Some time back I tried rinsing my yeast as I saw on a YouTube. It didn’t do much for me so I’ve just been swirling my yeast cakes and settling in the fridge. Then I decant and pitch.
Last night I listened to Brew Strong yeast rinsing. I had a month old IPA cake in the fridge so I thought I’d hive Jamil’s method a whirl.
So on kegging day I left a bit of beer on the cake. I sterilized a quart jar. Then I swirled the yeast and bit of beer till it was a homogeneous slurry. Dumped that into the sterile jar and put it in the fridge.
Today I sterilized a quart of water. This is my settled slurry and the sterile H2O.
Then I shaked the snot out of it. Crack the lid every few seconds so it doesn’t grenade in your hands. Let it settle. Leave lid almost finger tip tight so gasses can escape.
I let that settle an hour. Its hard to see in the photo but there are more dark bits n junk in the bottom inch or so. I think if this wasn’t from a 10 srm hoppy dry hopped IPA, maybe it would be easier to see. Note the sterile water jar. I’ve dumped out some of it so it matches the level of the stuff I want to leave behind.
Next I do another decant. Now instead of decanting stuff I don’t want down the drain, I’m decanting stuff I want into the sterile H2O jar. With the right amount of water in it it’s easy to know when to stop pouring.
Thanks. This is just for fun and to see what happens. That was one of my dirtier cakes. And it was getting old so I thought I’d play with it. Maybe someone will see this thread and it will help them. Maybe it will just prove that I don’t need to bother.
Looks good Jim! I like to read about different methods of harvesting yeast. I like to use three jars. I will dump two jars of sterile water into my carboy and shake up. Then pour the water/yeast/trub into the two jars. I let the trub settle out for about a half hour to 45 minutes. I decant the liquid sitting on the settled trub in one of the jars into the third jar. This is the goodness that I’m keeping. I dump the trub out of the first jar. Then I take the second jar and decant the good liquid into the newly empty jar. Then label the jars and put in the fridge. This way I have two nice slurries ready for when I have over-lapping brews.
I have a problem with you fridge though…I see only one beer!
I’ve been using the gallon jug technique pouring clean stuff into 4 pint mason jars. Again, I get a ton of trub in the fermenter. Each jar normally ends up with about two viles worth of yeast.
I’m far from convinced that I will benefit from rinsing. The method in this thread is what jamil does, according to the podcast with good notes taken. But IIRC he usually repitches like I do. Settle, decant, measure, pitch. Hey, maybe he’ll chime in, huh?
It looks like a fun exercise, and the thought of pure yeasties is dreamy.
Personally, I have found these steps unnecessary. That first pic is what I would store…in the fridge.
Icicle is from Leavenworth, Wa. Cool town that is a must stop if you are with 250 miles. Good beer. The downtown is like a Bavarian village. Really cool.
Firestone Walker is one I’ve been hearing about but haven’t found till now. Going to enjoy it tonight.
Here’s the 24 hour results of the rinse. Very thin layer of fluffy less flocculant on top. Bottom 1/2" has a small amount of trube. The rest looks good.
Ruling:
For me and my equipment and yeast, I don’t see enough benefit for all the work. The added slight risk of contamination makes the scales tip for me. I will be sticking with my very basic method, which is rack, swirl, store, decant, measure, pitch.
That’s the conclusion I arrived at as well after exerimentation. No difference at all between rinsing/non rinsing and not at all worth the effort. And I reptich through 6-7 gens to boot.
Rinsing and /or washing the yeast is an ok activity if you’re into it, have the time, and like to fuss. But I’m absolutely convinced that it’s not necessary and that it doesn’t result in any difference regarding the end result of the brew, even in beers that age for a year or more.
Yeah, your washed yeast looks about the same as before. But ehh, your prewashed cake looks 100 times better than mine. From my experience, a higher water to cake ratio yields better results. More jars, but better yeast at the bottom. Maybe I will post a few shots of my next wash.
Union Jack is in a never ending fight with Racer 5 to be my favorite IPA. I don’t mind. Session is my favorite camping beer. It’s a little pricey here in Texas at $11-12 a six pack.
My caveat was FOR ME, it ain’t worth it. I think if a guy was getting dirty yeast he might try this. Also, this ain’t washing its rinsing. Washing is a pH dropping process with acid, to kill bacteria but leave yeast only slightly wounded. I won’t be doing that either.
Personally, it’s all good. Let’s not develop a style guide for yeast handling with yeast handling style guide Nazis to keep us all in line. I was just pointing out how smart I am lol. Or, how I recently discovered BN.
Would it work just to drop the trub out from under my current beer, refridgerate it for a couple of weeks, then drop that trub into my next beer without all this washing?
