge for about a month. I tried to restart the yeast in a flask with 1/4 cup of DME and 600ml water, which was boiled and chilled to 70 degrees. I poured off most of the excess water and added the yeast that had separated out into two distinct layers on the bottom of the mason jar.

Since then, I have not detected much yeast activity. The bottom creamy layer may have increased, but no bubbles of CO2 perculating. There were some surface foam bubbles, but not much. I poured some off and tasted it and it did not taste sweet.

My question is the yeast dead?

Not tasting sweet would mean you water/dme solution isnt sweet. What was your gravity for the starter wort? Use a stirplate? What's covering your flask? Foil or airlock?
 
I have been brewing quite a while and I never have tried this. Perhaps I was just overwhelmed and then forgot. I think I will try to salvage some US-05 that is in fermentation stage now. The guide here is superb!

I only wash liquid yeasts because they are so much more expensive and sometimes rare (I have a few jars of pacman chillin away for my next IPA). I can buy a fresh pack of Safale 05 for around $2 so the extra effort to wash it and store it doesn't seem worth it to me.
 
It has a foam boiling airlock. I didn't take the gravity as it was a small amount of wort, but it was roughly 1 part DME to 4 parts water in the boil. To that I added the yeast slurry from the mason jar. I will give it shot and if it doesn't fire up, I will check it and possibly add other yeast.
 
So I just washed the yeast out of this batch, and I just realised after looking in the fridge that I didn't fill them all the way to the top, probably like 75-80% of the way. Will this be a problem? And also I don't have anything to make a starter out of (no DME), but am hoping to brew tomorrow. Someone on here told me it would be alright to just pitch the whole jar in, but didn't follow up after that. What does everyone else think?
 
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