Yeast Washing Illustrated

[jjw5015]

I've made starters out of yeast I had on the fridge for 6 months. And they were the most aggressive fermentation I've seen. This shouldn't be much different than your situation.


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[mtnagel]

What's the longest amount of time that the yeast could still be taken out of its dormancy? I still have five starters in the fridge and would like to be able to take advantage of those, but don't want to hassle with them if they won't end up working out anyway.

If I took the refridgerated yeast starts out a couple hours earlier and added a small amount of DME to the decanted yeast and water, would I be able to determine if the yeast is still active?

Thanks!

Just like with beer, you should be able to see some signs of fermentation - bubbles, krausen on top, solids from the krausen stuck to the wall of the container higher than the liquid level and the gravity should drop. You might not see all of those, but if the gravity drops, you awoke the yeast.

 

[1fast636]

How hard is it going to be to wash with dry hop gunk in the fermenter

 

[bolus14]

Going to make it more difficult. Would have been better to transfer to secondary and dry hop there and wash the yeast from the primary.

 

[1fast636]

Yea that's what I usually do but my fermenters are all full lol and it's a cake of Conan which is why I'm definitely washing guess I got alil work on my hands

 

[fearwig]

I'd sanitize a mesh strainer and pour diluted slurry through that, that'll get the leafy bits out.

 

[1fast636]

Didn't even think of that looks like that will be what I do thanks for the tip man, next time I will hopefully have my carboy open or accumulated more so I don't run into this problem lol

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

today I decanted all 6 pint jars and got my yeast starter going. At first I used a turkey baster to remove the liquid, but found it easier to just pour out as much as I could without disturbing the yeast cake and removed the residual with the turkey baster. Collected all 6 jars into one, swirled it up really well and poured it into the flask and now it's on the starter plate. Will brew sometime tomorrow around noonish, giving the yeast starter atleast 18 hours on the stir plate. Sure seemed like a lot of yeast for a 5 gallon batch. Can you use too much yeast?

 

[bzwyatt]

Why are you using so much?

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

Why are you using so much?

if you are asking me, I don't know.

 

[mtnagel]

Next time use Mr Malty to determine how much you should be pitching. Here are the instructions on how to set the sliders.

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

Don't take this the wrong way but there are many brewers who just do things that are not "calculated". There was a tad more yeast than 2 vials of liquid yeast. So, can one use too much yeast?

 

[jwalker1140]

So, can one use too much yeast?

I think so. The first post explains why:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/why-not-pitch-your-yeast-cake-166221/

 

[mtnagel]

Don't take this the wrong way but there are many brewers who just do things that are not "calculated". There was a tad more yeast than 2 vials of liquid yeast.

Of course and you are free to do so. It's your beer. But I'd rather use a scientific estimate than just winging it.

So, can one use too much yeast?

Yes, but it's better than not pitching enough.

 

[fearwig]

Yes, it's certainly possible to pitch too much yeast. The calculator pretends at precision, but it is really there to give you the best ballpark information (that's all you'll ever get, with yeast). But it is very useful for that.

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

The American IPA recipe calls for 2 vials of yeast and that's basically how much washed yeast I added to the yeast starter. I'm goona go for it as it's not written in stone about over pitching. One source says 1 cup is not too much and I have that or less.

 

[lumpy5oh]

The American IPA recipe calls for 2 vials of yeast and that's basically how much washed yeast I added to the yeast starter. I'm goona go for it as it's not written in stone about over pitching. One source says 1 cup is not too much and I have that or less.

You yeast is going to grow in the starter. You may end up with almost 4 vials worth of yeast.

 

[hoppypoppy]

I am about to bottle my batch that I used WLP001. I plan on harvesting the yeast. However, my time is limited today and will be using the time I do have to bottle.

If I pour sanitized water in my fermenter, transfer all the yeast and trub into two large mason jars then refrigerate. Can I let the yeast sit in the mason jars for a few days until I have time to pour off/seperate the trub?

 

[fearwig]

Days, months, sure.

 

[MrFeltimo]

So in post #2, picture #4, yes i can clearly see the layer on the botton of the carboy, now the water is still cloudy, so its the cloudy water i want? The yeast is in suspenstion in this?

 

[mtnagel]

Yes, that is correct. Some yeast has also settled too, but there is nothing you can do about it. When rinsing yeast, you will lose a lot of yeast.

 

[MrFeltimo]

Yes, that is correct. Some yeast has also settled too, but there is nothing you can do about it. When rinsing yeast, you will lose a lot of yeast.

Great thanks.

 

[msa8967]

Does the quality of water used in this yeast washing method really matter much? We have very hard water in our town and we have a water softner for our house but I use RO water for my brewing and yeast washing. Can I use regular tap water that has been softened for washing yeast?

 

[TrustyOlJohnson]

Does the quality of water used in this yeast washing method really matter much? We have very hard water in our town and we have a water softner for our house but I use RO water for my brewing and yeast washing. Can I use regular tap water that has been softened for washing yeast?

I use my tap water, which is filter through a brita faucet filter. Same thing I brew with. Ive had great results:


"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."

 

[bristela]

Does the quality of water used in this yeast washing method really matter much? We have very hard water in our town and we have a water softner for our house but I use RO water for my brewing and yeast washing. Can I use regular tap water that has been softened for washing yeast?

I've been using my tap water for this yeast washing technique for over a year now. I have not had a single failure yet. Having said that, I've learnt the hard way that my tap water has a pH that's way too high for mashing. I use Brita filtered water for that. Yeast really aren't that fussy so I suspect your tap water will be fine.

 

[bristela]

I am about to bottle my batch that I used WLP001. I plan on harvesting the yeast. However, my time is limited today and will be using the time I do have to bottle.

If I pour sanitized water in my fermenter, transfer all the yeast and trub into two large mason jars then refrigerate. Can I let the yeast sit in the mason jars for a few days until I have time to pour off/seperate the trub?

If you leave the mixture sitting for too long the yeast will just settle into the trub. The whole principle of this technique is that the trub and yeast settle at different rates. This is why you can separate them. Yeast still settle though, especially in the fridge. You should be able to keep the mixture in the fridge and then just repeat this procedure when you're ready though.

 

[SaintDetritus]

So would washing my yeast allow me to use it indefinitely, or is this a one-to-two time thing?

 

[msa8967]

So would washing my yeast allow me to use it indefinitely, or is this a one-to-two time thing?

use mine for up to 3 generations. I have read on this forum of brewers going to 5 or 6 w/o issues. It might just depend on what type of beer you are harvesting the yeast from.

 

[bristela]

So would washing my yeast allow me to use it indefinitely, or is this a one-to-two time thing?

This is something I have been asking professional brewers as often as possible. People at Oskar Blues in Asheville said 5 generations (brews), most have said ten. One guy even said about 30 (it was a small brewery).

Personally, I'm up to my twelfth generation. I'm hoping that I'm evolving my own strain. I believe that this is what some Belgian breweries do. There's always the risk that they acquire some nasty mutation the more they're used which is why I always keep at least a duplicate from each brew. If that happens I can always go back and revive the pre-mutation version and start again. Haven't lost a brew yet though.

Hope this helps. Always glad to try and make use of my microbioloy Ph.D.

 

[brewski09]

On the homebrewers scale, the biggest risk is infection. I have taken a yeast (without washing) to 14 generations before without problems. Pro brewers will usually give 10 generation as a hard number they go back to a banked version. This is for infection control, quality control o the finished beer (attenuation and the likes), and mutation control. They have to put out a consistent beer though or their customers will complain.

Your biggest issues to decide on is how to deal with an infection if you get one (maybe a set of master slants every 5 generations so you can go back to them if you get one) and if you are willing to take the ride of developing your own personal yeast strain over the generations it will take to do so.

Yeast washing or rinsing as is actually being done is another chance for infection. I'm not saying don't do it, just to be aware of it. The arguments of whether or not to do it have been discussed ad nauseam.


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