What’s the prevailing wisdom on just using starsan and distilled water when reusing ( washing? ) yeast.
I’m thinking of skipping the boiling water phase of the process and simply using starsan and distilled water.
Distilled is not good for the yeast. You’d probably be better off using “drinking water” which I believe is pasteurized but still contains minerals. Maybe something worth Googling or looking for on the label. But not distilled, that hurts yeast.
If you really want to make it simple don’t even wash it. Just pour some slurry in some sanitized mason jars and keep in the fridge. It will separate by itself. On brew day pour off the liquid on top pitch the middle layer and leave the compacted stuff behind. Been doing it this way for awhile
Most folks use the simpler process of simply collecting yeast cake from fermenter in a sanitary container, and using yeast directly from that container. Fewer chances for user error and provides an equally healthy/viable culture to brew your beer. No rinsing/washing/mussing - simple.
Yup. +1 to simplicity. If the yeast is stored for a long(er) period of time, you can pull some out and build up a starter from there.
So the idea would be to leave enough beer behind to cover the yeast that is poured off. I guess I would leave about 16 oz of beer to swirl up with the yeast slurry.
Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I always end up with some amount of beer in my fermenter after racking to keg simply because I stop the siphon as the yeast begins to move towards the racking cane. Therefore, I don’t purposefully leave any additional amount of beer behind in the fermenter for yeast collection.
I also don’t swirl and dump from fermenter. Instead, I use a sanitized spoon and scoop out the thickest, sedimented yeast I can from the bottom to fill up my collection container. This allows me to harvest the most yeast (plus trub, of course) that I can while minimizing the less-yeast-rich liquid portion. The last couple of scoops I get from the fermenter are the liquidy yeasty beer that I didn’t rack to keg. As things settle and separate in the fridge, the yeast typically settles underneath the yeast (unless you’re dealing with a true top cropper like 1272 or similar). Two ounces of beer is plenty to cover the yeast in your collection container - generally speaking.
…but again, different strokes for different folks. I’ve just found I much prefer the scoop-with-a-spoon method than swirl-and-dump method.
I like to follow what Brulosophy does. just over-build your starter and save a portion of that. You never have to worry about harvesting yeast from the bottom a carboy.
+1 I’ve been overbuilding starters since reading that tidbit. Works great!
Yup. Also a great idea and keeps the trub from a full fermentation out of the clean yeast.
Saving left over starter doesn’t have the added benefit of being used in an actual fermentation. For example; I pitch straight pack into a session pale ale, harvest and pitch a higher pale ale, harvest and pitch and IPA, harvest and pitch a barleywine.
I also don’t have much trub in the fermenter. I have made whirlpool skills.
When I save a yeast cake from a primary to reuse later, I dump a can of cheap factory beer (like PBR) into the fermentor to swirl around and get into solution, then pour it into a sanitized growler. The yeast and beer will then separate, leaving the yeast under a safe blanket of beer with little to no flavor. Its all ready to go when I add oxygenated starter wort to it when I am ready to brew.
IMO re-pitched yeast starts and ferments faster also arguably imparts better flavor to your beer. I have given up making starters all together in my lagers and simply pitch multiple packs, depending on mfg date, into the first batch then reuse yeast after that. Generally go 8 to 10 generations and then start over with fresh. So much less time spent messing with starters and of course in the long run it’s less expensive then a single pack for every beer with or without stepping up. I do swirl the remaining few ounces of beer and pour into very well sanitized mason jars then store at ~34f. Was turned on to this method by TheBeerery.
On brew day simply select a jar, pour off most of the beer, and into the fermenter the slurry goes. 90% of the time there is airlock activity within 6 hours and that is fermenting between 45-47f. Never having to wait for yeast and brewing on a whim are great benefits. I do not miss the starter shuffle!
I do this as well (thanks Bryan). Sometimes I will even pull some wort from the mash tun after the kettle is full and make a vitality starter. Super easy, and the yeast are awake and working by the time they get into the fermenter with the main wort batch.
Though not my routine, I have racked from a primary on brew day and then racked chilled wort right on top of the yeast cake in the fermenter. Probably not the best practice, but it works for a one-time thing where the dates align right.
Just to be clear, you boil the wort from the mash tun before you feed it to your yeast right? I would think it would be full of all sorts of nasties… I tried that one time and realized it was a PITA to boil this runoff and then chill it while watching my brew kettle. So now I simply run off a bit from my BK into a mason jar and chill it after my boil has been going for about ten minutes , its then cooled and pitched into the vitality starter and pitched into fermenter a few hours later.
I only do this when I feel the yeast needs to be roused. For normal gravity ales I simply dump the jar I lazily collected form a prior batch.
I miss the awhite lab vials. When making a starter I would pitch the yeast from the vial. Then I would put some of the starter wort into the vial. There were enough yeast in the vial to propagate a little yeast, which you could see once they flocculated. Then that could be used for stepping up a starter to the desired pitch.
Yup. I do a quick 5 minute boil in a small saucepan, then quickly chill and add it with my yeast into a well sanitized mason jar.