Yeast Washing Illustrated

[Bernie Brewer]

If I'm washing and brewing/pitching on the same day, how many ounces of suspended yeast solution should I pitch directly into the freshly boiled and cooled wort. I won't have time to make a starter since I will be bottling washing and brewing in a span of about 6 or 7 hours.

If you are brewing the same day, don't bother washing. Just dump on the old yeast cake. Washing is for long term storage.

 

[ChshreCat]

I'm doing the same thing and plan on washing before I pitch on the next beer. Pitching on the cake is overpitching, so why not wash it, use part of the yeast now and store the rest?

 

[danielinva]

I suppose I should have mentioned that I can't overpitch as I'll be brewing a hefeweizen. If I were to go unwashed, how much of the cake should I pitch? If I do wash, how much of the washed, but probably unsettled yeast should be pitched?

 

[janzik]

Here's my latest harvest from a simple recipe, that used Burton Ale..

Is the top layer yeast and the bottom layer trub? If it is, I'm surprised that I had that much trub, because I thought it was a relatively clean recipe (light on the hops)...

I'm thinking about washing it again by decanting off all the liquid and topping off with a new set of cooled down boiled water. Any thoughts on if this is worth it or not?

 

[ghostbrewer]

If you made and extract brew and used hop pellets, there is practically no trube. In this case, is it absolutely necessary to wash the yeast or can I simply rack the beer off the primary cake, leaving a little bit of liquid behind to work with, swirl everything up, and bottle for future use?

 

[scottlindner]

I'm doing the same thing and plan on washing before I pitch on the next beer. Pitching on the cake is overpitching, so why not wash it, use part of the yeast now and store the rest?

What's wrong with overpitching?

Scott

 

[ChshreCat]

What's wrong with overpitching?

Scott

There can be many things. Many of the esters yeast create are put out during the growth phase, so if you're making a style where you want those then you're missing out.

You could get yeasty flavors because of the large amount of yeast present in your primary.

More trub because of more yeast.

You'll get a fast ferment, which can mean higher temps in your primary. For those of us who have to work to keep our temps down, especially this time of year, that's a bad thing.

While autolysis may be a boogieman when it comes to home brewing, I would think that it could come into play if you're dumping 2 or 3 beers in a row on the same pile of dead yeast at the bottom of your fermenter.

When it comes down to it, my thought is that if you really only need half or less of that yeast cake, why not wash it, split it up and get two or more batches out of it anyway.

 

[pericles]

What's wrong with overpitching?

Scott

Chshre Cat is right BUT. . . I just finished primarying a hefe on top of a yeast cake. Others may be pursuing different flavors/styles, but the wort I tasted while transferring to the secondary was right on target for my goals. It may turn out badly, or worst that it otherwise would have been, but it satisfied my needs, and pitching on top of the cake really helped me out of a time crunch!

SPEAKING of the hefe that I just transferred, here's MY question:

I washed the yeast from the primary today - long time brewer, first time washer. The yeast I harvested is going to be hanging out in my fridge for quite a while, at least a month, probably longer. It might end up getting transferred to a freezer bank.

Regardless, I know I'll need to make a starter to get the yeast going again. That said, is there any way to know if the yeast is still active before I pitch? I really don't want to waste 5 gallons of wort on yeast that I didn't wash properly. . .

 

[scottlindner]

While autolysis may be a boogieman when it comes to home brewing, I would think that it could come into play if you're dumping 2 or 3 beers in a row on the same pile of dead yeast at the bottom of your fermenter.

I'm not saying my tastebuds are good, but I have been doing 3-4 batches back to back on a single cake for years. I don't want to do anything stupid either so I'm intrigued by this discussion. Other than extra trub, I don't see what makes an active yeast cake any different than a starter of the same count of yeasties. Is there something different between the two I don't get?

Scott

 

[ChshreCat]

I'm not saying my tastebuds are good, but I have been doing 3-4 batches back to back on a single cake for years. I don't want to do anything stupid either so I'm intrigued by this discussion. Other than extra trub, I don't see what makes an active yeast cake any different than a starter of the same count of yeasties. Is there something different between the two I don't get?

Scott

The growth stage would be the big thing. Even with a starter, you get a growth stage when you pitch it in your wort and the yeast eat up the O2 and multiply.

I'm not saying that pitching onto a cake is going to automatically do ANYTHING bad to your beer. Enough people do it that I'd be pretty dumb saying it. But, depending on your beer, you might be missing out on good things that can happen for your beer if you don't have that growth phase.

Jamil says some interesting things about it in his podcasts, especially the Brew Strong cast about repitching yeast.

 

[scottlindner]

Jamil says some interesting things about it in his podcasts, especially the Brew Strong cast about repitching yeast.

There you go, invoking Jamil's name. :rockin:

 

[aeonderdonk]

I just did this today and it worked awesomely. Now I have 4 jars of bell's house strain sitting in my fridge waiting for my two-hearted clone

 

[Rick500]

Same here! Same strain even...

 

[aeonderdonk]

I have about that much yeast in mine too. How many times do you think I'll need to step it up before pitching.

I would probably be doing a pint of water with 1 cup DME for first step. Then a quart maybe or would pint be enough?

 

[Rick500]

The yeast at the bottom of those jars is about the same density as a tube of White Labs yeast, so you can kind of judge from that. Depends on what beer I'm going to ferment, but something like a middle of the road pale ale will probably just need a starter, and not need stepped up first.

 

[PaulStat]

Quick question about using Mr Malty's pitching calculator with some washed yeast using this method, I washed some yeast back at the beginning of May, when entering the values in the calculator do I have to use this date as the "Production Date"?

 

[Rick500]

Yes, that's my understanding.

 

[LooyvilleLarry]

The yeast at the bottom of those jars is about the same density as a tube of White Labs yeast, so you can kind of judge from that. Depends on what beer I'm going to ferment, but something like a middle of the road pale ale will probably just need a starter, and not need stepped up first.

Hmmm, that yeast looks quite familiar Let me know when it's ready.

 

[Rick500]

Yep, you are correct.

If by some unfortunate series of events you no longer have any, I plan on having some onhand for the foreseeable future, so no worries.

 

[phatuna]

Are you guys pouring the yeast from the fermenter into your large mason jar, or are you using a syphon??
- thanks!

 

[Rick500]

I just poured it into the large jar, leaving behind the stuff that had already settled.

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

Just pour, no syphon, I have only washed yeat once, but due to this sticky thread it has been gravy, and I just used my WLP001 that I got about 5 jars out of, and I made as satrter that I used on an APA that is in the fermenter now. It took off in a few hours (5-6) and went strong for about 5-6 days too. Just follow instructions t the "T" and you will be good to go!

 

[jaynik]

is the big jar used to fill the 4 little jars?
Sorry. I just found the answer buried in the 40x pages! Could someone delete this post? It's doesn't help anything...

 

[Droot]

I read the first 20 pages and saw no answer.

I bought a conical fermenter. One of the reasons is I can harvest yeast. Do I wash like in the first post?

Instructions say draw off 8 oz first day and discard, yeast from the second day is best. It shows the yeast in a mason jar with a large stopper and air lock. I bought the large stopper, then read the first half of this thread. IF I knew it was that easy, I would have been doing it already.

David

edit: I have only been hanging around here a few weeks and learned a ton.
Former HBD reader back in the 90s.

 

[Droot]

OK, I answered one of my own questions. USE THE BOILED WATER, it kicks out the 02 too keep the yeast in hibernation.

I have to buy any water I use in beer, so Distilled or spring water boiled?

David

 

[Rick500]

I use "WalMart" (Magnetic Springs) spring water for everything (well...except to mix up StarSan; I use tap water for that).

 

[JMSetzler]

I'm going to make a video of the yeast washing process (inspired by this thread) that might be useful to some people. I have discovered a couple tricks that I like to use that simplify the process just a little... I have a WLP-001 California Ale yeast fermenting a batch of beer right now that I plan to rack off over the weekend (probably Sunday).

1. I boil a gallon of water and put it in a sanitized glass jar in the fridge at least overnight.
2. I rack my beer from primary to secondary fermenter. I generally ferment in a plastic bucket with no drain tap. I rack to a 5 gallon glass carboy for a secondary most of the time.
3. I scoop about half of the trub from the primary into a sanitized bottling bucket with a spigot.
4. I add my gallon of chilled water that has been boiled and swirl it around and let it sit for about 5 minutes.
5. I run about 1/2 gallon out of the bottling bucket spigot back into my gallon jar that has been resanitized during the 5 minute wait.
6. I let that sit for 5-7 minutes to let some more solids settle to the bottom.
7. I slowly pour the suspension into my jars (or leftover White Labs vials) that have been sanitized, cap them, and put them in the refrigerator.

This method doesn't vary significantly from the original poster's method, but employing the bottling bucket makes it a little easier to extract the sample. It also creates another item that has to be cleaned up. I also prefer sanitizing my glass containers with Star San rather than boiling them.

Does anyone think a video of this process would be of any use?

 

[WilliamstonBrew]

I am completely sold on this yeast washing process.

I tried it for the first time a couple weeks ago after my Dunkelweizen (used WLP 300 yeast) finished fermenting. I harvested three pint Mason jars' worth. Each had about .5 to 1" of yeast sediment on the bottom, with a BUNCH wasted off the bottom of the primary I could have (and will) harvest the next time.

I brewed up a Paulaner Hefeweizen this afternoon and used the 3 day old 1.25 liter starter I made with the washed yeast. I pitched at 73 degrees at 6:00pm and now at 11:00 pm the krausen is already forming and the blowoff tube is going. Usually with the WLP 300 vial it took about 24 hours for anything to happen... This is awesome...

 

[bkov]

i only read to page 15.....but is there a way you can do this and avoid having to make a starter each time?

 

[bkov]

also....if you only want to reuse the yeast once, can you just put an airlock on the primary after you rack to the secondary/bottle/or keg? i know yeast should be refridgerated but it stays at 68F for over a month many times for people during primary