Yeast Washing Illustrated

[wolverinebrewer]

ok, well I got to page 63 of this post and realized my problem. My yeast was WLP007 which White Labs says is "highly flocculent". So I think my yeast settled out much faster than the 20 to 25 min I waited. Also I guess I was supposed to wash from the primary (which for some reason I didn't catch even after reading over 60 pages of this thread). I surmise that I compounded this problem by washing from secondary using a highly flocculent yeast. Double Whammy!

IMO, I don't think the yeast will settle out that fast. By looking at your jars, you either didn't wait long enough or somehow sucked up a bunch of trub and hops.
My washing method is a different than here. Since, when I wash, I always fill up 8 pint jars (8*16oz=128 oz) I only add about 140 oz. of water to the bucket. This allows me to get a higher concentration of yeast in each jar. After I add the water, I shake it up for a good 20 seconds to break up the yeast cake and get all of it into suspension. Then I let it settle for 30 min. Using my sanitized auto-siphon, I keep just the black tip under the surface and suck up just the top liquid. I move my outlet hose from jar to jar as they fill. As the liquid in the bucket lowers, I gently lower the siphon. After all jars are filled, the siphon should be just above the trub line. The reason I don't put more water in the bucket is because the yeast concentration will be thinner and you won't get as much in each jar. Then just boil the lids, add the rings, date the jars, and refrigerate. This should only take about 45 min.

As far as what you have there, I am not sure I would use any of it only because they aren't "clean". Just my $.02.

 

[Esmitee]

IMO, I don't think the yeast will settle out that fast. By looking at your jars, you either didn't wait long enough or somehow sucked up a bunch of trub and hops.
My washing method is a different than here. Since, when I wash, I always fill up 8 pint jars (8*16oz=128 oz) I only add about 140 oz. of water to the bucket. This allows me to get a higher concentration of yeast in each jar. After I add the water, I shake it up for a good 20 seconds to break up the yeast cake and get all of it into suspension. Then I let it settle for 30 min. Using my sanitized auto-siphon, I keep just the black tip under the surface and suck up just the top liquid. I move my outlet hose from jar to jar as they fill. As the liquid in the bucket lowers, I gently lower the siphon. After all jars are filled, the siphon should be just above the trub line. The reason I don't put more water in the bucket is because the yeast concentration will be thinner and you won't get as much in each jar. Then just boil the lids, add the rings, date the jars, and refrigerate. This should only take about 45 min.

As far as what you have there, I am not sure I would use any of it only because they aren't "clean". Just my $.02.

So you really only Wash the yeast 1 time...Carefully right?

Do you have help with the end of the hose while you do this method?

I ferment in a glass carboy, soo Little HOLE, Not so good to move around easy!

Last time I washed, I used someone's ( I forget who at the moment...SORRY)
cool trick to gather most of the yeast and hardly no trub.

It worked great and kicked my self in the ass for not thinking of it LOL,

Just add your water, shake, and then lay the carboy on the side slowly, It won't spill out, cause you don't have that much water in there and the mix won't get even close to the neck of the carboy.

when you decant, do it slow and NO trub goes over the high side, it just slides to the neck .At that point, I have collected enough mix in my 1 gal jar.

Gotta LOVE this place with all the info one can gather!!!

 

[wolverinebrewer]

So you really only Wash the yeast 1 time...Carefully right?

Do you have help with the end of the hose while you do this method?

I ferment in a glass carboy, soo Little HOLE, Not so good to move around easy!

Last time I washed, I used someone's ( I forget who at the moment...SORRY)
cool trick to gather most of the yeast and hardly no trub.

It worked great and kicked my self in the ass for not thinking of it LOL,

Just add your water, shake, and then lay the carboy on the side slowly, It won't spill out, cause you don't have that much water in there and the mix won't get even close to the neck of the carboy.

when you decant, do it slow and NO trub goes over the high side, it just slides to the neck .At that point, I have collected enough mix in my 1 gal jar.

Gotta LOVE this place with all the info one can gather!!!

Yes, I only wash one time. Thirty minutes is enough time to settle all of the crap you don't want while keeping the yeast in suspension.

My method works best with 2 people but I do manage it myself. I have a large stock pot that holds 7 pint jars tightly so I don't have to worry about one tipping over. One hand holds the outlet hose, one holds the auto siphon.
I have also used a carboy and the tip-sideways method but the issue of pouring it out while being steady was hard to do because I always ended up moving abruptly causing wave action which messed up the settling. Shaking up the carboy with only a little more than a gal. of water plus the yeast cake is not hard to do. I like my way much better because after I shake it up and let it sit, I never have to move it. I just lower the auto-siphon, pump a couple of times, and suck away. After moving the outlet hose from jar to jar, just use a star-san soaked napkin to wipe the mouth of the jar where the liquid dripped. Let it dry and add your hot lids.
This is no different than racking your beer into your bottling bucket with a siphon. Now you are just racking the yeast solution into pint jars.

 

[Esmitee]

wolverine, If I fermented in a bucket, I would give your way a try. Sounds very easy. AND I'M LAZY to boot. You way sounds fast and easy and with Good results. If it works for you, I'd stick with works best.

I tried the auto siphon once with my wife on the end of the hose (where she should be ) lol But it didn't work out too well. I may try it again though. 1 thing with a carboy and the large auto siphon is, it fits so tight at bung hole, it hard to move the siphon around.

All in ALL i'd give your method a try if I got a bucket!

 

[bmock79]

So now that I have washed my first batch of yeast and have collected four jars how do I know how big of a starter to make?

I am confused on this step for sure. I normally use mr malty and Im not sure how or what info to enter.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks

 

[wolverinebrewer]

wolverine, If I fermented in a bucket, I would give your way a try. Sounds very easy. AND I'M LAZY to boot. You way sounds fast and easy and with Good results. If it works for you, I'd stick with works best.

I tried the auto siphon once with my wife on the end of the hose (where she should be ) lol But it didn't work out too well. I may try it again though. 1 thing with a carboy and the large auto siphon is, it fits so tight at bung hole, it hard to move the siphon around.

All in ALL i'd give your method a try if I got a bucket!

It works equally as well with a carboy because there is no need to move the siphon around. Just hold it straight down and steadily lower it.

So now that I have washed my first batch of yeast and have collected four jars how do I know how big of a starter to make?

I am confused on this step for sure. I normally use mr malty and Im not sure how or what info to enter.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks

Put your beer numbers (OG and gal.) into Malty. Then change the 'harvest date' on that calendar to the date you washed the yeast. Then click on the "repitching from slurry" tab. Move the "yeast concentration" all the way to the right to where it says 'thick yeast'. This gives you the mL. of yeast you need. And it's only the thick yeast cake on the bottom. Nothing more. Calculate the volume of yeast cake you have by using the vol. of a cylinder formula (v=pi*r2h) and then convert to mL. If you are using Ball mason jars, they usually have mL. marks on the side.

 

[Thehopguy]

I wish these instructions would have mentioned something about a canning rack. Maybe this is common knowledge for most people but I did not know the jars were going to scorch my kettle.

This is my only kettle and I'll have to use this for brewing beer still. Will this have any negative effects on the beer?

 

[sheeshomatic]

No.

 

[EarthBound]

I've never used a canning rack nor scorched my kettle like that. Is it SS or Al?

 

[Thehopguy]

i've never used a canning rack nor scorched my kettle like that. Is it ss or al?

ss

 

[brian_n]

I made a Pale Ale with Nottingham Dry and yesterday transferred to the secondary after 10 days. I followed these instructions, but after my two 24oz mason jars sat in the fridge for an hour I had like an inch of yeast on the top of container, and the rest was sediment. So I poured what little yeast I had from both into three other sanitized containers, and left the rest of the sediment and yeast in one of the 24oz jars. Got home from work today, and all four containers had significant separation. In below pic, the right jar is what I think is the yeast, and the left jar shows what I had a bunch of last night. I did one more transfer of the liquid than most yeast washing instructions say, but is there any reason I shouldn't be able to use the yeast in the jar on the right in a starter? And if there isn't, would that be an appropriate amount of yeast to use in a normal 5 gallon batch?

 

[pabloj13]

I made a Pale Ale with Nottingham Dry and yesterday transferred to the secondary after 10 days. I followed these instructions, but after my two 24oz mason jars sat in the fridge for an hour I had like an inch of yeast on the top of container, and the rest was sediment. So I poured what little yeast I had from both into three other sanitized containers, and left the rest of the sediment and yeast in one of the 24oz jars. Got home from work today, and all four containers had significant separation. In below pic, the right jar is what I think is the yeast, and the left jar shows what I had a bunch of last night. I did one more transfer of the liquid than most yeast washing instructions say, but is there any reason I shouldn't be able to use the yeast in the jar on the right in a starter? And if there isn't, would that be an appropriate amount of yeast to use in a normal 5 gallon batch?

A lot of the threads I have been reading where people had trouble washing were with the Nottingham. At $2 something a pack, is it worth washing and re-using?

 

[jonmohno]

I would pitch the white stuff, looks like thats your yeast.

 

[Thehopguy]

I washed my yeast and have 4 pint jars full of yeast but I'm confused about how to reuse the slurry.

I use mr. malty and it tells you how many mL of slurry you need but do I make a starter or just pitch x amount of mL straight into the fermenter?

If I do make a starter how many liters of water do i need. or in other words, how big of a starter with x amount of mL?

 

[Accidic]

Starter is safest. If it's over a month old I wouldn't dare pitch without doing a starter (a friend of mine cuts off at 2 weeks) and tbh I usually do a starter anyway as there cheap and you can go the malta route with bottled water without a boil for under a buck. Make sure you added in the age of the slurry on mr malty tho. Amount of slurry needed increases the older yeast.

 

[vegas20s]

Well I tried this for the first time. I was using us-05. Yes I know it's cheap but so am I. Anyways followed all the instructions. I had to jars to use and they were around month old. I just shook them up and tossed into the batch. No starter. I was a little worried about and under pitch. But after 24 hours I got vigorous fermentation. And now 3 days later I see a nice thick yeast cake has formed. Now that I now I can do this successfully I won't mind spending a little more on liquid yeast. Just another reason to love HBT.

 

[i4ourgot]

Sorry if someone answered this question but is there an easy way to tell if the washed yeast in your mason jars is not good to use, does it smell or look different? Thanks

 

[jonmohno]

When it looks like peanut butter and you do a starter and it smells like rubber or something.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Washed some 1272 on the 29th, first wash in a while since I've been using mostly dry yeast the last couple years. It went really well, but medium sized jar definitely got the most junk along with the yeast. No worries, though.

First photo is right after washing. Second photo is about 48hrs in the fridge

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Another 48hrs and there is complete separation. Now all I have to do is wait for my new propane hose to come in the mail and I can use the big jar on my next brew :rockin:

 

[pabloj13]

Another 48hrs and there is complete separation. Now all I have to do is wait for my new propane hose to come in the mail and I can use the big jar on my next brew :rockin:

Beautiful! :rockin:

 

[taa800]

I'm going to ask what will seem to be an odd question for all of you hard core brewers. I don't brew that many batches, but do want to reuse my yeast. I also brew a lot of different types. Over the past year, I've bought many different types of yeast. Would I do anything different in this procedure if I only wanted 2 pint jars of washed yeast at the end? I don't want to have four jars of yeast that would go bad before I use them (even though they last a year).
I know what most people's answer will be -- brew more and drink more, but seriously, I'd like to do this to save the money but not be swimming in yeast jars.

Thanks

 

[Larso]

Hi taa800, let the 4 jars settle for a week or so in the fridge and then pour off the liquid and use a small amount of sterile cool water, rewashing everything into 1 or 2 jars

L

 

[ResumeMan]

I haven't done this yet, but I can't imagine that there's any reason at all you couldn't just fill the two jars that you want and then...stop. You'll then have 2 jars instead of 4, and you'll be tossing some more yeast than you would otherwise.

 

[Accidic]

An alternative thread that might interest you is the freezing yeast thread. IIRC there are a few reports of multi-year saving. Also it should take less space depending on the size you use but if you go really small the ramp up starter can be time consuming.

A second alternative might be slanting. Reports there are only a year I believe but there small and you could make a small starter once a year to make new slants or just streak from your current and regrow the fresh slant if you're not worried about reducing your small chance of mutation.

 

[pabloj13]

I haven't done this yet, but I can't imagine that there's any reason at all you couldn't just fill the two jars that you want and then...stop. You'll then have 2 jars instead of 4, and you'll be tossing some more yeast than you would otherwise.

You could definitely use 2 jars instead of 4, they'd just have to be larger jars.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Beautiful! :rockin:

You should see the 1 quart starter it made....

 

[pabloj13]

You should see the 1 quart starter it made....

Yeah I love the stir plate for 1) higher yield and 2) knocking the krausen down. Tons of active yeast though!

 

[taa800]

You could definitely use 2 jars instead of 4, they'd just have to be larger jars.

Why do they need to be larger? Couldn't I use 1 large jar and 2 pint size jars instead of 1 large and 4 pint like the original post said to?

 

[pabloj13]

Why do they need to be larger? Couldn't I use 1 large jar and 2 pint size jars instead of 1 large and 4 pint like the original post said to?

You could. But you need a large enough volume to really separate the trub and yeast. If you used the same large jar and only two pint jars, you would get half the yeast.