First Yeast Washing – Did not go as planned

I’ve read over all the stuff regarding yeast washing so I decided to take my first crack at it with the yeast cake from my hefe that I bottled last night. I had my three quart jars all set, each filled halfway with boiled and cool water. In looking at the contents of the carboy I had maybe an inch of whitish cake and on top of that maybe 1/8” of leftover beer. The cake had been sitting while I finished bottling so things settled down a bit.

Right here I was a little concerned because it seemed like once I added the water and swirled there’s no way the resulting volume would all fit in one jar but I pressed on. Sure enough, I ended up filling one and a half jars with what was in the carboy.

I let those jars sit for 45 minutes after which I noticed two, not three, distinct layers. I could definitely tell that the bottom layer was trub, browner in color and filled with little specks, so I poured off the top of both into the 3rd jar. I let that sit for perhaps an hour or two after which time I noticed three layers. I rinsed and re-sanitized one of my jars and poured the top two layers into that which gave me about half a jar and that I put into the fridge. This morning I check and I have maybe ½” of white which I’m assuming is yeast on the bottom of the jar and 2-3” of orangeish liquid on top of it.

So, here are my questions:

Should I have bypassed the first water addition? I think there was enough liquid in the carboy to swirl and collect the yeast.

If I have to use that first water addition, do I collected everything from the carboy and use more jars or just not collect everything?

How much yeast should I expect to collect? I was hoping to fill 2-3 baby food jars but with what I have I’d be lucky to fill one.

I’m planning on taking what I got, minus most of the liquid on top, and throwing it into a starter tonight for a rye ale I’m brewing Sunday.

Firstly, I'd like to congratulate you on your endeavor.

Secondly, get a couple 1 gal jugs to start the washing process in.


Washing doesn't take all that long.

What you should have done (using a gallon jug) was to pour 1/2 gal of boiled and cooled water into the primary and swirl it with the yeast cake. This does 2 things, 1 - loosens up the yeast cake so the trub and yeast can separate, 2 - and waters down the remaining beer so the fermentation process can be stalled.

I use a sanitized funnel when pouring my yeast into the jug (#1).

The first sepraration is going to happen in under 10 mins. You'll notice a lot of heavy trub drop out. After that you pour the liquid into jug #2. Pour the trub down the drain...add it to your garden (whatever) and rinse out and re-sanitize jug #1.

Check it about 15 mins later then every 10 mins until you notice more trub on the bottom of the jug then repeat the above process.

You really should only have to repeat this 3 times and you'll be done.

As for your questions:

Should I have bypassed the first water addition? I think there was enough liquid in the carboy to swirl and collect the yeast. Add more water for the purposes I mentioned above. The majority of the liquid remaining over the yeast (after an overnight in the fridge) can be poured off before you separate it into smaller jars. This is where you reduce your water volume.

How much yeast should I expect to collect? I was hoping to fill 2-3 baby food jars but with what I have I’d be lucky to fill one. This really depends on how vigorous and hungry your yeast was and how cleanly you washed/separated the yeast. It's not always the same amount of yeast. Many times I'll get at least 5 baby food jars full (of liquid).

I’m planning on taking what I got, minus most of the liquid on top, and throwing it into a starter tonight for a rye ale I’m brewing Sunday. Or you could shake up the jar and pour in only half...

Good luck.

Last night I made two starters for the two brews I'm planning for Sunday. Both starters had 1 cup of DME and 1 quart of water. The yeast for one was a smack-pack Wyeast 1098 and the other had the 3068 I recovered. This morning I swirled the contents of each growler and the airlock on the 1098 bubbles ferociously and even shoots water out the top but the 3068, not so much. It bubbles but no where near as vigorously. Not sure what to do here. Should I refrigerate it to get the yeast to settle out and then make a bigger starter, say 2 cups and 2 quarts?

There's no need. Just add more malt and water.

Of course, there'll be another lag time (waiting period) until the yeast gets acquainted with the new malt.

Turns out I just needed to give it more time. I'm guessing that a starter made with washed yeast usually takes longer to get going? I say this because a couple hours after posting that nothing was happening I went back to make my stepped up batch of malt and noticed a decent kreusen in the growler. Gave her a swirl and sure enough the airlock bubbled away rather vigorously. Threw both starters in the fridge last night and I'll be brewing in T-minus ~3 hours and counting. Woo Hoo!

There was no need to toss them in the fridge.

The cold of the fridge make yeast go dormant.