Washing / Reusing yeast

[kenpotf]

All,

I'm going to wash my yeast for the first time this week just to do something different. I've got an irish red in the fermenter now that I pitched US-05 into.

Can I harvest this yeast like any other one?

When I do get them transferred to mason jars, do I need to still create a starter with dme when I'm ready to use it like a standard liquid yeast, or is my starter already created and it's ready to pitch from the mason jar?

Thanks!

 

[noggins]

yeh. dump boiled and cooled water into fermenter after racking, let settle, siphon or decant yeast layer into smaller bottle and let settle, siphon into small sterile jars for storage in fridge. when you're ready to pitch, let warm to pitching temp then decant off most of the beer, swirl, and pour into your wort. you can build up a starter if you don't have enough yeast collected, but it's not required.

 

[kenpotf]

yeh. dump boiled and cooled water into fermenter after racking, let settle, siphon or decant yeast layer into smaller bottle and let settle, siphon into small sterile jars for storage in fridge. when you're ready to pitch, let warm to pitching temp then decant off most of the beer, swirl, and pour into your wort. you can build up a starter if you don't have enough yeast collected, but it's not required.

Awesome...sounds easy enough! So, no stir plate before pitching, etc?

 

[Yesfan]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=519995



Good read. I've had some great luck in reusing my yeast on the last few batches.

 

[kenpotf]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=519995



Good read. I've had some great luck in reusing my yeast on the last few batches.

Thank you for the link! That brings up another question after seeing the picture in the link. How do you know if you have enough/too much yeast to pitch?

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

I do it a much simpler way.After racking swirl around remaining beer and trub to form a slurry.Dump in mason jar,stick in fridge...Done
On brew day swirl around in mason jar and pitch about 1/2 to 3/4 of jar at room temp..Very simple.Others here do it the same way with no issues.I get around 2 1/2 to three jars.Enough for 3 5 gallon batches

 

[Yesfan]

Thank you for the link! That brings up another question after seeing the picture in the link. How do you know if you have enough/too much yeast to pitch?

Depends. There's links in that thread to various yeast calculators that help you determine how much yeast you have in the slurry. Mr Malty is a popular one.


On my last batch, I just done the same as Johnny Rotten mentioned. Poured about half a jar in the pale ale I made.