First time yeast washing, question!

[Bigbens6]

OK, so i added my boiled and cooler water to my primary after racking off the brew. Let it settle, poured into my 4 2oz containers, this is what it looks like,

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it seems to me that in a 2 oz container there is prolly alot of trub and sediment and that this is NOT all yeast, so what do i do, add my glycerin and freeze it, resuspend and decant to get less sediment?

I have time i dont mind running through again, i just want healthy viable yeasts!!!

 

[Yooper]

I usually "wash" a couple of times. The first time, I pour into a couple of big jars. Add some clean water again, swirl, let settle, and pour off again. It takes a couple of times to get rid of the trub and keep nice clean yeast.

 

[Bigbens6]

The consequences of freezing what I currently have would be? I guess I can suspend and decant to other containers, do I NEED to add more water when resuspending?

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

Seems certain yeast cakes wash easier than others. Keep at it and you'll dial in a process that works for you...even just the second time is much easier.

One thing I do a little differently now is after I've poured the slurry into the second container, I let that last wash completely settle, then decant any extra liquid, then slosh it around a little to mix the yeast with the remaining liquid and distribute to the mason jars. This gets me bigger cakes in the mason jars. But that last slurry needs to be clean to do this.

Also, it seemed I was still always throwing away yeast after a wash so I try to plan a future brew for the day after the wash and pitch any leftover yeast from the wash into that. It's usually plenty.

 

[nealf]

I do not think you can freeze the yeast you have, it needs to be treated first; otherwise, the yeast will die. Check out this thread if you want to freeze your yeast:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/guide-making-frozen-yeast-bank-35891/

 

[Bigbens6]

I plan on freezing with glycerine no worries, I'm more concerned about freezing with other sediment and if it will hurt anything...

 

[Yooper]

The consequences of freezing what I currently have would be? I guess I can suspend and decant to other containers, do I NEED to add more water when resuspending?

Yes, you need to wash out the trub. If you freeze what you have, you may have some off-flavors (sort of fecal-like) from the breakdown of the trub/yeast mix.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I usually add about 1/2 gal of water to the trub and shake/mix/pour it into a gallon jug, let sit 10 mins, pour off into a second gallon jug, toss out the contents of the first and re-sanitize for the third pour off into the other jug.

I let that one sit overnight in the fridge. The next day I'll pour off 3/4 of the water swirl/mix again then pour it into my smaller containers.

 

[Bigbens6]

So really the key methodology is to shak, settle, decant/pour off 3 or 4 times and then freeze with glycerin and as little water as possible... I think I got it wrong the first time here but I have a much better understanding for next time! Yes?!?!