Quick-Wash Yeast

[joechianti]

I’ve learned so dang much from this community and it’s so rare that I can find something useful to contribute. Hopefully I have something that some might enjoy. Not sure if this has already been covered, but if it has, just ignore me. Everyone else does.
Anyway, I learned about yeast washing from Screwy and others here, and I picked up the practice of dropping fresh wort right onto the previous yeast cake from T8r and others. Both of those have been very useful over the past year or so.
But I did find that the whole yeast washing process took more time and work than my lazy butt was interested in, while I wasn’t totally happy with the compromise in sanitation when dumping new wort into a LBK full of all the spent hops and everything else.
So I started putting some boiled and cooled water onto the yeastcake, swirling it and putting it back into a jar. Then I just let it cool and separate for just a few hours, mostly in the fridge, while I brew up the next batch. When I’m done, I scoop a small sanitized ladle into the middle layer and put a few scoops of that onto the new wort, in a newly sanitized LBK. I’ve been getting quick, smooth krausen, excellent attenuation, and overall fine results. Right now, I’m on my 9th consecutive batch from one dry packet of yeast.
I’m figuring this will allow me to afford better, higher-priced yeast packets by spreading the cost over many batches, giving me most of the reward of genuine yeast washing while being nearly as easy as just dumping the wort on top of the yeast cake. I’m happy as can be with how easy it is as well as the results. I just thought maybe others might be interested in trying it out to see how they like it.
And again, if this has already been discussed, I apologize.

[Beer-lord]

It's good to see your toothless face again Joe.
I've pretty much given up washing and can't seem to time my brews to the yeastcake method but I've still managed to save lots of money by making a huge 3L starter fresh, saving half in 2-3 jars and using the other half in my brew.
Then when I brew again, I once again make a 3L starter using 1 of the jars I saved from the original yeast and again, use half for my brew day and save the other half.
I've managed to take the $6.99 I've spent on yeast and grow enough yeast to give me 5-8 brews depending on the OG and how long it's been in the fridge. I've found this fresh yeast approach allows my yeast to last well past 5 months or so and I'm not going much past 6 either way as it's not worth it to me. I also don't take it into too many generations for obvious reasons.

In the end, if what works for you gives you great beer, don't change.....keep doing what you're doing.

[ScrewyBrewer]

Good post Joe, it's also a great way to make sure you always have the yeast you want on hand too. Too many times perfectly good yeast ends up getting flushed down the drain. Reusing our yeast is a great way to save money, make sure we get a good fermentation and as you pointed out it doesn't have to involve a whole lot of time or effort.

[John Sand]

I've only re-pitched once, using slurry. It was a small mistake. I used Notty in Centennial Blonde, fridged the slurry for a few days, then re-pitched some of it (used a calculator). It fermented well, but both batches were about 72*, a bit too warm for Notty. They don't taste quite right, though time has helped. My worry about re-using yeast is that I have yet to taste the first brew, if it is off, so will the next batch. Have you tried saving your quick wash yeast? How long?
Nice to see you Joe.

[RickBeer]

Hey Joe! Good to see you posting. Good info, I've never tried this as my concern is messing up $25 -30 in ingredients as I am cheap too, although I do go to a dentist unlike you.

For $3.99 per 5 gal batch I hesitate to try it, but I may and then can blame you when I have a problem.

[Beer-lord]

Looking back at this topic, one thing that you need to be careful is using a yeast cake from a high gravity beer into a low gravity beer.
Wyeast recommends:

Previous Fermentation: Always harvest from a low gravity and low hopped beer. High gravity and/or highly hopped beers can stress the yeast and have detrimental affects on future fermentations. Do not harvest yeast from beers with alcohol contents greater than 6.5% ABV.

I know I read somewhere the best recommendation was to be about 25 points below OG so if your beer is going to be 1.060, you'd want a starter or the yeast cake to be about 1.035. For me and my mega hopped beers, the yeast cake idea doesn't seem to work too well and even double washing made me wonder exactly what I was starting out with. So, I ended up just doing what I mentioned previously and that works very well for me.

[Brewbirds]

JoeChianteJoeChiante
JoeChianteJoeChianteJoeChiante
JoeChianteJoeChianteJoeChiante
JoeChianteJoeChianteJoeChiante

[joechianti]

Okay Michele, you're cracking me up now. Are you guys still in Lago, or have you already moved?

[Brewbirds]

OOPS sorry JoeC just now saw this.

You have a PM

[joechianti]

I've only re-pitched once, using slurry. It was a small mistake. I used Notty in Centennial Blonde, fridged the slurry for a few days, then re-pitched some of it (used a calculator). It fermented well, but both batches were about 72*, a bit too warm for Notty. They don't taste quite right, though time has helped. My worry about re-using yeast is that I have yet to taste the first brew, if it is off, so will the next batch. Have you tried saving your quick wash yeast? How long?
Nice to see you Joe.

Sorry I just realized I never answered your question about saving this yeast. I usually save what I don't pitch only until after I see the fermentation is successful, then I toss the rest. This is because I'm only doing one batch at a time and just have no need to save it. One time I did have to pitch again the 2nd day using what I had saved and it worked out great. Another time I used the extra to ferment a small batch of apple cider and that also worked out very well. I'm about to bottle my 10th batch from that single packet of yeast and it has a FG of 1.008. I couldn't be happier.

[mashani]

Suddenly due to some Birdies not so subliminal messages, I have the urge to turn off the lights, look in a mirror and chant "JoeChiante" repeatedly and see what happens.

[joechianti]

Update: The krausen is starting to form on the 14th consecutive batch from that single packet of yeast. I have a ziplock baggie full of yeast packets in the fridge. Most of them are just the ones that came with Mr Beer HME's, about half are older 3 gm and half are newer 5 gm Coopers. Also have 2 or 3 packs of Fermentis from LHBS. Half of me is excited to use the Fermentis packs and half of me is just curious to see how far this string can continue before it stops working. I throw in a pinch of nutrient and a pinch of energizer with each new batch, and it continues to perform splendidly. Getting smooth creamy krausen, no overflow on extremely overfilled LBK, excellent attenuation, and perfectly good beer. There's no way I'm gonna give up now. I have to see how long this will go. I've even thrown in 2 batches of cider with some of the same washed yeast. I may almost never buy yeast again.

[Dawg LB Steve]

Joechiante The Yeast Whisperer!
When you say you refrigerate what you harvested from the fermenter, how long between brews when you scoop out the middle layer and use it? Is there a time period to where you would need to wake it back up by making a starter?

[joechianti]

Joechiante The Yeast Whisperer!
When you say you refrigerate what you harvested from the fermenter, how long between brews when you scoop out the middle layer and use it? Is there a time period to where you would need to wake it back up by making a starter?

The longest I've held any of this yeast and then used it was 3 days, and that was for a batch of cider. It worked like a charm. Just made another batch of yeast along with a batch of beer on the same day from the most recent collection. I usually use about half of this quickly washed yeast right away and save the rest just in case I need to pitch again. Then after a few days it goes down the drain. I had a bunch of traditionally washed yeast in the fridge which I never even used for months. That was too much of a commitment for me, being rather on the lazy side, myself. Since I've never used any after more than 3 days, I can't say how long it would last before needing a starter. I would guess maybe a week? The main reason for this shortened method is so I don't have to save a bunch of yeast in the fridge and I don't have to make starters, which cost almost as much in malt as it would be to buy another packet of yeast. This saves me time, effort and money. I may have to buy a couple packets of yeast per year, but that's about it. It's working so good now I may not even get to use the yeast packets I have in my fridge before they get too old. While I was too lazy and cheap to go the full washing route, I did muster up enough ambition to take this little step up from simply pouring the new wort on the old yeast cake. I'm banking on the increased 'cleanliness' of the yeast and the LBK which can then be rinsed out and sanitized to help produce a better beer and help the yeast stay healthy longer. So far it seems to be working.

[John Sand]

Now this is funny. You didn't reply to my question and I didn't see your answer. Shall we return to snail mail Pen Pal?
Thanks for posting and updating. My update is that those off beers did recover and are now good. But I've made another yeast mistake. Wyeast3787 is a beast, and overflowed my BDC. When I cleaned it up, there were a few tablespoons of thick top crop yeast sticking inside the lid. I sanitized a pint canning jar with starsan (should have boiled) and scooped it in. But I forgot to dump the starsan out of the lid, which dumped onto the yeast. I knew this would probably kill the yeast, but put it in the fridge anyway. A couple of weeks later I opened it to check. The yeast had died, broken down, pressurized the jar. The ring came off neatly, but the lid burst off with a bang and hit my face. I wasn't hurt, only amused.