scottlindner
Well-Known Member
I wonder if there would be any harm in partially washing your yeast cake and then pitching just the suspended yeast?
I've done this 1 time and had good luck with it.
Basically, I just dumped about a 1/2 gallon of water onto my yeast cake and gave it a good swirl. Then after about 15 minutes, I poured off a quart or so into my new primary and then racked onto it.
This left all the garbage behind and gave me a good clean slury to pitch.
The only problem is that I have no idea what the cell count would be.
Any comments?
Bull
Based on the OP I think you run the risk of underpitching (or not knowing exactly how much you're pitching) but have addressed all of the other concerns. Sometime you should take that quart and let it settle into another container so you can gauge exactly how much yeast by volume you have and extrapolate from there.
My feel is what you're doing is better than using a new fresh vial of WL or pack of WY, so if that's all you care about I'd say you're already doing yourself better.
Scott