Yeast harvesting noob...

[eyebrau]

I have a low alcohol (low IBU) blonde currently sitting in primary on a Nottingham yeast cake. It's a 3 gallon batch. Going to bottle probably next weekend. I have plans to make a 2 gallon batch of mead (planned OG of 1.087) in a couple weeks, and I'd like to harvest and wash some of the yeast from the blonde to use in the mead. So, I have a vague idea how to harvest and wash yeast, but have never done it. Only thing I ever did was rack what became an old ale onto an S-04 yeast cake (unwashed, did nothing, not even remove it from the fermenter) from a low ABV ordinary bitter. That worked out brilliantly, with seemingly the right amount of yeast due to the gravity difference, but it was 5gal to 5gal... I'm not clear on how much yeast I should be harvesting and how much I should ultimately be pitching interest this mead. I'm a dedicated user of dry yeast, so have also never made a starter either... help?

Thanks in advance!

 

[bleme]

I couldn't find the video I watched years ago, but this one looks pretty similar.

https://youtu.be/XL0NUR5tTNE

Disclaimer: I'm at work so I can't turn my sound on and I am just going by video

 

[eyebrau]

Thanks again for this. I watched thru it yesterday, and I think I have a pretty good idea of what to do. I do have one quick question, for time planning purposes - for pouring out multiple jars of yeast and then letting the trub resettle - about how long does it take to settle, ballpark? I mean obviously I will be able to visibly see when it separates, but are we talking in terms of minutes? Hours? Overnight? Also, would it make sense to refrigerate the settling yeast/true each time to help compact it?

Thanks!

 

[morbster]

It can take a while. I had a couple jars of 3724 that weren't fully separated until a couple days in the fridge. However, this is dependent on the type of yeast and amount of beer left in the fermenter. I would expect at least an overnight sit in any case.

Edit: and yes, use the fridge. Cold temperatures are your friend

 

[eastoak]

you could just save whatever portions of the yeast cake (in jars or whatever) without "washing" it, easier than adding water and whatever else.

 

[eyebrau]

I considered that, but since it's going from beer to mead, I'd rather not transfer hops over, among other flavors.

 

[bleme]

If I am planning on pitching all the yeast in one batch, I don't separate out into smaller jars. I just put the gallon jug in the fridge until it separates.

If I am going from a hoppy to not-hoppy beer, or from dark to light, I will take that stratified jug:
pour off the water,
pour the yeast layer into another sanitized jar,
add sanitized water,
swirl, and
put back in the fridge to stratify again.
Repeat until there is no trub layer.

 

[z-bob]

Does the old yeast contain hop matter, or just yeast and cold-break proteins? (and maybe hot-break)

If there's no hops in there to mess up the flavor of your mead (assuming the spent hops still have any flavor left) it might be better to pitch the unwashed trub. The proteins and dead yeast will provide nutrients for the live yeast.

 

[eyebrau]

A fair point... the old yeast wouldn't have any hop material, as I didn't dry hop it. I guess my thinking was more to wash away any beer/hop flavor that might be hanging around the unwashed trub... again, I've never done before. I don't know what does and doesn't happen in that respect. I certainly feel like pitching directly into the yeast cake in the same fermenter would likely be problematic, so I'd be transferring the yeast cake to another container anyway, I guess I just figured I might as well separate it out.