One more Yeast washing question

Traditionally I have used cooled boiled water to do a yeast wash. Is it possible to use sterilized or purified water instead? I am just looking at shaving some time off of the process.

Thanks,

Z

I used distilled water last time I washed my yeast and it looks a lot better than the batches I did before (1 with boiled/cooled filtered water, 1 with filtered tap water that I didn't boil/cool).

I just used bottled water for mine. Poured right out of the bottle. Probably not the best way, but it worked just fine.

EvilGnome6 said:

I used distilled water last time I washed my yeast and it looks a lot better than the batches I did before (1 with boiled/cooled filtered water, 1 with filtered tap water that I didn't boil/cool).

Click to expand...

Have you tried out the yeast that you washed with Distilled water? Schweet. I am going to try it out tonight. Thanks for the info. It is going to make my life so much easier

I've heard that distilled water is very hard on yeast. Since there are no minerals or anything in it, it can burst the cell walls of the yeast due to osmotic pressure.

zman said:

Have you tried out the yeast that you washed with Distilled water? Schweet. I am going to try it out tonight. Thanks for the info. It is going to make my life so much easier

Click to expand...

I haven't tried it out but it's looking perfectly smooth, light and creamy 4 weeks later. The other batches I washed were looking a little gray on top within that timeframe.

I found some references that the total lack of nutrients in distilled water forces the yeast to go dormant and will therefore keep much longer.

My only concern with not using boiled and cooled water is that half the point of boiling it is to remove the dissolved oxygen from it, point being to deprive the yeast of oxygen and make them go inactive.

ChshreCat said:

I've heard that distilled water is very hard on yeast. Since there are no minerals or anything in it, it can burst the cell walls of the yeast due to osmotic pressure.

Click to expand...

This is correct, the water will rush into the cell to equilibrate the difference between the salt content inside the cell and out side causing it to burst. It's like putting a salt water fish in to fresh water.

If you are not going to store the yeast for long term, you would not need to deplete the O2 levels buy boiling, but if you want to store the yeast for a couple months in the fridge, you need to deprive them of O2 and food as to assure they go dormant till you want to use them again. If they are active during storage there is a chance to develop off flavors from autolysis.

Ok. so much for making my life easier...lol

zman said:

Ok. so much for making my life easier...lol

Click to expand...

If you were wanting to use storebought water, just use bottled drinking water rather than distilled.

Bsquared said:

This is correct, the water will rush into the cell to equilibrate the difference between the salt content inside the cell and out

Click to expand...

It's actually the other way around (high concentration to low concentration) but same outcome.

BTW I need to get on yeast washing to start harvesting some 1056.

ChshreCat said:

If you were wanting to use storebought water, just use bottled drinking water rather than distilled.

Click to expand...

but what about the O2 in the water?

zman said:

but what about the O2 in the water?

Click to expand...

Not going to be that much more than a jug of distilled water, I think.

You should still boil and sterilize your jars and lids (or whatever the yeast is going into), so you'd have to boil water anyway, right?

Or am I missing something?

I just washed 'em good and hosed 'em down with starsan. But I'm a lazy bastage.

lmg95 said:

It's actually the other way around (high concentration to low concentration) but same outcome.

BTW I need to get on yeast washing to start harvesting some 1056.

Click to expand...

Sorry to harp on this, but with Osmosis,Water enters the cells because the concentration of the solution inside the cells is higher than that of the 'solution' outside. Water always moves by osmosis from a dilute solution to a concentrated solution (when they are separated by a membrane which lets water through but not dissolved substances).