# How much is too much yeast to pitch?



## jeddog (12/2/13)

This is the first time I've washed yeast It's from my primary fermenter which is 60lt. 





After washing several time I've ended up with over 1.25 lts of the good stuff. My serialising regime is spot on (some might say over the top). 
My question is is 1250ml too much yeast to pitch for a 60lts..?


Jeddog


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## QldKev (12/2/13)

jeddog said:


> This is the first time I've washed yeast It's from my primary fermenter which is 60lt.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Did you serialise every cell? must have taken a serious amount of time.


Is it a lager or ale yeast. what gravity is the target wort. 

meh, if it a normal ale, chuck just under half of it in.



QldKev


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## jeddog (12/2/13)

No
No time at all
Is an ale "1056"
1.046


:huh:


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## MaltyHops (12/2/13)

jeddog said:


> This is the first time I've washed yeast It's from my primary fermenter which is 60lt.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Probably - If you use the _MrMalty yeast calculator tool_ 60L of 1.050 ale wort should
have ~555 billion yeast cells pitched into it (lager --> 1110 billion cells) - you'll have
to plug in your wort numbers to get the right value.

Properly washed yeast should actually be very white so I don't think you actually
have 1.25L of yest solids in your sample. One mL of well settled pure yeast contains
around 2.5 billion yeast cells generally [ref: _wyeastlab_ ]

So if your sample actually contains 600mLof pure yeast (say), that will be ~1,200
billion yeast cells, which is double what would be needed for the above ale wort
example, so half of your sample would be right.

If your sample really was most pure yeast you would need even less of your sample.


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## Florian (12/2/13)

jeddog said:


> This is the first time I've washed yeast It's from my primary fermenter which is 60lt.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



How long has this been standing like this? Looks like it could compact much more than that, meaning you have less solid matter than you think. 
Also agree with other's sentiments that it doesn't seem to be 'pure' yeast, but still heaps of other trub matter mixed in.


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## jeddog (12/2/13)

It was maybe sitting for an hour?.. I had the temp around 2C. And I rinsed it 4 times. I'm not sure if being cold helps with the separation....

Like i said "This is the first time I've washed yeast"


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## jeddog (13/2/13)

I have left it in the fridge since last night and the yeast as you can see has compacted a lot as some of you stated..


I think I'll wash it again but think that should be enough for my next 60lts of ale.

Thanks for the help..

Jeddog


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## Wolfy (15/2/13)

That new picture looks like a much better measure - but still suspect you have an amount of non-yeast debris in there too.


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## Yob (15/2/13)

You have rinsed it 4 times and still have that much beer in there? 

Let it warm up when you rinse it off and separate.. If its compact when you start you should be able to get rid of 95% of the beer. I find that letting it compact is a better way to measure and you can use the compact yeast slider in Mr Malty..mostly coz im a maths numpty and it takes that variable out.

Should note that the first time I tried this, it wasnt to pitch but get used to the procedures

Good luck.


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## Screwtop (15/2/13)

This is the yeast:






Screwy


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## MaltyHops (15/2/13)

jeddog said:


> It was maybe sitting for an hour?.. I had the temp around 2C. And I rinsed it 4 times. I'm not sure if being cold helps with the separation....
> 
> Like i said "This is the first time I've washed yeast"


I don't remember if this was pointed out in the series of yeast rinsing posts by Wolfy (and other related posts) or not but I think one of the keys to yeast washing is that after mixing/shaking yeast trub with boiled/cooled water, need to let it settle for about 10 or so minutes in which non-yeast material will have settled but yeast will mostly still be in suspension.

At this point, the yeast still in suspension should be separated and pour into another clean container for a longer settling period. This whole cycle can be repeated if the settled stuff still end up with layers of darker material below the yeast .


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## Yob (15/2/13)

This One

I suggest a good read through it. You may also suffer from poor separation if the slurry collected is too thick, a good ratio is MAX Parts Water to 1 Part Slurry (Loose, not compact)... most, if not all, of which is covered in the thread numerous times.


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## MaltyHops (15/2/13)

jeddog said:


> ... And I rinsed it 4 times. _*I'm not sure if being cold helps with the separation...*_


Just noticed this - being cold would make the yeast drop faster, which you don't really want in the first ~10min stage of separating the fast dropping non-yeast stuff. Only when you have poured off the still suspended yeast would you want to cool it.


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## djar007 (23/3/13)

Great information for me here. I was falling for the same trap and thinking I had more yeast than I did.


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## stevemc32 (23/3/13)

Why bother washing if you're just going to re-pitch it, why not just throw the slurry? I thought washing was only necessary if you planned to store the yeast for long periods.


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## peas_and_corn (24/3/13)

It reduces the amount of lipids and fatty acids in the beer which can affect fermentation performance and flavour stability.


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## stevemc32 (24/3/13)

Cool, thanks for the reply.


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