To Wash or Not?

Hey gang,

So my LHBS says washing yeast is not worth the effort. They brew a bunch and say they never wash. So after I bottled my Hef last Wed night, I put the yeast in the fridge until I brewed another Hef on Thurs night, I let it come up to room temp, swirled and pitched it. By Friday night, it was very active and really glad I used a blow off tube instead of the airlock. Fermentation is still very active today so things are moving along very well.

What value is there in washing it?
Can you use the yeast more times?

What risks are there in washing? Which is why the LHBS says they don't wash.

I had 2 distinct layers from what I put into the fridge, top was beer/water, the lower half was a mixture of clean yeast in the upper section and yeast/trub in the lower half, no way to separate that.

Since it went so well, I am questioning the value.

Thanks in advance
Toy4Rick

So the one obvious advantage is that you save money on yeast. A less obvious potential benefit is that Jamil Z mentioned in one of his podcasts that he feels that his beers are best when he's using the yeast for the 3rd or 4th time. His theory was that the yeast get just better acclimated to making beer and are really in the groove by the third or fourth batch. I can't comment, I'm too all over the place with the styles I've been making to reasonably re-use 3-4 times. Maybe after I've run the gamut and settle into a few styles that I make regularly I'll be able to get into multiple re-uses.

The main risk of washing is that you are potentially accumulating bacteria/wild yeast. Additionally, depending on your washing procedure you may be altering the tendencies of the yeast. For example, if you harvest yeast out of a secondary, you're picking yeast which are naturally less flocculant that the original yeast population. This may or may not be what you want.

As for LHBS folks not washing... i have thoughts as to why which are of various levels of cynical. From least cynical to most: 1) there is extra effort in yeast washing, and its up to each brewer whether that effort is worth the benefit. 2) They work at a HBS and very well may get their yeast significantly cheaper than you do. 3) they work at a HBS and are trying to sell yeast.

The whole point of washing yeast is to remove that trub layer. So it can be done. If you poured off the top yeast layer (leaving bottom/trub layer behind), added more water and repeated you would have basically washed the yeast.

As far as the value in washing goes---if you are reusing the yeast in a short amount of time and making the same beer then probably don't have to wash. If you are pitching into another style of beer (darker to lighter beer, hoppy to less hoppy) or storing the yeast for awhile...I'd be inclined to wash.

I have honestly found that washed yeast beers are as good, if not better, than new yeast. I have seen no drop off what-so-ever in quality.

It's cool to have a good selection of yeast on hand.

The down side is it's work. I now keg my beer, so as far as I am concerned the only work I do on a beer is brew day. If I wash the yeast, it means kegging or transferring to secondary day also becomes work.

Another downside is it's a bit messy. I brew outdoors, and use my basement for the majority of stuff. This keeps SWMBO happy. Washing yeast makes a mess in the kitchen, usually sticky and SWMBO grows unhappy.

Another downside is storage. Yeast takes up lots of room in the fridge if you're going to be like me and have 16 cultures on hand in mason jars. Another time when SWMBO becomes unhappy.

If you're single, have room, I say do it. If your brewing footprint grows smaller and smaller with every pair of shoes SWMBO purchases it may not be for you.

If you're going to get serious though, I would recommend a beer ingredient dedicated fridge.

I understood that washing yeast implied a process of using a chemical bath to kill any bacteria while leaving enough viable yeast for propagation... my understanding is that what we often refer to in home brewing as washing yeast is really rinsing yeast...

Am I mis informed?

no, it's more of a rinse than a wash... you are correct.

I like to rinse and reuse because I don't need to make a starter either. I have more than enough yeast in my container for about two batches of the next beer.

Absolutely wash - easy and saves a ton of money. If you are asking whether you should harvest WITHOUT washing, you can do that as well, really depends on the amount of trub you have in your fermenter. If you strain your wort, you could probably get by without washing and just harvest and store (though I would still wash - it's so easy). If you don't, I would definitely wash it. Otherwise, you are going to continually be dumping more stuff from one batch into the other, eventually you will have hop particles and break material from 3-4 batches back. I'm thinking that may get gross at some point...

Thanks everyone for the input.

For this current brew, I didn't wash the yeast, just transferred it to a clean/sanitized mason jar for a day until I was ready to go again. There was not definitive trub layer however this was the first brew on this yeast. Maybe the next time there will be more so it might be a good idea.

Thanks again
Toy4Rick

You LHBS makes money every time you buy new yeast instead of washing... and you're surprised they suggest not washing yeast?

They don't want you to wash it because you can save tons and tons of money by doing it!

Wash your yeast, split it up, wash the next batches yeast. Get dozens of batches from one smack pack.

Actually they are not pushing the sales of yeast, they say don't wash it, just re-use it.

I'll see how this batch turns out, I might want to wash it to remove the 2 batch build up of trub.

Rick