Reusing yeast - without washing

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3 floyds bottles have been proven to wash yeast by themselves with no effort.

Fill the bottles with yeast cake sludge and leave in a warm moist place, preferably a barn or out house.

Around midnight, the yeasty wash fairies will swoop in (assuming no bears are near) and scrub each little yeasty with their little lufas.





SO DO YOU WANT THE DAMNED THINGS OR NOT????!??!?!??!?!!!!
 
Implying that I am not?

Come off it big guy.

Sure I am eyeballing it, but with out a really specialized computer and an electron microscope, SO ARE YOU. How can you claim to be more accurate than me?

Wanna compare beers?

Name it.

I come closer by measuring it (the clean slurry) depending on what I am brewing. Are you the guy who "leaves a cup behind" in the fermenter? I can't keep up :)
 
I have washed and also just pitched slurry. Now I just pitch slurry because it makes no difference in beer quality and saves a few minutes. If I brewed seldomly then I would wash because it seems a better way to store yeast long term but I'm always brewing so no need.

A lot of brewers take this hobby so seriously that they would break out a microscope if they could and count the number of yeasties pitched. I say don't worry, have a homebrew.
 
I started this thread over a year ago and was very interested in everones replies. Since then, I have been just saving and pitching slurry. I've never had a problem with this. I've pitched yeast up to 6 months old - from the date I harvested it. Again, no problem.

I'm sure there are people that feel this is unjust, but it's been working great for me. So that's all that matters. I like to discuss topics like this to get peoples' opinions, and this was pretty well split, so I picked a way and went with it. I'm glad I did.
 
I started this thread over a year ago and was very interested in everones replies. Since then, I have been just saving and pitching slurry. I've never had a problem with this. I've pitched yeast up to 6 months old - from the date I harvested it. Again, no problem.

I'm sure there are people that feel this is unjust, but it's been working great for me. So that's all that matters. I like to discuss topics like this to get peoples' opinions, and this was pretty well split, so I picked a way and went with it. I'm glad I did.


this is the best way to settle things, do it and see what happens. i see so many people on here just go with what others say (wash vs no wash, O2 vs shaking, dry vs rehydrate and so on) then stick with it no matter what because it's "what i heard".
 
Its hard to switch habits...I was a bleach and water guy on my first batch, because I didn't have Stars San. Then, when I had good beer I didn't want to change...keep brewing using the same sanitization ritual. Finally, I just figured I would try it....and was very nervous. Sanitized stuff without a 20 min soak, sounds too good to be true...

It was an awesome change, but hard to switch and lots of stress until I had a few batches under my belt using Stars San. I still fight the urge to do a periodic bleach soak...

Now I'm struggling with yeast. I have done 3 generations twice, then buy new yeast...each time is a lot of stress, so far so good...have not been washing the yeast, but try to get a layer that is not trub...
 
This is one of the best discussions I've found on yeast washing. And this is one of my favorite things about brewing beer, there is no 100% right way to do most things, it comes down to your OWN style.

I've got several brews under my belt now, and everytime I've tried a couple new techniques, as im just feeling around finding what I like best.

I am going to start saving yeast as I currently have 4 active yeasts in fermenters right now (775 cider, 1056, 1028 london ale, and 1945 nb) and would love to have a 'yeast library' and this thread has givin me a lot of insight on how I would like to go about that...

so thank you EVERYONE for your thoughts and opinions.
 
I added clean, cooled boiled water to the carboy after removing the beer. Swished it around and poured it into a tall glass. Let it settle for a few minutes for the heavy debris to settle to the bottom. Pour the top liquid/yeast into a bottle and cap it. Throw out the heavy debris. Use the bottled yeast for your starter. I don't believe the bottled yeast needs to be refridgerated. It's basically a highly yeasty beer.
 
I have never washed yeast. I simply scoop about a quart of slurry from the fermenter w/ a large sanitized ladle into a zip lock bag. To pitch, I simply sanitize the outside of the bag and cut a top corner w/ sanitized scissors, pour off excess liquid and add to the fermenter. Very easy and seems to work a charm.

Different approach. I must try it. I usually wash and store for months. Didn't recently with a Hefeweizen and I'm not overly concerned. I think your getting junk no matter what you do.
 
FWIW, I'm not using zip locks anymore, switched over to using recycled pasta sauce quart jars. The zip locks are handy as I considered them sanitary fresh out of the box, so less to prep. bbut a little tricker to store. I've even gone 6 or more generations without issue. Just recently cropped some yeast out of commercial Sierra Nevada Kellerveiss and Long Trail IPA, two nice "free" yeast strains that came with the purchase of a six pack....
 
I added clean, cooled boiled water to the carboy after removing the beer. Swished it around and poured it into a tall glass. Let it settle for a few minutes for the heavy debris to settle to the bottom. Pour the top liquid/yeast into a bottle and cap it. Throw out the heavy debris. Use the bottled yeast for your starter. I don't believe the bottled yeast needs to be refridgerated. It's basically a highly yeasty beer.

The viability of your yeast will be better if you refrigerate it.

I personally harvest from my starter, been using the same packet of US-05 for several generations. I just add an extra 500mL of starter wort and I'm good to go.
 
I prefer to use true top-cropper strains and harvest from the top. Its as close as I can get to 100% pure (zero visible trub), and extremely healthy since it hasn't been sitting under alcohol for weeks. I collect up to 250ml of the stuff, store under distilled water in mason jars, no rinsing, and never make starters. Its super viable even after a couple months, taking off as fast as the original smack-pack with starter. I've found Mr. Malty slurry estimates work well for me, as long as I go with the most conservative amount of yeast. Any more and I get over-pitch scenarios.
 
So say you take the yeast from the cake in the secondary (less other crap in it) and put it in a sanitized container in a fridge. How long is the yeast viable, and should you make a starter for good measure or not?

I have a Wyeast 1968 and was thinking of doing another batch, but it wont be for a month or so, otherwise I would just pitch on top of the yeast cake.
 
So say you take the yeast from the cake in the secondary (less other crap in it) and put it in a sanitized container in a fridge. How long is the yeast viable, and should you make a starter for good measure or not?

I have a Wyeast 1968 and was thinking of doing another batch, but it wont be for a month or so, otherwise I would just pitch on top of the yeast cake.

When I have harvested post-fermentation, it was always from primary. If you harvest from secondary, you're selecting the less flocculant yeast which can change the properties of the strain over time (i.e.: takes longer to clear and may increase attenuation). You can still do it no problem, but you might want to limit it to one or two cycles if you do. You probably don't pull a ton of yeast from secodary (others might confirm), so a starter would build your cell count up to desirable levels, also helping recharge potentially stressed out yeast that's been in alcohol for a while.
 
1. If I saved my yeast cake from my previous batch (it's in mason jars in the fridge right now) is it okay to wash it in a couple of days? i.e. as long as it is washed before i reuse it, it's okay?

2. Also, how much difference does the water temperature make? Should I use fridge temperature brewing water to wash fridge temperature yeast cake?

Thanks!
 
Why bother washing it at all? It's safe and sound in Mason jars, so when you need some yeast, just decant the liquid and pitch the slurry.
This...just use Mr. Malty's slurry tab to find out how much slurry to pitch. I quit "washing" yeast a long time ago.
 
Why bother washing it at all? It's safe and sound in Mason jars, so when you need some yeast, just decant the liquid and pitch the slurry.

I figured if I add water to the slurry the amount of yeast i have in suspension will increase thereby increasing the amount of seperate times I can use reuse the yeast.
 
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