Newbie here with a yeast washing/saving question…Lots of talk on this topic lately…
My first yeast rescue mission commenced last night…Here’s what I did based on a few things I’d read on this board, and a few youtube videos:
- boiled and cooled some water
- poured the water into carboy with yeast cake and shook to loosen sediment
- poured this mixture out into a sanitized glass container
- waited an hour or so for it to begin to stratify
- decanted the liquid off the top
- poured the yeast layer into a sanitized mason jar
- put the jar in the fridge
By this morning, plenty of additional stratification had occurred. I’m looking for some help identifying exactly which of the 4 layers I want to keep when I wash this stuff again. I attached a photo to help in the ID process. Is my identification right? I want mostly just the pure yeast layer eventually, right?
Secondary question…once I get the yeast mostly isolated, I likely dont need to use it all for the next batch of a similar beer, right? This was NB’s Rye Stout extract kit.
Tertiary question…apart from eating sugars during fermentation, are yeast cells actually reproducing? Thus, the yeast cake has way more yeast that what is originally pitched, correct?
Long post…thanks for any help all. Love this board and this new endeavor that is taking over my waking, non real-job hours and my basement.