Yeast washing

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drat

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So, this is my second attempt at washing and I've read all of the pertinent posts about it. I'm hoping someone who has done this many times can look at the picture I posted because I don't feel that I've seen other posts with a similar pic.

Is all the solid stuff yeast in this picture, or is only the creme colored stuff yeast, the stuff just below the liquid?

As a side note, this has been sitting for about two weeks after pouring it off of the cake. I followed the regular rules:
1. Add boiled and cooled water to the cake, swished around and put in 1 gallon container
2. Let sit for approximately 20 minutes or so
3. Pour off top of the settled container into 1 pint jars

Am I missing something or does the pic look ok?
 
I'd like to know the same I washed my first time a couple weeks ago and mine looks the same
 
I do the swish and wait and pour twice -just to avoid more trub. I think it's all yeast, but the bottom bit looks like it has a good bit of extra stuff in there too. Still think you're fine though.
 
Looks like 25 ml of viable yeast and a 100 ml of trub. How many pint jars did you use in total?
 
JBOGAN said:
Looks like 25 ml of viable yeast and a 100 ml of trub. How many pint jars did you use in total?
Click to expand...

I only ended up getting 2 pints out of it. I felt like I had a lot of trub there, so just poured. Off the top bit into the two. Evidently I didn't do too good of a job.

The posts make it look a lot easier
 
JBOGAN said:
Looks like 25 ml of viable yeast and a 100 ml of trub. How many pint jars did you use in total?
Click to expand...

2pints total. I was worried about all the trub. Evidently I still didn't do it right. The how-to makes it look a lot easier. What am I missing?
 
drat said:
2pints total. I was worried about all the trub. Evidently I still didn't do it right. The how-to makes it look a lot easier. What am I missing?
Click to expand...

which how to did you use?i would not give up on it because the cost saving and know how is worth every penny.
 
drat said:
I only ended up getting 2 pints out of it. I felt like I had a lot of trub there, so just poured. Off the top bit into the two. Evidently I didn't do too good of a job.

The posts make it look a lot easier
Click to expand...

the easiest is to not "wash" the yeast at all. think about it: you have a clean yeast cake that you put into sterilized/sanitized jars and seal. now you know you have tons of yeast and the little bit of trub, or even a lot, doesn't matter. ok, some people try to keep every little bit of trub out of their beer but that does not mean it's bad, they just don't want it in there.
when you wash yeast you wash lots of yeast right down the drain and are left with a fraction of the original viable population. then you add water, let it sit, do it again and so on. lots of chances for contamination and no real benefit over just putting the cake into jars right away.
lots of people wash yeast and have not problems, i'm not saying that washing yeast is bad. what i'm saying is that you don't have to wash the yeast at all.
 
eastoak said:
the easiest is to not "wash" the yeast at all. think about it: you have a clean yeast cake that you put into sterilized/sanitized jars and seal. now you know you have tons of yeast and the little bit of trub, or even a lot, doesn't matter. ok, some people try to keep every little bit of trub out of their beer but that does not mean it's bad, they just don't want it in there.
when you wash yeast you wash lots of yeast right down the drain and are left with a fraction of the original viable population. then you add water, let it sit, do it again and so on. lots of chances for contamination and no real benefit over just putting the cake into jars right away.
lots of people wash yeast and have not problems, i'm not saying that washing yeast is bad. what i'm saying is that you don't have to wash the yeast at all.
Click to expand...

How long does the unwashed yeast keep? Does it need to be used soon?
 
JBOGAN said:
which how to did you use?i would not give up on it because the cost saving and know how is worth every penny.
Click to expand...

Not exactly sure... It's the one that was the tutorial I read? I guess I wasn't aware that there was more than one.
Should I have poured more out?
 
First of all, this is rinsed not washed, washing involves cleaning everything from the yeast. Here is a Belgian Yeast that I rinsed. I got 400ml (4 jars each with 100ml). I rinsed with a gallon of pre-boiled water and decanted after 30 minutes. I cold crashed it for 36 hours and decanted the clear liquid. I nuked 4 8oz jars with 4oz of water sealed and allowed to cool then carefully added the 16oz to the crashed yeast and gently swirled to get everything into suspension and decanted into the 4 jars. This was from a 5 gallon batch that I pitched a 2 liter starter into.

Belgian Yeast.jpg
 
drat said:
How long does the unwashed yeast keep? Does it need to be used soon?
Click to expand...


i've used 6-8 months old yeast, the beauty of having a boatload of yeast in the jar. i usually use the yeast within the month but it can go for a long time.
 
So does this rinsed yeast require a starter before pitching into a new batch, or can it just be pitched?
 
Drat - I'm sure your yeast will be fine. So what if a little trub carries over. It will still be insignificant to what is already in the new batch so it will impart very little flavor, if any at all. And I'd even bet that it imparts nothing to the flavor. My first attempt at washing yeast looked a lot like that, so I wouldn't sweat it. Keep trying and perfect the method that works for you. Good luck!

Drobaina - your yeast probably doesn't REQUIRE a starter, but I would still recommend one anyway. If for no other reason than to rouse the yeast from their "slumber" and get them ready to do what they do best. Otherwise, there is a possibility to under pitch the yeast if you don't use a starter, and by using one, you will minimize the chance of that happening. As for over pitching, I wouldn't sweat it. Unless you pitch a two gallon starter on a five gallon beer, you likely won't be doing yourself a disservice by making a starter.
 
I've seen a blog post linked here on HBT that argues for not washing at all, just jarring up 1/5 of the yeast cake for later use. if I can find it, I'll come back and Post it in this thread.

The blogger analyzed the 3 layers and found more bacteria in the top and middle layers than in the "trub" layer and just as much viable yeast in the trub as in the creamy middle layer. His recommendation was to pour off the watery top layer (which had the most bacteria) and keep the rest.

That said, I still try to get rid of most of the trub and end up decanting a couple of times. A few weeks ago brewed with some ESB yeast I washed back in December 2012. It came alive just fine in starter and made a tasy ESB.

Use a yeast calculator like Mr Malty to estimate your viable yeast count. If it's within a factor of 2 of being too low, use a starter.

I do "no-chill" (overnight slow chill, really) so I tend to use a real wort starter(RWS). Pull a half gallon of wort after boiling for a while and before too many (before any is best) hops additions, throw it in a gallon jug, cool to pitching temps and add yeast. Shake by hand or use a stir plate. By the time my wort is cool the next day, I usually have activity.

Since its the same wort, I pitch the entire starter. It's been working pretty well for me. Saving a ton on yeast costs. I have about 10 jars in the garage fridge just waiting use. I even wash and reuse dry yeast.
 
jtratcliff said:
I've seen a blog post linked here on HBT that argues for not washing at all, just jarring up 1/5 of the yeast cake for later use. if I can find it, I'll come back and Post it in this thread.

The blogger analyzed the 3 layers and found more bacteria in the top and middle layers than in the "trub" layer and just as much viable yeast in the trub as in the creamy middle layer. His recommendation was to pour off the watery top layer (which had the most bacteria) and keep the rest.

That said, I still try to get rid of most of the trub and end up decanting a couple of times. A few weeks ago brewed with some ESB yeast I washed back in December 2012. It came alive just fine in starter and made a tasy ESB.

Use a yeast calculator like Mr Malty to estimate your viable yeast count. If it's within a factor of 2 of being too low, use a starter.

I do "no-chill" (overnight slow chill, really) so I tend to use a real wort starter(RWS). Pull a half gallon of wort after boiling for a while and before too many (before any is best) hops additions, throw it in a gallon jug, cool to pitching temps and add yeast. Shake by hand or use a stir plate. By the time my wort is cool the next day, I usually have activity.

Since its the same wort, I pitch the entire starter. It's been working pretty well for me. Saving a ton on yeast costs. I have about 10 jars in the garage fridge just waiting use. I even wash and reuse dry yeast.
Click to expand...

good blog and the writer is a member of these forums.
http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2013/01/yeast-washing-revisited.html

http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2012/12/yeast-washing-exposed.html
 
I have taken another route. I make a starter somewhat larger than I need for a recipe. I then make up four 20 ml vials for freezing. I use 5 ml yeast, 5 ml glycerin and 10 ml water. I cool them in the refrigerator overnight then shake them to mix everything and put them in the freezer. The tub I have them in contain and is surrounded by ice packs to counteract the frost free cycle of the freezer. I have about 10 varieties and have just successfully roused a sample that was frozen 11/27/11.

If making 4 vials from a purchase then making 4 new vials at each use (I don't) and going just 4 generations you could do 256 brews from the original purchase.

I have also washed yeast, but find this method just about as easy and I feel safer keeping the yeast longer.
 
bethebrew said:
Sounds like a plan. Do you add any water or just dump it in beer and all?
Click to expand...

When racking the beer from the carboy to the keg, I try to get every last drop of clear beer possible. I always cold-crash for a week first, so my yeast cake is pretty solid and well-defined.

Then I pour in maybe 1 Mason jar's worth of fresh, plain tap water, just to have something to swirl the yeast up with, then swirl the carboy until I have a nice slurry of yeast, then I pour it into 3 (sanitized) Mason jars, seal them, and put them in the fridge.
 
Here are the blog posts I mentioned upthread:

http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2012/12/yeast-washing-exposed.html
http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2013/01/yeast-washing-revisited.html

tl;dr

1. After racking the beer off the cake into kegs or a bottling bucket swirl the fermentor to suspend the yeast.
2. Pour the slurry into sanitized mason jars. Cap loosely to allow CO2 to escape. Place in the refrigerator.
3. After the slurry has settled, pour off the beer and replace with water.


pH is a good indicator of health. Record the pH with the water added. When this rises about 1 pH point the yeast is mostly dead.
Click to expand...
 
CA_Mouse said:
First of all, this is rinsed not washed, washing involves cleaning everything from the yeast. Here is a Belgian Yeast that I rinsed. I got 400ml (4 jars each with 100ml). I rinsed with a gallon of pre-boiled water and decanted after 30 minutes. I cold crashed it for 36 hours and decanted the clear liquid. I nuked 4 8oz jars with 4oz of water sealed and allowed to cool then carefully added the 16oz to the crashed yeast and gently swirled to get everything into suspension and decanted into the 4 jars. This was from a 5 gallon batch that I pitched a 2 liter starter into.
Click to expand...

So CA, let me ask: After you added the gallon of pre-boiled water, how much did you collect and cold crash for 36 hours? Was it a gallon's worth?
 
Cider123 said:
So CA, let me ask: After you added the gallon of pre-boiled water, how much did you collect and cold crash for 36 hours? Was it a gallon's worth?
Click to expand...

If you read my post you would have seen that I collected about 100ml in each of the 4 jars. So after I cold crashed and decanted, there was about 400ml of yeast.
 

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