Start needed for washed dry yeast?

Hey guys. I am washing some Safale-US 05 yeast today from my APA (My LHBS charges $4 a pop). My question is, when I use a jar of the washed yeast, do I need to make a starter? I know with most dry yeasts, you don't need a starter. Does that apply to washed dry yeast as well?

Also, I didn't think about yeast washing until after i racked my IPA into secondary. Now I want to try and harvest some of that yeast as well (liquid) and want know if it is ok to wash the yeast from secondary? Plus I dry hopped in the secondary, so I am going to have a lot of hops in the trub as well. And will the yeast last as long as the yeast from primary? Thanks!

YES!

You always need to make a starter for washed yeast and you can definitely wash yeast from the secondary. Now with that said, I'm not sure I would wash yeast from the secondary that's been dry hopped. That's a lot of freaking trub you're going to have in that fermenter.

HalfPint said:

You always need to make a starter for washed yeast and you can definitely wash yeast from the secondary.

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I disagree. If you have good sanitation practices, there is no need to make a starter. I re-use yeast all the time and never make a starter unless the yeast is over a month since harvesting, just to make sure it is OK. Never had a problem.

Yes you can harvest from Secondary. Remember the yeast that made it to the secondary were the ones that didn't flocculate in the primary, the ones left in the primary are the ones that did all the work and settled out when the work was done. By re-using yeast from the secondary you are slowly changing the characteristics of the yeast.

Since it had dry hops in it, I would recommend using it quickly and then harvesting from Primary of the subsequent batch.

And for dry yeast. Once it has been used in a batch, it is now a liquid yeast, and should be treated as such. The reason you don't make a starter for dry yeast is because when it is processed/made, it contains all the nutrients to help is start quickly and healthy.

Once you've harvested the yeast and washed it the yeast isn't "dry" anymore now is it. ;0) I'd recommend making a starter for all liquid yeast, unless of course you're pitching on a cake or pulling fresh slurry from the primary.

Now, washing yeast from the secondary isn't recommended. You're washing up the less flocculant yeast so you may end up with a more hazy beer, which may be what you're after if your next brew is an American Wheat, but may not be what you're after otherwise.

The yeast will last just as long as the yeast from the primary would have, no worries about that.

wyzazz said:

Now, washing yeast from the secondary isn't recommended. You're washing up the less flocculant yeast so you may end up with a more hazy beer, which may be what you're after if your next brew is an American Wheat, but may not be what you're after otherwise.

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It will flocculate just fine. If you repeatedly harvest from secondary, you will eventually change the yeast characteristics and have a much larger population of yeast that doesn't want to settle. But in 1 generation you should not have a problem.

I rarely use secondary yeast, but a few weeks ago I pitched onto a secondary cake. There was not too much yeast because the beer had cleaned up well in the primary. The beer fermented well and was clear when I racked at 2 weeks to use the fermenter for another beer. It is currently in secondary with dry hops.

Well I figured that a starter wouldn't be necessary because so much yeast was reproduced during the primary fermentation, from which I am harvesting the yeast from. But I'll make s starter just to be safe. Thanks for your input guys!