The Beer Borg

Have you noticed how expensive yeast has gotten? I did. Ouch.

So I got into harvesting that gold in a tube.

There are a few things you need for this.
1: Nerve
Wait, no, that’s not it. It’s easy. I stressed more then hot yeast over this until I pulled the trigger and gave it a go.

What you need is a container for the unwashed yeast. (I could insert a baptismal joke here about the unwashed, but won’t)

You’ll need to do a wee bit of pre-planning though.

You’ll need the container. I got a few quart plastic containers from wally world. They are clear, have a lid, and don’t take up much room. You’ll also need something to store the washed yeast in.
What I do is, sanitize the containers, pre-boil about 2 cups water. Chill the water. Room temp is the “chill point” compaired to the boil temp.
Bottle your beer and drain off the rest of the unsalvageable beer. Get all that trub and put it in the sanitized container, and add the water. put the cap on, and shake the ever loving snot out of it. Set the container aside for a while. Insure that the container you’re going to put the washed yeast in is sanitized.
After some time… maybe a half hour or so, You will be able to tell, you’ll note you have a layer of beer on top, followed by a nice cream looking substance, and on the bottom, some chunky ugly.
You want the cream.
You can use a baster, a siphon or whatever works for you. You’ll need to “harvest” that middle section. THAT is the vialble yeast you want.

You should be able to split that into two containers and set in the fridge for a while. Fill those contaiers to the top to help keep other stuff from settling in there. So you might need a wee bit more sanitized water (read pre-boiled above).
To use it, take it out of the fridge, let it warm up to room temp.
While it’s warming up naturally, you need to grab some DME/LME and mix it with some water. Boil it up. This is your Starter medium.
Once you’ve cooled that back down to room temp, pour it in that container you initially mixed your yeast and water in. Leave room in there. You are going to expand your yeast farm.
Yeast… Room Temp…. Check
Boiled 2 cups of new DME/LME mini-wort… cooled to room temp… check
ok, add the yeast to the mini-wort. Cover the container… don’t seal it. IT WILL BUILD UP PRESSURE. You can just cover the top with foil, poke a hole in the top with a toothpick. now, for safety, set that container in a pan.

These starters have been know to go all spastic and develop a nice case of rabies. You don’t want to have to clean it up.
So let this sit for about 24 hours. You should see activity. If you do, the yeast is good. If not.. well, use that dry yeast you have as back up.
If the yeast proves out, just add it to the beer wort like you normally do.
Doing it this way, so far, all my harvested yeast has worked. After three re-uses, I get to make a free 5 gallon batch of beer.

Hope this helps.
The NONG