Yeast Washing Illustrated

[Chefencore]

It's always an option to grow up large starters, wash them and split them up in half-pints if you're worries about the multiple generation thing. More "siblings" and less "grandchildren" if you follow me...

Or you could skip the wash.

 

[bigbeergeek]

Or you could skip the wash.

You certainly could, but if you're "canning" the yeast for longer term storage, you'll have less growth/mutations in chilled/boiled/oxygen-free/nutrient-depleted water than you will in starter wort. Put those yeasties down for a good long nap. Either way you're putting the multi-generational worries at bay.

 

[seabass07]

I don't think washing is the right word for that. That's just decanting off the liquid and replacing it with boiled/cooled water. I agree that's a good way to do it if you want to store it for a while.

 

[bigbeergeek]

I don't think washing is the right word for that. That's just decanting off the liquid and replacing it with boiled/cooled water. I agree that's a good way to do it if you want to store it for a while.

Semantic police finally caught up with me at my hideout here on HBT...



You're right: I'm advocating decanting and replacing with water.

 

[seabass07]

I'm not being a semantics nazi, just clarifying since a lot of people reading this might misunderstand it and go through the whole washing process.

 

[danorocks17]

Here's a question. Last weekend I brewed a chocolate oatmeal stout and my floating thermometer broke in my kettle. I always strain my wort anyways, but it was very important this time to collect any glass/metal balls that were left over from the thermometer. I really wanted to wash this yeast, but now i'm wondering if I should just let this yeast cake go down the drain. What do you all think?

 

[bigbeergeek]

Wash it, use it. Odds are there's no glass/metal in the cake anyway, but if any does happen to end up in your washed jars, it's going to settle out in the fermentor anyway and not end up in your beer.

 

[Chefencore]

I'm not being a semantics nazi, just clarifying since a lot of people reading this might misunderstand it and go through the whole washing process.

Since we're just clarifying: we're not really washing the yeast. We are rinsing it. Washing involves acid and stuff. Just to clarify.

 

[seabass07]

Ok...

 

[bigbeergeek]

time to change the name of the thread, apparently...

 

[WheeledGoat]

Using this very method, I "washed" (rinsed? scrubbed? apologies to everyone to whom the terms matter) the Wyeast Fat Tire yeast that a fellow homebrewer mailed me back in '08. I made a batch then and saved it just like the first post in this thread outlines.

It's been sitting there since Oct 2008 and last week, using all 3 jars I had to give myself the best possible chance of it taking off, it worked! I got a nice, frothy starter! It took 2 days, and I was nervous and getting sadder by the hour, but it took off!!! Yay!

So there's your answer to "how long does this last" - about 3 years!

And it still smells just perfect. I may have altered the strain a bit, selecting for the heartier of the breed, but it smells absolutely perfect - it has that nice, malty breadiness of Fat Tire that I remember. YUM.

 

[Grinreaper]

Here's what my belgium washed yeast looks like after 4 months or so.

What do you think? Whats the yeast layer and whats the other layer?

 

[WheeledGoat]

Was that taken from a primary? I'd bet you have a layer of napping yeast, and a layer of dead ones mixed w/ sundry trub...

my mason jars never have that much in the bottom! I'm lucky to have 1/4" of yeasties in the bottom, but they always work like a charm anyways!

 

[Grinreaper]

Well i've used the trub at the bottom of my primary 4 times after racking. So after all 4 beers, i wanted to keep the yeast so i did the washing process but i scrapped the bottom of my plastic fermentor and got this much yeast soo thats why i have so much at the bottom. It's in my fridge since then.

 

[WheeledGoat]

nice! you're my new hero - racked on those bad boys four times!! heheh.

 

[Grinreaper]

Yeah i bought 4 brewferm kit that would be better with belgium yeast so

 

[Hopleaf11]

After reading a lot of this thread I decided to try my hand at yeast rinsing (or washing...). I bottled yesterday with 4 quart jars filled with boiled cooled water at the ready. Once my bottles were full and capped I tossed the water over the yeast cake, gave it a swirl and filled all 4 jars. After tightening down the lids I place them in the fridge. The yeast has settled as did the trub at the bottom. There's also a bunch of beer-colored liquid taking up the majority of the jar space.

My question is what should I do to ready a pit h of yeast? I think I should decant off the beer-colored liquid, add more boiled and cooled water, let settle for 20 min and pour off the yeast-filled water. Then pitch this into my newly brewed wort. Sound good?

 

[bigbeergeek]

Just decant most of the liquid from the mason jar, swirl it to get the yeast into suspension, and pitch the slurry into your wort or starter. I recommend making a starter for every batch, especially with washed yeast that's been in the fridge for a while.

 

[Kealia]

just decant most of the liquid from the mason jar, swirl it to get the yeast into suspension, and pitch the slurry into your wort or starter. I recommend making a starter for every batch, especially with washed yeast that's been in the fridge for a while.

+1

 

[WheeledGoat]

I'm slowly climbing (or perhaps descending) the ladder of laziness. Last night, instead of following this yeast *****ing procedure, I just swirled up the trub remaining in my primary and poured it into isopropyl alcohol-sterilized mason jars. Labelled, and popped em in the fridge.

Problems I can forsee;

1. A little fermentation still trying to happen, warping the lid and breaking the seal

2. The extra trub and sediment (the dead detrious) spoiling everything in the jar. Hopefully storage in the fridge would slow this?

I only tried this cause I also have a separate "starter" of the yeast that I'm culturing specifically for storage.

Anyone with experience or thoughts on my laziness???

 

[drawdy10]

Yeah Wheeled Goat that is what I usually do too. I don't add water, just swirl up the yeast with the excess beer and dump it into a sanitized container. I can't tell the difference between the trub and the yeast anyways.

I think what the original post is suggesting is after adding the one gallon plus the 4 jars of water, swirling it up, letting it settle for a bit and only collecting one gallon off of that, then decanting into the 4 jars after the one gallon settles a bit you will have mostly yeast and less trub, which was left at the bottom of the carboy with the other 4 pints of water you dumped in. I can see this being a smart idea. You will then have 4 jars of yeast that you will be able to make a starter with then pitch into a full 5 gal batch.

 

[bigbeergeek]

Unwashed yeast cakes don't last long in the fridge in my experience. The literature ("Yeast") suggests keeping unwashed yeast for up to a week. I tried to save an unwashed cake for 3 months and it was completely dead when I tried to revive it on my stirplate with 1.030 wort. So if you expect to brew within a week, go for it. But if you want to store yeast for months and months without worry, wash it. It only takes 30-40 minutes (during which you can walk away and do whatever you want) if you have some boiled, canned water just sitting in the back of your fridge.

 

[kappclark]

Unwashed yeast cakes don't last long in the fridge in my experience. The literature ("Yeast") suggests keeping unwashed yeast for up to a week. I tried to save an unwashed cake for 3 months and it was completely dead when I tried to revive it on my stirplate with 1.030 wort. So if you expect to brew within a week, go for it. But if you want to store yeast for months and months without worry, wash it. It only takes 30-40 minutes (during which you can walk away and do whatever you want) if you have some boiled, canned water just sitting in the back of your fridge.

I am wondering why this is true...is there something chemical in the bottom of the fermenter that kills the yeast ??

 

[Hopleaf11]

Some of my yeast froze in my fridge. They were too far towards the back and are now frozen. I was going to feed them fresh wort today in order to pitch them tomorrow (brew day). How is their current frozen state going to impact their viability?

 

[EarthBound]

Some of my yeast froze in my fridge. They were too far towards the back and are now frozen. I was going to feed them fresh wort today in order to pitch them tomorrow (brew day). How is their current frozen state going to impact their viability?

To quote the guide to making a frozen yeast bank: "Yeast can recover from sub-zero temperatures, but frozen water can kill them. Frozen water crystallizes and can puncture yeast cell walls, but two things can be done to prevent this. First, use a small volume of water (hence the small vials) and leave a bit of room for expansion. Second, a bit of glycerine, also known as glycerol (but NOT glycol!!) helps prevent freeze damage. I buy glycerine from my LHBS or pharmacy. Just be sure to get the type that is safe to ingest (it is harmless at these quantities)."

I hope this helps.

 

[bigbeergeek]

In other words, you're effed.

 

[Hopleaf11]

In other words, you're effed.

Well I'm not effed. I did say some of my yeast froze. There's still plenty to work with. Just made a starter using one jar that wasn't frozen and one that was. Gonna see what happens.

 

[bigbeergeek]

Just kidding friend. Best of luck, let us know how it goes.

 

[solbes]

Glad I read this post on how to wash yeast. I pulled a wheat out of primary yesterday and using these tips saved some time and made the final product better. I had done it 3 previous times, but there were some tips in here that definitely improved my process.

 

[Hopleaf11]

Just kidding friend. Best of luck, let us know how it goes.

The starter took off. Pitched it into a porter this morning. Probably what saved it was the jar that wasn't frozen. Lesson learned. I'll definitely try the process again.