Good morning everyone. I have been brewing just shy of a year now and just started dabbiling in yeast washing. On Monday I washed some american ale yeast for a creamsicle ale my fiance has been begging for for months now. I went through a 3 stage washing process and the final product was put in three mason jars. There is some good yeast in there but there is also a small amount of trube. I was wondering if this yeast is okay to use?
It should be fine; I don’t bother with washing anymore. I just pour some yeast into a sanitized Mason jar & pop in the fridge; works fine.
Should I use one jar or two?
Use 1 jar if you brew within a month or so. I’ll usually make a starter if it’s been longer than that, but it depends on what I’m brewing. I’ve used yeast I’ve had in the fridge for 6 months or more.
I swirl the yeast cake in my carboy good & collect a 1 qt jar. I typically brew within 2 weeks, check Mr. Malty for how much slurry to pitch. 1 jar is more than enough.
Thank you guys for the answers. I made a starter yesterday and I used 2 jars just to be safe (I still have another jar). The yeast starter was on the stirplate for 24 hours and then I put it in the fridge to floculate. I have a nice little yeast patty on the bottom of the flask and it looks like I had some really good growth!
I’ve repitched on 95% of the beers I’ve made this year. I never wash yeast. Just sanitize a 1 qt mason jar and pour the yeast from the carboy.
I do use hop bags in the boil so there’s no hops in the yeast cake and I whirlpool before draining the BK to try and minimize trub into the carboy.
Still there’s a good bit of research that suggests you actually are throwing away viable yeast when you wash so that supports my laziness.
I’ve used mrmalty and yeast calc but I like Brewer’s Friend best. http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitc … alculator/
For yeast date I use 3 days after the day I pitched as the last culture date. Plug that in as if you were using new yeast to get your viability percent. Then go the slurry tab and work up your starter from there.
I’ve repitched yeast as old as 6 months using starters. Saves a few bucks especially on lagers!
I don’t bother washing either, I swirl and pour into two 1 qt mason jars. Put in the fridg. Sometimes after it settles I pour off any wort that is on top especially if I’m not using it right away. Give it sniff, start it up, and pitch.
Same here. I leave any liquid (beer) on it until ready to pitch. Just keep everything sanitary from transfer to repitch. Assuming you followed good sanitation
from the start. If I have any doubt on the quality of the yeast, I won’t risk another batch with it.
[quote=“dannyboy58”]I’ve repitched on 95% of the beers I’ve made this year. I never wash yeast. Just sanitize a 1 qt mason jar and pour the yeast from the carboy.
I do use hop bags in the boil so there’s no hops in the yeast cake and I whirlpool before draining the BK to try and minimize trub into the carboy.
Still there’s a good bit of research that suggests you actually are throwing away viable yeast when you wash so that supports my laziness.
I’ve used mrmalty and yeast calc but I like Brewer’s Friend best. http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitc … alculator/
For yeast date I use 3 days after the day I pitched as the last culture date. Plug that in as if you were using new yeast to get your viability percent. Then go the slurry tab and work up your starter from there.
I’ve repitched yeast as old as 6 months using starters. Saves a few bucks especially on lagers![/quote]
Why do you not wash the yeast? Does the hops, dead yeast, proteins, and fats not affect the flavor of the new batch of beer when you pitch the slurry in? I have been washing yeast fro my last couple of brews and would love to skip the long process and just pour the cake in a clean mason jar.
[quote=“defrandj”][quote=“dannyboy58”]I’ve repitched on 95% of the beers I’ve made this year. I never wash yeast. Just sanitize a 1 qt mason jar and pour the yeast from the carboy.
I do use hop bags in the boil so there’s no hops in the yeast cake and I whirlpool before draining the BK to try and minimize trub into the carboy.
Still there’s a good bit of research that suggests you actually are throwing away viable yeast when you wash so that supports my laziness.
I’ve used mrmalty and yeast calc but I like Brewer’s Friend best. http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitc … alculator/
For yeast date I use 3 days after the day I pitched as the last culture date. Plug that in as if you were using new yeast to get your viability percent. Then go the slurry tab and work up your starter from there.
I’ve repitched yeast as old as 6 months using starters. Saves a few bucks especially on lagers![/quote]
Why do you not wash the yeast? Does the hops, dead yeast, proteins, and fats not affect the flavor of the new batch of beer when you pitch the slurry in? I have been washing yeast fro my last couple of brews and would love to skip the long process and just pour the cake in a clean mason jar.[/quote]
All those things didn’t noticeably effect the first beer you harvested it from why would it effect the next beer? I suppose the exception to this might be hops but I’ve never repitched yeast from heavily hopped beers so I can’t say for sure.
[quote=“defrandj”][quote=“dannyboy58”]I’ve repitched on 95% of the beers I’ve made this year. I never wash yeast. Just sanitize a 1 qt mason jar and pour the yeast from the carboy.
I do use hop bags in the boil so there’s no hops in the yeast cake and I whirlpool before draining the BK to try and minimize trub into the carboy.
Still there’s a good bit of research that suggests you actually are throwing away viable yeast when you wash so that supports my laziness.
I’ve used mrmalty and yeast calc but I like Brewer’s Friend best. http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitc … alculator/
For yeast date I use 3 days after the day I pitched as the last culture date. Plug that in as if you were using new yeast to get your viability percent. Then go the slurry tab and work up your starter from there.
I’ve repitched yeast as old as 6 months using starters. Saves a few bucks especially on lagers![/quote]
Why do you not wash the yeast? Does the hops, dead yeast, proteins, and fats not affect the flavor of the new batch of beer when you pitch the slurry in? I have been washing yeast fro my last couple of brews and would love to skip the long process and just pour the cake in a clean mason jar.[/quote]
I don’t make really heavily hopped beers. My IPAs are in the 70IBU range for the most part and I use hops bags so not much hop debris makes it into the fermenter. Typically I’ll use the same yeast from one IPA to another as well so no big deal even when I dry hop.
Most common yeasts I use are wy1272 for my IPAs and ambers, 1084 for irish ales, porters and stouts, mostly use 2206 for the few lagers I’ve done. So it’s not like I’m pitching slurry from a hoppy beer into a malt focused beer.
I read a yeast study, can’t seem to find the link at the moment, that says you throw out a lot of viable yeast in the cleaning process.
I’ve been happy with the results of reusing my slurry.
Well I think I will start using bags for my hops and just use what’s at the bottom of my fermentor for now. Thanks guys!
That’s how I have done it for years as well. I actually repitched a slurry that was used in a wit and noticed no flavor transfer from the orange peel or coriander.
