Does my washed yeast at least look right?

I washed the yeast from an IPA just last week when I bottled. Can one tell anything about its viability just from looking at it or will I simply know when I pitch it into a starter? I vaguely remember seeing some photos somewhere where there was some left over wort on top, then a thin layer of white yeast, and then the brown trub. Take a look at my pic but it looks like just left-over wort and yeast (I'm hoping); or it could just be left-over wort an trub. I've attached a photo; hope readers are able to see it.

Thanks!

I think it looks fine. One thing to consider when you are going to re-use yeast is the order of the beers you are going to make. Generally you want to go from light to dark, and less hoppy to hoppy (esp if you dry hop b/c you may not want those hops in the next beer). Now, does it really matter that much? I dont think a whole lot. Most American styles of beer allow for hoppiness, so going from an IPA to say an brown wont be a problem. But going from a really dark stout to a delicate pale ale might pose some falvor impact.

Looks good to me too...

But, the entire point of washing the yeast is so that you DON'T need to worry about brew order. IF you're simply pitching onto the cake, with another brew (even if you remove part of it) then, yes you need to worry about order. But, when washing the yeast, you're removing the trub, that makes a difference.

Since you're removing the hop remnants, and other stuff you wouldn't want in another brew, via washing, you'll be fine.

If you go more than a few weeks, or a month (or longer) before using the yeast again, I would make a starter just to confirm it's good. I washed some yeast on Monday, that I'll be using a portion of tonight... Not making a starter since it's so young. Plus, I have plenty of yeast to pitch. :rockin:

Good point. Didnt see "washing." I dont wash, so its something for me to consider.

+1 on the starter timeframe though

Washing yeast kicks ass... Especially if you're using liquid yeast in the parent batch. I've been using Wyeast strains from the start of home brewing and started washing yeast from my third batch. Now, anytime I pick up a new strain, I wash what's left over from that first batch. Lets you save a good amount of money on each batch after that.

Right now I have three strains in the fridge. 1335 that was harvested/washed on Monday. 1084 that was from my third brew, and I still have some left of. The last strain is 1728, which was from my fifth batch.

Way I figure it, if I get at least 8 batches (so 7 from washed yeast) from a single smack pack of yeast, I'm only paying about $1 per batch. After that first washing, I usually take a look at the bottom of the carboy and decide if I'm going to wash it or not. If it looks good, then I do it. If not, I'll toss it and just pull another jar from the fridge for the next time I want to use it. I probably will wash the yeast from the next times I use 1084 and 1728, so that I have another generation set to work from... If I can go a year, or so, between when I need to buy new packets of these strains, I'll be very happy.

When I move to another place, I'll probably start messing around with freezing some of the yeast too. Although most of what I use is pretty standard issue for Wyeast... If I pick up something that's only available for a short time, each year, I'll probably wash and then bank/freeze some of it for later. Although there have been reports of people using washed yeast, kept in the fridge, after ~2 years... Gives us all a bit more hope I think. :rockin:

That looks like there is a lot of trub at the bottom. I suspect there is yeast in there but I can't say for sure. Did you only let it settle once before you moved the liquid to the mason jars?

Normally washed yeast is an off-white color. Definitely closer to white than that.

Ach. That's what I suspected having looked at other photos.

Let's just say I didn't review the washing sticky before I moved it (and I had already had one too many home brews) and so I didn't let it sit at all. I put distilled water into the carboy, swirled, filled the mason jars, and right into the fridge.

Hmmmmm, you usually want to at least let it settle some before pouring into the jars... Unless you had very clean wort going into primary...

Well, I'll see what I end up with. Any suggestions from here on out? Would removing it from the fridge help? Putting it all back into one large container, swirling, and letting it settle?

jwic said:

Well, I'll see what I end up with. Any suggestions from here on out? Would removing it from the fridge help? Putting it all back into one large container, swirling, and letting it settle?

Click to expand...

I'd probably just leave it alone. The more you transfer the more you risk introducing infection. It will settle out a lot more over the coming days and you'll get a better idea how much trub and other non-yeast stuff you have in there. Then when you want to reuse it use the Mr. Malty pitching rate calculator (http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html), "repitching from slurry" tab. You can approximate your non-yeast percentage in the jar and slide the "non-yeast percentage" slider to what your best guess is and go from there. Of course, it only goes up to 25% but I'd bet you don't have anywhere near that much trub in there.

So, I'm about ready to brew an Amber Ale recipe from "How To Brew" this weekend. Coincidentally it calls for the very same yeast I used for the IPA (shown above).

I've looked at my yeast in the fridge and it looks like it's beginning to separate (recall I didn't let it sit for 20 min. or so before I put it in the Ball jars and threw it in the fridge). If I had to gauge the % yeast to % trub, it looks like 10/90 at this point (and I know I need this for the Mr. Malty calculator).

Should I just suck it up and get a new smack pack of Wyeast 1332 Northwest Ale yeast or go ahead and try a starter with what little yeast I've collected from the last batch?

90% trub sounds like a lot but if you didn't let it settle properly prior to jarring then I guess it's possible...plus we don't know how much trub you got into the fermenter when transferring the wort from the kettle. I'm a cheap bastard and would probably try using whatever yeast you have in the jar, build up a starter, and see what happens. but with 90% trub it might be best to start fresh, then wash properly next time.

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of... I don't mind getting more yeast at this point since it was my first go at washing.

A couple more questions:
- What if I were to take all the jars out of the fridge so they warm up to room temperature, would that help the separation?
- Why is it necessary to let the trub settle out in the carboy immediately after adding the water rather than in the jar?

You want to let the trub settle in the carboy, then decant into a jar. Let it settle in the jar, then decant into smaller mason jars. You are step decanting to try to get all the trub out. However, your jars look ok. You may have a little trub in there, but that will settle out in your starter or in your fermenter bucket. I wouldn't worry about it and I would use it. Just be more careful next time you wash.

Very clear explanation; thank you!