Yeast Washing Illustrated

[Polaris96]

Thank yew Sir!! This is a wonderful explanation.

 

[Aschecte]

hey I'm jumping in really late and my question is probably asked somewhere in this huge chain of questions but here it is again. When washing the yeast should I be using distilled water , spring water, I assume stay away from tap water. I am washing wlp500 tommorow using this method and wanted to get things rolling tonight so I can refrigerate the water overnight. Thanks in advance for any aadvice.

 

[milldoggy]

I just boil unfiltered tap water. I boil all the jars in a big pot, then just cap that boiled water in there. Boiling will drive off the bad stuff.

 

[Aschecte]

I just boil unfiltered tap water. I boil all the jars in a big pot, then just cap that boiled water in there. Boiling will drive off the bad stuff.

I was just more so concerned that the minerals in tap or spring water might produce undesired effects.

 

[milldoggy]

never had a problem and I have done it this way for 2 years.

 

[Aschecte]

never had a problem and I have done it this way for 2 years.

that's great news def will save money if I use tap water. That's the way I'm gonna go . Thanks for the advice.

 

[beerman1957]

I have been brewing quite a while and I never have tried this. Perhaps I was just overwhelmed and then forgot. I think I will try to salvage some US-05 that is in fermentation stage now. The guide here is superb!

 

[ziggy13]

So the last few batches I made I decided to save the yeast. I took sanitized mason jars and poured what was left over after kegging from the bottom of my fermenter...left over beer and all. I put it in the fridge in the middle of March. It's now almost July and I plan on making a starter from it next weekend. Is this an acceptable way of doing it or should I go pick up some new vials of yeast? I really didn't wash it...I just collected what didn't fit in my keg and put it in the mason jar. The bottom half is all yeast and the top half is beer.

 

[AugustDerleth]

I have been brewing quite a while and I never have tried this.

Between washing and farmhousebrewing for hops, you can DRASTICALLY cut your costs of each batch. :rockin:

 

[djt17]

So the last few batches I made I decided to save the yeast. I took sanitized mason jars and poured what was left over after kegging from the bottom of my fermenter...left over beer and all. I put it in the fridge in the middle of March. It's now almost July and I plan on making a starter from it next weekend. Is this an acceptable way of doing it or should I go pick up some new vials of yeast? I really didn't wash it...I just collected what didn't fit in my keg and put it in the mason jar. The bottom half is all yeast and the top half is beer.

I do the same; only the longest I have stored in the fridge has been 1 month. I decant the beer & make a starter if it's more than 1 week old. You should be fine.

 

[beerman1957]

So the last few batches I made I decided to save the yeast. I took sanitized mason jars and poured what was left over after kegging from the bottom of my fermenter...left over beer and all. I put it in the fridge in the middle of March. It's now almost July and I plan on making a starter from it next weekend. Is this an acceptable way of doing it or should I go pick up some new vials of yeast? I really didn't wash it...I just collected what didn't fit in my keg and put it in the mason jar. The bottom half is all yeast and the top half is beer.

It may not re-activate. See article at White Labs:

http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/craft_yeast_storage.html

 

[natewv]

really dumb questions here:

1) Looking at the page 1 pictures, why not just give the remaining bit of beer in the primary, the trub, and the yeast a good shake...what's the point of adding water?

Also what really is the point of washing, just to separate the trub from the yeast and beer? You aren't really "washing" it as in separating it from the rest of the beer that was left over from racking, you are really only separating it from the trub and left over hops, right?

I want to make a cider tonight on an ale yeast cake but I used my bottling bucket (and need it) as my primary so in addition to racking the beer to secondary, I plan to remove all the trub/yeast/beer and put it into a new fermenter to throw the apple juice on top of. Is my best plan of attack, since I'm going through the trouble of moving the yeast to a new vessel, to follow the steps described in the illustrations? What else could I do more quickly to most efficiently separate the yeast from the trub/hops? How much of the slurry should I use, and (just to reiterate my original questions) what really am I trying to do in keeping just the 'stuff' that has not settled after shaking and let sit for 20 minutes?

 

[Chefencore]

really dumb questions here:

1) Looking at the page 1 pictures, why not just give the remaining bit of beer in the primary, the trub, and the yeast a good shake...what's the point of adding water?

The water gives the yeast a clean place to ‘hang out’ while all the trub falls out. It has been sanitized by the boil. Also, if you plan to store the yeast, the boil removes oxygen, so your beasties will sleep.

Also what really is the point of washing, just to separate the trub from the yeast and beer? You aren't really "washing" it as in separating it from the rest of the beer that was left over from racking, you are really only separating it from the trub and left over hops, right?

Yes. The intention is to essentially leave you with just yeast. There will always be some stuff left in it, though.

I want to make a cider tonight on an ale yeast cake but I used my bottling bucket (and need it) as my primary so in addition to racking the beer to secondary, I plan to remove all the trub/yeast/beer and put it into a new fermenter to throw the apple juice on top of. Is my best plan of attack, since I'm going through the trouble of moving the yeast to a new vessel, to follow the steps described in the illustrations? What else could I do more quickly to most efficiently separate the yeast from the trub/hops? How much of the slurry should I use, and (just to reiterate my original questions) what really am I trying to do in keeping just the 'stuff' that has not settled after shaking and let sit for 20 minutes?

You can just sanitize well (I use a spray bottle) and transfer the entire cake to your fermenter.

If you want to wash, I suggest you use your bottling bucket. Just put in your boiled, cooled water, swirl, and wait. After 20 minutes or so, just open the valve and let the trub out. Then transfer your yeast slurry to your fermenter or whatever sanitized vessel you choose, leaving the ‘beer’ on top. (This will work best if you have one of those devices connected to the inside of your spigot that reaches to the bottom of your bottling bucket.) Just remember that this will add to the volume of your fermenter for your applewine.

 

[natewv]

Thanks! So another question, is there any way for me to guesstimate how much of this yeast I need to use to start off a new batch?

 

[DakotaRules]

Check out Mr. Malty. Mrmalty.com? Google search will find it.

 

[Brent_in_Aurora]

I washed some 1084 Irish Ale yeast from a primary fermenter. I boiled water and pint mason jars and stored it in my fridge for about a month. I tried to restart the yeast in a flask with 1/4 cup of DME and 600ml water, which was boiled and chilled to 70 degrees. I poured off most of the excess water and added the yeast that had separated out into two distinct layers on the bottom of the mason jar.

Since then, I have not detected much yeast activity. The bottom creamy layer may have increased, but no bubbles of CO2 perculating. There were some surface foam bubbles, but not much. I poured some off and tasted it and it did not taste sweet.

My question is the yeast dead?

 

[kapbrew13]

I washed some 1084 Irish Ale yeast from a primary fermenter. I boiled water and pint mason jars and stored it in my fridge for about a month. I tried to restart the yeast in a flask with 1/4 cup of DME and 600ml water, which was boiled and chilled to 70 degrees. I poured off most of the excess water and added the yeast that had separated out into two distinct layers on the bottom of the mason jar.

Since then, I have not detected much yeast activity. The bottom creamy layer may have increased, but no bubbles of CO2 perculating. There were some surface foam bubbles, but not much. I poured some off and tasted it and it did not taste sweet.

My question is the yeast dead?

Not tasting sweet would mean you water/dme solution isnt sweet. What was your gravity for the starter wort? Use a stirplate? What's covering your flask? Foil or airlock?

 

[kingmatt]

I have been brewing quite a while and I never have tried this. Perhaps I was just overwhelmed and then forgot. I think I will try to salvage some US-05 that is in fermentation stage now. The guide here is superb!

I only wash liquid yeasts because they are so much more expensive and sometimes rare (I have a few jars of pacman chillin away for my next IPA). I can buy a fresh pack of Safale 05 for around $2 so the extra effort to wash it and store it doesn't seem worth it to me.

 

[Brent_in_Aurora]

It has a foam boiling airlock. I didn't take the gravity as it was a small amount of wort, but it was roughly 1 part DME to 4 parts water in the boil. To that I added the yeast slurry from the mason jar. I will give it shot and if it doesn't fire up, I will check it and possibly add other yeast.

 

[Sokrateez]

So I just washed the yeast out of this batch, and I just realised after looking in the fridge that I didn't fill them all the way to the top, probably like 75-80% of the way. Will this be a problem? And also I don't have anything to make a starter out of (no DME), but am hoping to brew tomorrow. Someone on here told me it would be alright to just pitch the whole jar in, but didn't follow up after that. What does everyone else think?

 

[luke2080]

How long ago did you wash that yeast? Mr. Malty's calculator lets you calculate the amount of slurry you need. And you can put in the date it was harvested to get its viability. so if you can measure the slurry in your jar, based on what you need, you technically shouldn't need a starter.

Everyone will tell you to have a starter, but if you can't, take it out of the fridge, maybe over estimate a little, let it warm up, give it a shake, and pitch.

 

[Sokrateez]

So it says that even if my slurry was extra liquidy, and 25% of the liquid was non-yeast material, that I would only need to pitch 238ml? So I guess just pitching one whole pint jar (which I figure would be around 350ml) straight into the fermenter.

The yeast was washed yesterday night. Planning on brewing tomorrowish.

 

[luke2080]

Was your full jar yeast slurry? It means the slurry for that calculation, not the volume of wort on top (of which the yeast should settle down into the slurry, out of the wort, if it was in your fridge). But yeah, as long as you had enough slurry, should be fine. When you have fermentation let me know how it goes.

 

[Brent_in_Aurora]

I still have 3 pint jars of 1084 left, but the new stuff that I pitched was bubbling within hours. I will try the yeast starter again, though.

My calculations for the OG indicate that I only had 1.015 SG potential; I did not test the OG. The starter was at about 1.010 FG after sitting for a week, so I may have succeeded in starting the yeast back up.

It is difficult to test the specific gravity in a flask as there is not much liquid to test and then it is not sanitary after I uncork the foam stopper to pour it into a tube for the SG test. Is there another method for doing the SG test that is more sanitary?

 

[kapbrew13]

I added boiled cooled water in to the primary after the beer was siphoned off. That was 2 days ago. I forgot to finish washing because I got pulled away. Is it ok to continue to wash the yeast? Took a whiff and it smells ok. Thanks.

 

[MJDore]

This is the third time I've followed the process and I've had good results. This particular time, though, my jars have a very hazy, pale straw color. I've attached a pic. This doesn't look like any of the other yeast I've washed. Typically the color of the water on top is pale brown. Have you guys had any look like this? This was the second use of a WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch. Thanks!

 

[Chefencore]

This is the third time I've followed the process and I've had good results. This particular time, though, my jars have a very hazy, pale straw color. I've attached a pic. This doesn't look like any of the other yeast I've washed. Typically the color of the water on top is pale brown. Have you guys had any look like this? This was the second use of a WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch. Thanks!

I had the exact same situation with the same strain. It cleared up eventually. Doesn't really matter what's on top anyway. It what's on bottom.

 

[Sokrateez]

Okay so I looked up what the slurry is actually supposed to look like, and that picture above helped, and I figured I didn't have enough to pitch straight into the fermenter. I thought I'd done something wrong to get such a small little pool of slurry at the bottom, but it looks like that's what it's supposed to be. So I fiddled around with the Mr Malty calculator and I see that if it's a super thick slurry, then all I need would be a couple ounces (like a double shot glasses worth). So how would I tell how thick exactly it is according to that slider? I mean I don't really want to pour the liquid off until I use it, so should I just guess and hope for the best?

I have an extra packet of dry yeast coming in the mail tomorrow just in case it doesn't work, but I'd like to try this yeast if it's viable.

 

[Zixxer10R]

If I do wash and save my yeast, I should only re-use this yeast for a recipe that calls specifically for the yeast strain that it originally came from, correct? If this is correct, then that leads me to believe after one has experimented and come up with some "reliable" beers they like, this would really be the ticket....

Unless you wanted to start a new strain of yeast for a wildly new and exotic beer! Think of the posibilites!

 

[dukes7779]

How do you estimate your cell counts after washing?? I used a Wyeast smack pack and made a 1.5L starter from that. This was my first smack pack and will be my first washing......and was my first AG!