Yeast Washing Illustrated

[JrBeerGut]

Acid washing yeast (not with vinegar) is done by those who are adept at yeast ranching. I've not done it, but I no longer rinse my yeast at all- I just save the yeast from the fermenter in a jar and don't add water or mess with it.

So, you just sanitize some containers by boiling them and scoop it out of the fermenter bucket? Then you make a starter from that? Approximately how many pint size jars would you get from a 5 gallon batch?

 

[Yooper]

So, you just sanitize some containers by boiling them and scoop it out of the fermenter bucket? Then you make a starter from that? Approximately how many pint size jars would you get from a 5 gallon batch?

Yes, that's the jist of it, although I don't scoop, I pour. And I brew often enough that I rarely make a starter.

I get a lot of yeast from the bottom of a 5 gallon batch but I don't know how many pint jars. 6 maybe? I use quart jars, and about 2/3 of a quart jar is enough for a 11 gallon sized 1.055 OG ale a couple of weeks later.

I do this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=519995

 

[p_p]

Apologies if this was asked already, but +250 pages is a lot to read.
Do you close the jars tight? Can co2 build up and make the jars explode? That would surely get me ban from the family fridge!

 

[flars]

Apologies if this was asked already, but +250 pages is a lot to read.
Do you close the jars tight? Can co2 build up and make the jars explode? That would surely get me ban from the family fridge!

There will be some CO2 in the harvested yeast that can pressurize the jar. Finger tighten the canning ring when you put the harvested yeast in the refrigerator. In a few days you will be able to snug the lid down for a more positive seal.

 

[kombat]

I never seal mine completely. I always screw the lid down tight, then back it off 1/8th of a turn. Bacteria can't crawl, and there's no concern about the protective layer of beer oxidizing (unless you plan on drinking it?)

 

[joshesmusica]

I never seal mine completely. I always screw the lid down tight, then back it off 1/8th of a turn. Bacteria can't crawl, and there's no concern about the protective layer of beer oxidizing (unless you plan on drinking it?)

This is also what they recommend in "Yeast."

So if people don't consider you an expert, at least there's a couple of yeast experts who agree with you.

 

[Bulls Beers]

This is my first attempt at washing yeast. If it's this easy, I can't believe I didn't try this before. Time to buy some more pint sized mason jars. I use dry yeast often also, but this will be nice for some more of the expensive liquid yeasts.

[URL=http://s199.photobucket.com/user/Mikes145/media/Beer/IMAG2096.jpg.html] [/URL]

I'm glad your yeast washing was successful. I've been brewing for 10 years and make excellent beer, mostly lagers, but my yeast washing skills are aweful. It never comes out right for some reason. It's so aggravating. The quantity of yeast that settles out in my pint jars is usually a very small amount. It seems so easy too.

Yooper, next time you're in Boston let's do a yeast washing class. lol!!!

 

[johnhenryrolf]

Great thread! This is the next step in my brewing process, I haven't read absolutely every post yet, but I'm excited about starting to propagate my own yeast...scared, but excited!

 

[jkpenrod]

I am making my first attempt at yeast washing; I followed the instructions and waited 20 minutes to pou then waited another 20 minutes. What I was left with is this....

Is the middle layer really all that I want? If so I am wondering if I should measure the bottom layer, re shake and when the bottom layer reaches a similar hieght repour. Any advice?

 

[jdbic]

After racking the beer to bottle, how long can the carboy sit and still be able to harvest the yeast?

 

[bristela]

After racking the beer to bottle, how long can the carboy sit and still be able to harvest the yeast?

The longer you wait the less viable the yeast will be. But there will most likely still be some left. It will more than likely just affect how long you need to have the subsequent starter culture going before you reuse it.

Cheers

 

[uglyamerican00]

After washing the yeast and the pint of yeast is ready for a starter later down the road, do I decant the clear liquid off the top before I make the starter?

 

[joshesmusica]

After washing the yeast and the pint of yeast is ready for a starter later down the road, do I decant the clear liquid off the top before I make the starter?

You can decant some, but leave enough to swirl up the yeast.

 

[daveMN]

I opened up a jar of washed yeast (WY 1056) today to make a new starter, and I got some sort of strong odor, somewhere between acetone or another solvent, and the color was a little darker than the normal light beige harvested yeast. To be fair, this was washed, following this procedure, in March 2015. So, it's been in the fridge for a while. I decanted off nearly all the liquid and pitched it just to see what happens. The question is, what's the likelihood this will take off, and will this cause any off-flavors in my brew this weekend? Cheers!

 

[DanPoch]

I decanted off nearly all the liquid and pitched it just to see what happens.

Brave without a starter. I'd have recommended a starter to build up the cell count (a lot have probably died while in the fridge) and then check the aroma of the yeast at that point. Your nose is a pretty good indicator of what flavors and\or aromas the yeasties will produce.

Best of luck to you. Hope it works out.

 

[daveMN]

Brave without a starter. I'd have recommended a starter to build up the cell count (a lot have probably died while in the fridge) and then check the aroma of the yeast at that point. Your nose is a pretty good indicator of what flavors and\or aromas the yeasties will produce.

Best of luck to you. Hope it works out.

I should have said "I pitched it into a starter". It does smell more normal now. I'm crashing it today and I'm going to step it up into a second starter before my brew day Saturday. If the stepped up starter has any weird odors, I'll buy a fresh smack pack. Thanks.

 

[Jaxmickey]

Thanks for the info Bernie! What would you estimate the cell count of the mason jars?

 

[BubbaBrewer78]

Beautiful job, now I understand it!

 

[Nebraskan]

Long article. Boiling for 1 minute will kill any and all things of concern. Distilled water in a new container is what I used. Yeast dies at 110 F and ML dies at 95-100 for most strains. There is very little else that you would have concerns about. When you racked and there is that open container, there is an abundance of fresh air as well as some microbes that made their way into the carboy. Unavoidable.

Yeast that have run out of food reserves often don't die, unless they have budded already around 26 times and are at end of life. Most will just re-do themselves at a cellular level, storing metabolized carbon and hibernate. Refrigerator will keep them in hibernation very well.
Ref: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3743100/
And this very informative article: https://www.morebeer.com/articles/how_yeast_use_oxygen

So unless you do all this in a clean room (such as some electronics or pharmaceutical rooms) you can only do so much in your "kitchen".

 

[Griffin495]

Question on pitching. Say I do this and get 4 pint sized jars of washed yeast from a 5 gallon batch. My next batch is going to be a 2.5 gallon batch of beer with an OG of 1.048. If I don't want to make a yeast starter, would one jar be enough? OR should I pitch two jars of the yeast slurry?

 

[Miraculix]

When yeast ferments the wort, it creates an ideal environment for itself to survive and to last and at the same time this environment is not very good for bacteria, mold and other unwanted guests.

So why should I want to remove the yeast from this environment, which is so much superior to sterilized water, by"washing" the yeast?

Doesn't make sense at all. Safe the slurry, top up with some of the fermented beer, job done.

Also the cell count will be huge, so no starter for the next batch necessary.

 

[madscientist451]

I agree with Miraculix, I stopped "washing" the yeast slurry a few years ago and just save the slurry and re-pitch about half a jar into the next batch. If it has been in the fridge for a while, I'll build up a starter.
Seems to be working fine.

 

[Nebraskan]

I am curious about the live-ability of yeast in higher strength of alcohol, aka EtOH. What if we stored yeast that was well cleaned in a solution of 20% EtOH, vodka diluted to 20%? I know when we add Hi Proof to our Chancellor and Chambourcin wines to bring them to 18% EtOH, for making port, that it stops the yeasts and protects the wine from further fermentation and helps to preserve the wine as well. I have always been told, and led to believe, that they are killed at higher EtOH concentrations. Are they, or are they merely stunted into dormancy? In other words, are they killed or merely stunted at the higher alcohol levels?

PRESERVATION: Or perhaps use those plastic "frozen pop" trays with lollipop sticks and put in the slurry into those and freeze them. Afterward put into Ziploc bags or mason jars and keep in the freezer? It'll keep the significant other, and kids, from randomly grabbing a Popsicle to eat, huh?

 

[Nebraskan]

ADDENDUM: I believe that the yeast are strictly dormant, not killed off, by the higher alcohol. I started a tread about this as I tried taking some well working yeast, bumping it to 20% Alcohol and then leaving it alone in my refrigerator for quite some time. Drained out the EtOH down to the yeast, added fresh water, yeast nutrient, some corn sugar, and it started back up. Hmmmmm

 

[Michael_Calgary]

"Then when it's time to make a starter, you just pull one out, let it warm to room temp, and decant most of the liquid out of the jar, give the rest a good shake, and pitch it into your starter.."

Hi, Sorry if this is a dumb question... when you say "Decant most of the liquid out of the jar, give the rest a good shake, and pitch it into your starter.." Are you saying remove most of the liquid AND discard that liquid? Then only pitch what is left in the bottom?

 

[IslandLizard]

[...]

"Then when it's time to make a starter, you just pull one out, let it warm to room temp, and decant most of the liquid out of the jar, give the rest a good shake, and pitch it into your starter.."

Please, quote like this, so others can see who you're quoting and where you're quoting from, for reference:

All that's left to do is label the jars and put them in the fridge. Then when it's time to make a starter, you just pull one out, let it warm to room temp, and decant most of the liquid out of the jar, give the rest a good shake, and pitch it into your starter..

In this case, post #3, almost 11 years ago, in a 2544 post thread.

Hi, Sorry if this is a dumb question... when you say "Decant most of the liquid out of the jar, give the rest a good shake, and pitch it into your starter.." Are you saying remove most of the liquid AND discard that liquid? Then only pitch what is left in the bottom?

Yes, you only want to keep a small amount of that beer that's on top, behind. About 1/3-1/2 of the height of the cake on the bottom. Enough to swirl or stir it up into a pourable slurry, with a consistency of V8 juice. If it's still too thick you can add some boiled and cooled water, or scoop it out as is and add to your wort. Then give it a good stir to suspend.

If you have a quart jar full of yeast and trub mix, you need to make an educated guess of how much yeast is in there. There are plenty of resources that point you in the right direction, and use a calculator like Mr. Malty. IOW, you don't need or even want to pour a quart of yeast cake into a 5 gallon batch.

 

[Michael_Calgary]

"Then when it's time to make a starter, you just pull one out, let it warm to room temp, and decant most of the liquid out of the jar, give the rest a good shake, and pitch it into your starter.."

Please, quote like this, so others can see who you're quoting and where you're quoting from, for reference:


In this case, post #3, almost 11 years ago, in a 2544 post thread.


Yes, you only want to keep a small amount of that beer that's on top, behind. About 1/3-1/2 of the height of the cake on the bottom. Enough to swirl or stir it up into a pourable slurry, with a consistency of V8 juice. If it's still too thick you can add some boiled and cooled water, or scoop it out as is and add to your wort. Then give it a good stir to suspend.

If you have a quart jar full of yeast and trub mix, you need to make an educated guess of how much yeast is in there. There are plenty of resources that point you in the right direction, and use a calculator like Mr. Malty. IOW, you don't need or even want to pour a quart of yeast cake into a 5 gallon batch.

Sorry, when I was trying to reply it kept adding every picture that was in the post to my reply so I just deleted it all and typed the relevant part I needed an answer to. And YUP, a 2544 post thread would be a lot to read for an answer that might not be there. So, just thought it would be faster to ask.

Thank you for the reply! I've been meaning to try saving yeast. Just now getting serious about reading up on it. Just don't want to ruin an all grain batch.. specifically the time it takes, by pitching junk into my primary.

 

[IslandLizard]

Sorry, when I was trying to reply it kept adding every picture that was in the post to my reply [...]

The beauty of our new software is to make that quoting part so easy.

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I've been meaning to try saving yeast. Just now getting serious about reading up on it. Just don't want to ruin an all grain batch.. specifically the time it takes, by pitching junk into my primary.

If you trust your sanitation, harvesting yeast from fermentations, or ranching yeast from overbuilt starters, is a viable alternative to buying more packs of the same. Many of us do this all the time, and it's easy.

 

[Dave Sarber]

K, I'm stickying this thread.

 

[thefigure5]

I started a batch of sour blond ale last week using Wyeast 3278 Lambic Blend. Will Bernie's yeast washing illustrated method replicate a blend of yeasts, wild yeasts, and bacteria such as Wyeast 3278?