Help with rinsing yeast - photos included

[user 35653]

Hi All,

I'm struggling here with trying to rinse some yeast for the first time.

I've watched about 10 videos on youtube and read a bunch of posts and still can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Yeast is Whitelabs WLP007, used to make an Imperial Pale @ 1.045. Yeast was healthy and active within 8 hours and bottomed out after about 4 days @18.5c. Beer was left conditioning for another 4 days and then cold crashed for 5 days.

Steps.

1.Siphoned off the beer until there was about 300ml beer left behind
2. Poured in 1L of sanatised water
3. Swirled and let sit for 30 mins
4. Poured the top layers into 4 mason jars (sanatised)
6. Let settle overnight and looks like the below:



I'm now struggling to work out where the yeast is as every video/post I watched/read said there would be a 3 layers.... I'm only seeing two here.

Out of frustration I put it all in a flask with top clear liquid poured off and added in another L of fresh sanatised water and after 45 mins looks like this:



What am I doing wrong? Is the yeast just below the 1500 mark or have I lost it somewhere in the process?

 

[mosto]

I got confused the first couple of times too. My process now is to basically just get rid of the trub initially. Let it settle for about 30 min then then pour off all the liquid to another jar and top up with some boiled and cooled water. Let that settle, what's on the bottom will be your yeast layer.

 

[user 35653]

I got confused the first couple of times too. My process now is to basically just get rid of the trub initially. Let it settle for about 30 min then then pour off all the liquid to another jar and top up with some boiled and cooled water. Let that settle, what's on the bottom will be your yeast layer.

Ok thanks. So where to from here with what I've got in the flask?

Looks like this now (after 1.5 hours):

 

[Yob]

Its way, way too thick

 

[MartinOC]

It looks like you used a lot of dry hops in your donor beer. That's the first thing to get rid-of, along with the trub.

Rather than just use 1 Litre of water for your initial swirling, you need to get all the yeasty-beasties into suspension with a LOT more water & let the heavy-stuff settle-out before decanting into jars. Then treat each jar separately with even more water, which is when you'll start to see the layers separating.

You might need to do this a couple of times with each jar & then decant each one into a decreasing-number of jars until you're left with the goodies. The problem is with the multiple-transfers, but if you're careful, it'll reward you with a few jars of pitchable slurry.

 

[user 35653]

Its way, way too thick

Ok, any suggestions of what to do?

Tip off the top clear layer, put half the leftovers back in the jars and add back in another L of water?

 

[user 35653]

It looks like you used a lot of dry hops in your donor beer. That's the first thing to get rid-of, along with the trub.

Rather than just use 1 Litre of water for your initial swirling, you need to get all the yeasty-beasties into suspension with a LOT more water & let the heavy-stuff settle-out before decanting into jars. Then treat each jar separately with even more water, which is when you'll start to see the layers separating.

You might need to do this a couple of times with each jar & then decant each one into a decreasing-number of jars until you're left with the goodies. The problem is with the multiple-transfers, but if you're careful, it'll reward you with a few jars of pitchable slurry.

Thanks Martin, TBH I didn't dry hop this at all but I have to admit I usually have a very thick layer of trub after I finish fermenting.

I've actually got another fermenter of this same beer/yeast in the fridge waiting to be kegged. How much water would you recommend for this one? 3L?

 

[MartinOC]

Yep! The thinner the "mix", the easier it is to see (& decant) the individual layers. Start-off "thin" & it'll make the job easier.

 

[user 35653]

Yep! The thinner the "mix", the easier it is to see (& decant) the individual layers. Start-off "thin" & it'll make the job easier.

Cheers, appreciate your help.. Any suggestions of what to do with what I've got in the flask at the moment? Does the below sound reasonable?

Ok, any suggestions of what to do?

Tip off the top clear layer, put half the leftovers back in the jars and add back in another L of water?

 

[Vini2ton]

That wlp007 looked like cottage cheese in my starter. Only used it once so far and after brewing, I collected a jar of slurry and banged it in the fridge. Don't think I'll bother washing it. Just make a starter and pitch. I reckon it would floc below the trub.

 

[MartinOC]

Cheers, appreciate your help.. Any suggestions of what to do with what I've got in the flask at the moment? Does the below sound reasonable?

Since you've got another fermenter with more yeast in it, I'd suggest you just use this one as a practice-run, so you know what to expect. Just play/practice & discard this one, then have another (proper) go with the second batch. You were otherwise going to discard everything, right??

Practice makes perfect........

 

[user 35653]

Since you've got another fermenter with more yeast in it, I'd suggest you just use this one as a practice-run, so you know what to expect. Just play/practice & discard this one, then have another (proper) go with the second batch. You were otherwise going to discard everything, right??

Practice makes perfect........

You're right - I was. Thanks again for your help.

That wlp007 looked like cottage cheese in my starter. Only used it once so far and after brewing, I collected a jar of slurry and banged it in the fridge. Don't think I'll bother washing it. Just make a starter and pitch. I reckon it would floc below the trub.

Mine did too - extremely thick.. I've got to say though, it's a great yeast. The malt profile in this beer is insane compared to my usual go to US-05.

 

[Vini2ton]

It's a bloody quick worker. I had it go from 1.050 to 1.008 in 4 days. It does taste good too. I'm a big fan of wlp001 for its performance and vercatility. But washing yeast pisses me off because I like the beers and think I'll save the yeast and I end up with a fridge full of stuff that I really didn't need. Thats life.

 

[user 35653]

Well guys, I've got some good news.

I ended up splitting evenly from the flask into jars, and then tipped a L of water back into the flask with the contents of 1 jar. Swirled, let sit and finally saw the obvious 3 layers. Decanted these off and I've got 6 jars of what looks to bee about 5mm of yeast in each with about 2mm of trub.

I ended up making a starter from two of them (double batch) on Saturday night and pitched it at 5:00pm Sunday, airlock activity @ 7:00am Monday morning.