Yeast Washing Illustrated

[Yankeehillbrewer]

I got a chance this weekend to use this method. Worked like a charm, and now I have 7 Mason jars of yeast from two different batches. I'm pretty stoked about it, gonna save a good bit of money with this. Time for a new BK. It's so easy, it unbelievable.

Thanks!!

 

[humann_brewing]

I have a question about the mason jars. In the picture is looks like they are 1 piece lids, but where do you get those? All I can seem to find is the 2 piece kind or is that what you are using?

I am hoping to wash some WLP002 tonight.

 

[DudeBrew]

so just to confirm you used the whole contents in the finished jar on the right? or just the liquid on top?

 

[Yankeehillbrewer]

so just to confirm you used the whole contents in the finished jar on the right? or just the liquid on top?

Your yeast is on the bottom. You can pitch the whole thing or pour the liquid off of the top and then pitch that. Into a starter of course. I'll be pouring the liquid off and just be using the yeast slurry.

 

[truckmann]

I have a question about the mason jars. In the picture is looks like they are 1 piece lids, but where do you get those? All I can seem to find is the 2 piece kind or is that what you are using?

I am hoping to wash some WLP002 tonight.

The two piece lids work fine. That's what I use.

 

[humann_brewing]

The two piece lids work fine. That's what I use.

Ok, great, I got a 12 pack last night.

 

[Johnny9]

Ok, sorry if this is a redundant question, but I read through this entire thread and I am still missing something.

How big a starter do you use when using your washed yeast? Mr Malty only gives you starter sizes when using White Labs or Wyeast. He assumes that if you are using slurry you don't make a starter (i.e. it fresh). But the conventional wisdom here seems to be that you need to pitch your slurry into a starter especially if it has been stored for awhile.

I have 4 half pint mason jars of washed yeast. They look like most of the pics in this thread (approx 1/4" of yeast below the old beer). I want to use one to make a 1.048 beer but feel I need to use a starter first. 1 liter? 2 liter?

thanks and sorry again if I just missed this some where.

 

[Kungpaodog]

Ok, sorry if this is a redundant question, but I read through this entire thread and I am still missing something.

How big a starter do you use when using your washed yeast? Mr Malty only gives you starter sizes when using White Labs or Wyeast. He assumes that if you are using slurry you don't make a starter (i.e. it fresh). But the conventional wisdom here seems to be that you need to pitch your slurry into a starter especially if it has been stored for awhile.

I have 4 half pint mason jars of washed yeast. They look like most of the pics in this thread (approx 1/4" of yeast below the old beer). I want to use one to make a 1.048 beer but feel I need to use a starter first. 1 liter? 2 liter?

thanks and sorry again if I just missed this some where.

Last batch I brewed was from my yeast harvested with this method, and the beer took of fermenting like a bat out of hell after 12 hours.

My starter was 1.6L of water with 175 grams of Dry Malt Extract, boiled of course. I chose this amount to have a little extra head space in the jar.

I put this into a half gallon mason jar, and decanted the liquid off the top of the pint jar with the yeast in it, then shook up the yeast and added it to the starter jar. I left the two-piece lid slightly loose to allow CO2 to escape.

Then I shook it up every time I walked past it in the kitchen, and it was bubbling hard the next morning (brew day!).

This isn't the most scientific approach, but it sure is a lot better than just using a vial with too few cells, and it's quite cheap.

 

[zman]

I bought a 1g glass jar at my LHBS to collect the yeast/trub from my carboy so that I can wash my yeast. However, I am thinking that this glass jar is not thick enough to withstand being boiled. I did get the Ball preserving/ Mason jars but could not find a 1g sized one. IS it ok if I just Star San the big jar and boil the the Mason jars in water?

 

[ArcaneXor]

2 weeks is what most of the yeast vendors recommend as an upper end for reusing yeast. In a commercial setting, the longest they typically go is 3 days from harvesting (Friday to Monday) so keep that in mind when people say "commercial breweries do it all the time".

That's true, but I haven't had any problems using yeast that was washed per the instructions in this thread after 6+ months in the fridge. When using old, washed yeast there are three key things to pay attention to:

*The color of the washed yeast. If it starts to look brown instead of beige/gray, throw it out.
*The lag time of your starter and its appearance. If you notice anything unusual, throw it out
*The taste and smell of the starter supernate. If it tastes or smells different from a normal starter, throw it out. I lightly hop my starters, because unhopped starters tend to develop some sourness naturally that may be confused with an infection.

 

[d_m_s_00]

If it is the same as the link http://batchandbrews.com/store/images/1%20gal%20jug it should be ok. I have that one and boiled it a few times. just place it on it's side and make sure there isn't an air pocket under it.

 

[zman]

The Jar kinda looks like this

 

[Bernie Brewer]

I bought a 1g glass jar at my LHBS to collect the yeast/trub from my carboy so that I can wash my yeast. However, I am thinking that this glass jar is not thick enough to withstand being boiled. I did get the Ball preserving/ Mason jars but could not find a 1g sized one. IS it ok if I just Star San the big jar and boil the the Mason jars in water?

The Jar kinda looks like this

I don't think you'd have a problem boiling that.

 

[Yankeehillbrewer]

I bought a 1g glass jar at my LHBS to collect the yeast/trub from my carboy so that I can wash my yeast. However, I am thinking that this glass jar is not thick enough to withstand being boiled. I did get the Ball preserving/ Mason jars but could not find a 1g sized one. IS it ok if I just Star San the big jar and boil the the Mason jars in water?

I soaked my mason jars in Iodophor, and boiled the water separately. I pitched one of my jars to a stout this weekend and it's fermenting just fine. I checked the smell a few times while it was in the starter and it smelled like beer. The important thing is to make sure everything is sanitized well, whatever your method is.

 

[PKsBrew]

Sorry if this has been answerd earlier, but I couldn't find it... so here it goes.
Is is better to wash the yeast left over from my primary fermentor, or from my cold conditioned secondary? Or does it make much of a difference, as long as I follow the process? Thanks for any insight.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

Sorry if this has been answerd earlier, but I couldn't find it... so here it goes.
Is is better to wash the yeast left over from my primary fermentor, or from my cold conditioned secondary? Or does it make much of a difference, as long as I follow the process? Thanks for any insight.

General consensus is that yeast from primary is better.

 

[Dougan]

I looked through the first few pages but did not find the answer to my question. It seems that by using this method, you want to collect the suspended yeast and eventually get rid of as much of the trub as possible.

However, by putting the yeast concoction in the fridge, aren't you cold crashing it? Wouldn't this cause the yeast to separate out and into the trub? I must have something confused.

I did this process, and after 20 minutes in the fridge there was barely any separation so I waited about an hour and a half and it was about half liquid (looked like beer) and half trub. I want to take this liquid and pour that into the mason jar that I will be using to store this for the long term? I mean I know that's what it says, I just want to confirm, because my impression of cold crashing is that the yeast should be in the trub now.

 

[dontman]

I looked through the first few pages but did not find the answer to my question. It seems that by using this method, you want to collect the suspended yeast and eventually get rid of as much of the trub as possible.

However, by putting the yeast concoction in the fridge, aren't you cold crashing it? Wouldn't this cause the yeast to separate out and into the trub? I must have something confused.

I did this process, and after 20 minutes in the fridge there was barely any separation so I waited about an hour and a half and it was about half liquid (looked like beer) and half trub. I want to take this liquid and pour that into the mason jar that I will be using to store this for the long term? I mean I know that's what it says, I just want to confirm, because my impression of cold crashing is that the yeast should be in the trub now.

Actually what you missed is contained in the photos of the process. When you pour the contents of the fermenter into the big bottle as it sits in the bottle for about an hour you will get basically three layers. You have to look for them to understand. There is the muddy water layer that takes up the vast majority of the bottle. Good stuff here - you want this. 2. a secondary layer layer of yeast at the bottom of the bottle. Good stuff here too and 3. If you look closer at that sedimented layer it itself is divided in two with the bottom layer being slightly darker . This is the bad stuff that you do not want to go on to the next bottle.

The OP does not tell you to refrigerate the first big bottle. YOu do not refridge until the process is complete and you are storing it. Otherwise the yeast will fall out of solution onto the trub and it will be harder to separate.

Your whole purpose here is to catch the lighter yeast while they are still in suspension and the heavier debris has precipitated to the bottom. You should be pouring cloudy liquid to your next step, not beer looking stuff. If it looks like beer you waited far too long.

 

[McCuckerson]

So me putting trub in bottles after I rack, refrigerating them and then pitching them in to future batches is a bad practice?

 

[dontman]

So me putting trub in bottles after I rack, refrigerating them and then pitching them in to future batches is a bad practice?

I think I understand what you are asking and to be honest I don't know how bad of a practice it is. I've never found out because I always wash out the nasty stuff out before storage.

You have to figure that even in an alcoholic media there will still be some decay of that dead yeast and other debris eventually that could then contribute off flavor to your beer.

Why risk it when washing is so easy?

 

[Dougan]

Actually what you missed is contained in the photos of the process. When you pour the contents of the fermenter into the big bottle as it sits in the bottle for about an hour you will get basically three layers. You have to look for them to understand. There is the muddy water layer that takes up the vast majority of the bottle. Good stuff here - you want this. 2. a secondary layer layer of yeast at the bottom of the bottle. Good stuff here too and 3. If you look closer at that sedimented layer it itself is divided in two with the bottom layer being slightly darker . This is the bad stuff that you do not want to go on to the next bottle.

The OP does not tell you to refrigerate the first big bottle. YOu do not refridge until the process is complete and you are storing it. Otherwise the yeast will fall out of solution onto the trub and it will be harder to separate.

Your whole purpose here is to catch the lighter yeast while they are still in suspension and the heavier debris has precipitated to the bottom. You should be pouring cloudy liquid to your next step, not beer looking stuff. If it looks like beer you waited far too long.

Thank you, this answers my question. I have a starter that's already bubbling and a couple glass peanut butter jars in the fridge. Just should make sure I label them right, they looked a little too much like peanut butter when I put them in there...

 

[McCuckerson]

I think I understand what you are asking and to be honest I don't know how bad of a practice it is. I've never found out because I always wash out the nasty stuff out before storage.

You have to figure that even in an alcoholic media there will still be some decay of that dead yeast and other debris eventually that could then contribute off flavor to your beer.

Why risk it when washing is so easy?

So is pitching onto a yeast cake an acceptable practice?..., but for storage of yeast, washing is much better? Is that a fair synopsis?

 

[Plan9]

So is pitching onto a yeast cake an acceptable practice?..., but for storage of yeast, washing is much better? Is that a fair synopsis?

That is pretty much the consensus.

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

Sorry if I missed it but does it matter what the beer was that was on top of the yeast cake that I intend to wash? Like...what if I brewed a stout with an ale yeast...would there be any potential color issues with the washed yeast?

 

[dontman]

It does make a bit of a difference but washing the yeast is actually what will get rid of most of the color and flavor adding elements of the old beer and old fermentation.

EDIT: I just reread this and realized that I meant "old BEER and "old fermentation" not "old yeast."

 

[zman]

you can perform the yeast wash if you used dry yeast correct? I know dry yeast is cheap but it is more of I want to practice kinda thing. It will be ok as long as I make a starter for the washed yeast correct?

 

[Bernie Brewer]

you can perform the yeast wash if you used dry yeast correct? I know dry yeast is cheap but it is more of I want to practice kinda thing. It will be ok as long as I make a starter for the washed yeast correct?

Yep- go for it. Given the recent shortage of Notty (even though times are now better in that regard) it even makes sense sometimes just to hang onto a strain that is hard to find.

 

[allanmac00]

A little confused here...

When you first add the sterilized water to the carboy to allow the trub to settle out, you want to leave what falls to the bottom when you pour into the larger jar? In other words, are you saying the yeast stays in suspension while the gunk falls to the bottom right away?

 

[Bernie Brewer]

A little confused here...

When you first add the sterilized water to the carboy to allow the trub to settle out, you want to leave what falls to the bottom when you pour into the larger jar? In other words, are you saying the yeast stays in suspension while the gunk falls to the bottom right away?

Yep- that's the whole idea. The yeast is the last thing to fall out of suspension.

 

[moti_mo]

Any problems with using this technique if you pitched two different types of yeast into the beer you're racking?