First time washing yeast - did i over do it?

[cxp073]

Hello everyone

On the weekend I washed some yeast for the first time. It came from the cake off 5gallon of Kolsch, which had been in lager stage for two weeks (5celcius). I poured boiled and cooled water into the carboy, and swilled it around. I dumped this into a 2 litre sanitised baking jar and left to settle. This was left for about 40 minutes. When I returned, the bottom was full of cream coloured cake - there was essentially very little trub in my primary as I took extra care to ensure the beer was very clear.

Now here's where I am confused - I thought that the stuff on the bottom was yeast, but, following directions online I dumped the top layer of (almost clear) beer into another container and let this one settle. This one has now been in the fridge, and indeed some creamy light substance has settled - but it looks just like the stuff in the bottom of my baking jar at the first stage!

The question - because this beer was vey clear in the primary, with little trub in the bottom, should I just have refrigerated the first stage baking jar - there was certainly a lot more white creamy substance at the bottom...

Any help appreciated

Thanks




Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[aslander]

40 minutes could be slightly too long depending how flocculant the yeast is. I had the same thing happen with WLP002 a couple weeks ago. I just reswirled it and waited a shorter amount of time. Either way, you can't go wrong. You probably just have a higher percentage of yeast albeit with less volume. I usually decant most of the liquid off and fill up 50ml vials after the step you are at. This way I take up less space

 

[flars]

after the first pour of the yeast and water solution,and you do not see a heavy hop debris layer forming, you are done. repeating the steps is for beers where a thick hop debris layer is visible in the fermentor.

i leave 6 to 8 ounces of beer in the fermentor. no added water. swirl and pour.

 

[cxp073]

Damn. I was hoping that wouldn't be the response - because after the first pour I had tons of good yeast then - now maybe only an 1/8th of it. Thanks guys.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[flars]

you will have lots more after your next harvest. you will soon have to much yeast. your wife, as mine did, will buy you a refrigerator for your yeast.

 

[cxp073]

Here are the two jars - the one on the right is basically what I got from pure liquid off the top of the first pour. The one on the left is remainder liquid from the first pour, as well as some of the stuff that settled out the first time round. Any thoughts?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[flars]

looks like pure yeast in both jars. liquid seems cloudy, like there is a little more yeast to drop out. after a few more days in the frig you can decant and store the yeast in one smaller jar.

 

[cxp073]

Thanks - for the purposes of making a starter, how do I determine how much yeast is in each jar to start with?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[rekoob]

Good question... what I do is end up with about a quarter inch in the bottom of a small jar (not sure what the size jar is) and I even put it back into the yeast vial it came in. So I just treat it like another vial of yeast.

 

[flars]

easiest way is to pour water into a jar of the same size, until it reaches the same level of the yeast, and then measure that volume of water. the smaller the jar, the easier it is.
i pour my harvested yeast/beer into a quart canning jar. jar has ml markings.

i don't add water to the fermentor.

 

[cxp073]

Right - I do have multiple jars of the same size so I will give that a go. And that measurement is the amount of slurry I have, correct? Or when web sites like mrmalty refer to slurry do they mean uncleaned substance that comes straight from the bottom of a primary fermenter?


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[cxp073]

And thanks again guys you have all been very helpful!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[1van]

slurry indicates "un-washed" yeast. I washed yeast for a while, then realized I can just leave a half inch or so of beer on top of the cake- swirl that all up and store the slurry in little mason jars. there is typically enough yeast in one of those to re-pitch without a starter. And I have stored yeast that way for up to a year and still had viable cells, but I will still make a starter out of one of those jars if the date is over 6 months.

Another Idea would be to make a starter with the smaller sample you have and decant and step up a time or two then swirl that starter up and pour that into more small cans. That way you can get more samples of the same generation yeast. I used a 14th generation wlp029 and started getting some belgian-y esters. still delicious, just not kolsch