This is my first time washing yeast. This is US-05 at its second wash. Is it looking right so far? I’ve never done this so I’m not 100% sure what I’m doing.
Looks like a good harvest to me. What are you washing with? I’ve done acid washing on a commercial scale, but for a home brewer yeast is so cheap I wouldn’t bother.
There’s no real need to wash it. Just store it under some of the beer from the last ferment.
But, if you want to wash it, go ahead. Look like you’re doing it just fine.
Just stop that shit, Barry! There’s no advantage to it and it’s just one more place you have a chance to screw up!
Well tell me how you really feel!!! ;D
I’m only doing because, well, because. I figure why let all that yeast go to waste. Plus, I just like having beer related things to do in the evening. But you do have a valid point, Denny. One more thing for me to screw up.
As for what I’'m washing it in, I guess I need to study up on yeast washing. I didn’t think there was actual “washing” with any type of chemical involved. I just thought it was the process of letting the yeast settle on top of the trub, move to a new container, and repeat until you are left with basically all yeast.
Looks like I have some reading to do tonight.
You don’t have to wash it to reuse it. I just pour the slurry into a sanitized container and keep it under beer in the fridge til I reuse it. And you’re right, what you’re doing is rinsing it, not washing it. But both are unnecessary. The brewery I work for simply xfers slurry from one tank to another and they make award winning beers. Stop taking unnecessary effort and put your time and effort into something that matters.
^^^This is the most successful way of reusing yeast - bar none! It’s also very easy and quick to boot.
Yup. Same thing I do.
+1. Stopped rinsing yeast years ago. Thought it was an unneccesary hassle.
I notice that some Pro’s are washing their yeast with chlorine dioxide with pretty good success. It looks pretty simple when using that active ingredient. Anyone have any experience with it?
No because I’m a homebrewer. And what’s “pretty good success”…what are they trying to accomplish? What benefits would it have for a homebrewer? Martin, sorry if it sounds like I’m getting on your case…that’s not my intent. I’m just sick of homebrewers assuming that everything a commercial brewer does is what they should be doing.
That’s precious time I could be using to look for deals on cherry Jolly Ranchers!!! :o
A while back I thought I had read that the process needs to remain in a cold environment and that the yeast would need to be used very quickly (like within an hour or two) after washing the yeast using this method because the process was so “hard” on them, and they would quickly lose vitality (and life) if too much time passed between washing and use. Additionally, how well would the chlorine dioxide need to be rinsed from the washed yeast to ensure no carryover that could result in chlorophenol production. I may be thinking of a different washing chemical, but I really think it was chlorine dioxide.
As for the commercial vs homebrewer, I can understand it to a point as well. Commercial practices are generally in place to ensure the upmost quality and stability of the finished product, so I ask myself “why wouldn’t I want the same for myself?” The flip side is that I don’t want to lose an eye; ruin my lungs; invest a ton of money; take up a portion of my house with a lab; or product subpar beer simply because a commercial brewer is doing it. At the same rate, if the process is something as simple as “swishing the yeast in a benign solution a few minutes before using” and there’s no risk of bodily/beer harm then I’d try it, and if the results were improvement in the beer then I may continue doing it. Edit: The little bit of reading I did on chlorine dioxide sure makes it sound like it carries a risk level I wouldn’t want to take.
But yeah, just because commercial breweries do things and produce good beer doesn’t mean that we have to to produce good beer.
I haven’t washed yeast with chlorine dioxide, but it’s my preferred brewery sanitizer, and I wouldn’t recommend that anyone play around with it at home. A hood is all but mandatory for working with it in enclosed spaces.
One warning if you save yeast without washing. Be sure to use a starter to get the yeast going. I used to save yeast and just dump it into the next batch, but I got some very slow starts that way, allowing an infection to take hold.
Google Hafnia protea.
My experience is that if I reuse it within say a month I don’t need to restart. Longer than that and I do.
I don’t mean to imply that there’s never any crossover between home and commercial brewing. But a commercial breweries goals are different than ours…sure, we both want to make great beer, but they have customers, shipping, shelf stability and a host of other concerns that we don’t have. And the simple fact is that skipping a lot of commercial procedures doesn’t translate to subpar beer at home. And at the homebrew level, it’s as easy to ruin yeast by washing it as it is to improve it. Everybody gets to make their own decision, though. Having tried saving yeast with rinsing and without, I can’t find a justification for me to rinse it.
That depends on how quickly you reuse it. Definitely if it’s older than 1 month I will build a starter. The older it is, the longer it seems to need to get going again.
My apologies because I didn’t mean to insinuate that skipping commercial procedures translates to subpar beer; I don’t think that’s the case at all. Quite the opposite in fact. My experience is that when I head to grab a beer, I usually have 3-4 taps running as well as a host of commercial craft beers available to me. 99% of the time I pour my own because, well, it’s better beer.
And, yeah, the less we can handle the yeast the less our chances of contaminating the yeast, and our future beer.
I did the rinsing thing too for a couple years; washing, never. The only thing I think I gained from it was a smaller jar in which to store the yeast, but that came at the cost of less yeast :-\
I’m mostly curious about pitch rates with saved slurry. How much to use, etc. I know this was a recent podcast topic, but I don’t feel like it was explored enough. I’ve been brewing for years now and have yet to save and re-use yeast. I’m probably over thinking. Do you repitch it all? Repitch a certain volume?