Washing yeast from the secondary???

I'm just wondering has away tried this before?? My reasoning is that there would be less trub and you could always cultivate it to a higher population if you wanted to. Le t me know what you think ?????

People actually pull it from bottles too, so I don't see why you couldn't pull from secondary.

goldengrl said:

I'm just wondering has away tried this before?? My reasoning is that there would be less trub and you could always cultivate it to a higher population if you wanted to. Le t me know what you think ?????

Click to expand...

I've done it and it works fine. Some would say that secondary yeasties are the "flunk outs" of the yeast world but that's BS.

If you have adequate quantities...definitely harvest that yeast.

The starters below were harvested from a secondary. You can see they were very healthy:

the only concern that I would have with havesting from secondaries is that you're selecting less floculant yeast. if you repeat this for several generations, the strain will gradually become less floculant as a whole (unless you're one of those intelligent design folks) but for a few generations, I'd think there'd be no problem.

Some would say that secondary yeasties are the "flunk outs" of the yeast world but that's BS.

Click to expand...

I agree. Saccharomycetales reproduce by budding, so any yeast from the same strain is a genetic copy of any other. Since there is no genetic variation, selection doesn't apply.

Thanx fellas I started following the steps to wash the yeast last night. I have one question though, which layer am I trying to save exactly. I have the liquid layer which I know is water mixed with beer. I then have another layer which is taupe colored. Then i have a layer that is a lighter shade of the taupe color this is a really small layer. I think that this is the protein layer and the stuff I'm going for is in the middle but I just want to be sure.
This is part of the reason that I did this off the secondary. I wanted to see and get the process down before I went for the yeast cake in the secondary.

goldengrl said:

Thanx fellas I started following the steps to wash the yeast last night. I have one question though, which layer am I trying to save exactly. I have the liquid layer which I know is water mixed with beer. I then have another layer which is taupe colored. Then i have a layer that is a lighter shade of the taupe color this is a really small layer. I think that this is the protein layer and the stuff I'm going for is in the middle but I just want to be sure.
This is part of the reason that I did this off the secondary. I wanted to see and get the process down before I went for the yeast cake in the secondary.

Click to expand...

Ahhhh...the ole tryin to decide what layer to capture....been dare...dun dat.

Here';s what you want to do...

Focus on leaving behind the "bad"...not trying to find the good. Whateve container you have the yeast in now...give it a good shake and blend up the whole thing.

Now...set it aside and give it fifteen minutes. Then begin pouring off the liquid into another clean container and simply leave behind the last 1/8" of "stuff".

Yeast suspends very well in liquid and will settle into different concentrations. THe idea is not to worry about those concentrations....but to simply pour off all the ggod yeast and leave behind any unwanted sediment.

NOW - that said....since you're harvesting secondary yeast...it should all be good.

I rarely go to a lot of trouble to wash secondary yeast because it should all be pretty clean.

Hope this help.