Yeast washing and Dry Yeast

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
There's just less incentive because dried yeast costs so much less than liquid.

I washed a cake of Saflager W-34/70 because it's $4 a pack and it takes two to pitch a normal-gravity 5 gallon batch....
 
Recently it was darn near impossible to find Nottingham yeast. During that time, folks were washing Notty so they wouldn't run out. So, while normally you wouldn't bother washing dry yeast, there are exceptions...........
 
My LHBS upped the price of Safale US-05 to something like $4.30 so I've tried to get a little more mileage out of it myself lately. Notty is cheap enough (and now available again) to not worry so much about it but if you wanna try out your washing technique, go for it. Better to practice on a cheap, readily available yeast so you know what you're doing when you want to get the most out of an expensive or hard-to-find strain.
 
WOW!!! That is a hefty price for Notty. It is $1.29 at my LHBS. Here is an example of my washed yeast. From what I read I am to decant off the top layer of liquid and use the rest in the starter. I managed to get 6 Mason jars full. So that is .18 per batch. It is a tough economy after all. Please let me know what you think of my first yeast wash.

Washed Yeast.jpg
 
I've been reading that dry yeast has come a long way in the last 10 years. Is really the only incentive of using liquid yeast is to get more of a consitant beer? What if I like a little inconsistancy? (I've only brewed 4 batches so far! So, I'm still a newbie!) -- Otherwise, I haven't had a problem with my dry yeast so far! (knock on wood)
 
Back
Top