chrisdb
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Yeast Washing Illustrated -- REVISITED!!
- Thread starter grndslm
- Start date
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OK, so my buddy and I got some yeast from a local brewery today. They filled up a peanut butter jar about 20% or so, and my buddy's like.... "Let's just pitch it!!" I said, "Hell no!"
We get home, I boil enough water for 2 small glass jars and 1 larger jar. The intent was to put the washed yeast in the 2 smaller jars and just have the larger jar for a slight extra in the washing process, as well as to have some for when we wake the yeasties tomorrow or whenever we decide to brew. Threw in the water from the 2 smaller jars and just enough extra. Not sure how I decided on how much extra water to add (guess it just looked right), but it ended up being the perfect amount in the end, really. I tilted the peanut butter jar on its side so the trub would fall to the corner of the jar, with there being a rubber slip-free mat on one side and put a rag underneath the opposite corner holding the peanut butter jar at an angle. The trub all fell in the corner as planned after a very short time, like a few minutes. Definitely less than 10 min. My buddy is very impatient and encouraged me to decant into the two glass jars. Don't think there was any urgency, but I did feel like most of the trub had settled already in that very short period of time, considering this is only a peanut butter jar we're talkin about washing in.
Anyway, after just 5 hours we've already got plenty of pure white yeast for two 5 gallon batches. I'd say there's at least 3 tablespoons in each jar, and the top liquid is still cloudy.
Now my real question is.... HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO WAIT UNTIL THE TOP LIQUID IS CLEAR???
My buddy is, of course, rushing our process so that we can brew tomorrow morning. I said we shouldn't do it until tomorrow night, at the absolute earliest. 5 PM will be the 24 hour mark.
My theory is that you want the top liquid / beer to be as clear as possible, because you want the least flocculant yeast to remain with the most flocculent yeast that have already bottomed out after 5 hours.
One of Wolverinebrewer's posts in my OP states:
So my question is can yeast make it longer than 24 hours?? If there are yeast that can keep on "kicking" for more than 24 hours in a fridge, then wouldn't those be some of the most healthy and important yeast that you'd want to settle before decanting the top liquid???
Any thoughts on this?
We get home, I boil enough water for 2 small glass jars and 1 larger jar. The intent was to put the washed yeast in the 2 smaller jars and just have the larger jar for a slight extra in the washing process, as well as to have some for when we wake the yeasties tomorrow or whenever we decide to brew. Threw in the water from the 2 smaller jars and just enough extra. Not sure how I decided on how much extra water to add (guess it just looked right), but it ended up being the perfect amount in the end, really. I tilted the peanut butter jar on its side so the trub would fall to the corner of the jar, with there being a rubber slip-free mat on one side and put a rag underneath the opposite corner holding the peanut butter jar at an angle. The trub all fell in the corner as planned after a very short time, like a few minutes. Definitely less than 10 min. My buddy is very impatient and encouraged me to decant into the two glass jars. Don't think there was any urgency, but I did feel like most of the trub had settled already in that very short period of time, considering this is only a peanut butter jar we're talkin about washing in.
Anyway, after just 5 hours we've already got plenty of pure white yeast for two 5 gallon batches. I'd say there's at least 3 tablespoons in each jar, and the top liquid is still cloudy.
Now my real question is.... HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO WAIT UNTIL THE TOP LIQUID IS CLEAR???
My buddy is, of course, rushing our process so that we can brew tomorrow morning. I said we shouldn't do it until tomorrow night, at the absolute earliest. 5 PM will be the 24 hour mark.
My theory is that you want the top liquid / beer to be as clear as possible, because you want the least flocculant yeast to remain with the most flocculent yeast that have already bottomed out after 5 hours.
One of Wolverinebrewer's posts in my OP states:
So my question is can yeast make it longer than 24 hours?? If there are yeast that can keep on "kicking" for more than 24 hours in a fridge, then wouldn't those be some of the most healthy and important yeast that you'd want to settle before decanting the top liquid???
Any thoughts on this?
brewski09
Well-Known Member
You make some valid points, but my questions are 1) will it make a big difference in the beer if you out the liquid in too? If not just pitch it all in. 2) what yeast is it? If it's a really strong fermenter like the California ale yeast, you'll be fine pitching slightly higher flocculating yeast.
Awesome questions.
We just pitched the whole jar (half pint?). It got 97% of the trub out that we wanted out. But 10 minutes to settle in the peanut butter jar was still not enough for it all to settle. Still recommend 20 to 30 minutes to truly separate yeast from trub.
We'll have to figure out what type of yeast it is, tho. Forgot to ask that. :cross:
I've been trying to find out when the preferred time to pitch the top liquid (beer) after the yeast has been refrigerated.
EarlyAmateurZymurgist has suggested that you don't want what's in that liquid after a day or so??
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/why-not-pitch-your-yeast-cake-166221/index42.html#post5512428
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/why-not-pitch-your-yeast-cake-166221/index43.html#post5512863
So anywhere from a few hours to a day seems totally acceptable and actually preferred when washing yeast. Because the boiled water should have no oxygen, the REAL yeast should fall to the bottom rather quickly... and actually keeping whatever is still floating around in there past a day more than likely IS a mutant!!
I think he and I will have to agree to disagree, however, that just pouring the yeast cake into jars is more beneficial than washing yeast.... https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/saving-yeast-432059/index2.html#post5516364
http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2013/01/abv-effects-on-yeast.html
EarlyAmateurZymurgist has suggested that you don't want what's in that liquid after a day or so??
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/why-not-pitch-your-yeast-cake-166221/index42.html#post5512428
Preferably, one doesn't want to carry the least flocculent yeast over to the next fermentation. In a pure culture, the least flocculent yeast cells tend to be respiratory-deficient mutants.
The photo shown below contains a plate that I streaked from a yeast culture that was harvested from a bottle of bottle-conditioned beer. The small colonies are more than likely respiratory-deficient mutants (a.k.a. petite mutants or simply "petites"). The colonies in the rectangle are the reference culture.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/why-not-pitch-your-yeast-cake-166221/index43.html#post5512863
So anywhere from a few hours to a day seems totally acceptable and actually preferred when washing yeast. Because the boiled water should have no oxygen, the REAL yeast should fall to the bottom rather quickly... and actually keeping whatever is still floating around in there past a day more than likely IS a mutant!!
I think he and I will have to agree to disagree, however, that just pouring the yeast cake into jars is more beneficial than washing yeast.... https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/saving-yeast-432059/index2.html#post5516364
http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2013/01/abv-effects-on-yeast.html
