Please look at this picture of my yeast...

[waddsworth]

So I harvested some yeast from my carboy, using co2 to rack, and put it into a 1 gallon glass jug and added some distilled water to try to wash it. After allowing it to settle for a while, this is what I've got:

Its hard for me to see where the yeast has separated from the trub. Can I just portion out what I've got here? Or is my wahing process wrong?

 

[certaut]

did you boil the water? is it in the fridge?

 

[waddsworth]

Being bottled distilled, I didn't see the need to boil it. I had it sitting outside for about 20 mins, it was 35 degrees.

 

[USMCYoder]

The point of the boil is not just the sanitize aspect, but to remove some of the oxygen from the water so the yeast don't "wake up". Also boiling the water with the jars you are storing the yeast in will sanitize the jars.

As for your pic. I just washed my yeast less then 30 minutes ago. If you look closely at your pic, you will see some darker matter at the bottom. I would avoid that. Take from the top. I only took about 3/4 of the yeast solution and dumped the last 1/4.

 

[Revvy]

I've washed many a time with distilled water, it's really irrevelent as to whether there is oxygen in the water. The yeast won't "wake up" if they are dormant unless there is some sugar for it to ferment.

 

[Golddiggie]

I've not been washing yeast for all that long, but from what I've experienced, once you get it off the trub, you could be looking at days before things fully settle out. Put the entire thing into the fridge (normal temps, not a beer fridge) and let it continue to settle.

I actually have a batch of yeast in jars, in the fridge, right now. There was a LOT of yeast, so it's taking a bit more time than my first washing did. The yeast harvest I took out of the primary was more than enough to fill up a gallon jar (with some water/liquid in there too)... Once it all settles out, I'll put it into smaller jars, for storage.

How many doses are you planning on keeping per each harvest? Personally, I'll be happy with either two or three doses per harvest/washing. More than that means that I won't be able to use it fast enough. I'll probably re-examine my yeast desires and come down to either one or two strains to use for most of my brews. I don't mind buying yeast for brews that are different than what I normally brew. Although, I'll probably harvest those too. I can also see freezer storing yeast come next year (when I'm able to get a small chest freezer for yeast). It also means that it gives me more time to get the hardware I'll need to properly freeze the yeast.

 

[waddsworth]

Okay, so after letting it sit in my fridge overnight, dumping out some of the top solution, re-topping with distilled, stirring, and letting settle out again, this is what I had:

 

[waddsworth]

Here's what I devised as a way to get the specific layer of yeast I wanted, in as sterile a way possible:

 

[waddsworth]

After doing some reading, I decided I wanted to harvest the middle layer of yeast. The reason is that the bottom yeast is already dormant, and may be tired/stressed. The very top layer obviously is very flocculant. As Goldie Locks said, the middle layer is "just right". I hope, anyways. After CO2 racking my yeast to flasks, I then portioned it out amongst sterilized quart mason jars, like so:

Unfortunately, as you can see, my consistency in volume control was not spot on. But, after making starters from these guys on a well aerated stir-plate setup, I'm sure I'll have enough cells for a 5 gallon batch.

 

[dstar26t]

What ratio of water to cake did you use originally?

 

[waddsworth]

Oh maybe about a quart of distilled thrown on top of the cake. That entire slurry is what you see in the first pic.

 

[dstar26t]

Next time, if you use a 3 or 4:1 ratio of water to cake, the dead cells and trub will settle to the bottom in 20 minutes and it'll be easier to see the boundary layer.

 

[waddsworth]

Yeah, I figured that's what I was dealing with initially, which is why I racked and then added back more than a half gallon of distilled, it seemed to want to settle out that much faster and with more obvious separation.

Thanks!

 

[MikeRoBrew1]

Looks good way to jump right in! After another week in the fridge the jars will settle again. If you want you can combine jars again at this time. MrMalty.com will help with how much slurry to use for pitching/starter. With that much slurry I wonder if you could just skip the starter and pitch extra? MrMalty will know

 

[BrookdaleBrew]

Here's what I devised as a way to get the specific layer of yeast I wanted, in as sterile a way possible:

Wow, were you trying to make this process as hard as possible or what? hahaha. You really don't need to go to all that trouble.

 

[riromero]

Yeah. You could just go to the store and buy beer.

Wow, were you trying to make this process as hard as possible or what? hahaha. You really don't need to go to all that trouble.

 

[Golddiggie]

Yeah. You could just go to the store and buy beer.

Now, now, no need to be nasty...

 

[MikeRoBrew1]

LOL well I think most people just boil the jars and wash their hands and then start dunkin the jars by hand, but that's tougher with a carboy obviously. WTG McGruber!