Rinsing Yeast (in Pictures)

[bignath]

Great work, thanks Wolfy!

I have just started (pun intended) to get into reusing yeasts and creating starters. This thread is now permanently etched into my favourites list to reference as i am very new to it all.

Cheers for all your hard work!

 

[Wolfy]

I was thinking about any contaminants in the air being left in the bottle, I just figured if I minimised that, it could only be agood thing.

Since I only boil the water and do not sterilize it in the autoclave (and since your beer will (usually) have a small level of contamination due to being sanitary and not sterile), it would be my assumption that there would be very few dust particles in the air, and that there would be fewer risks of contamination from that than filling the bottle with any liquid that is not sterile, anything in the air-space would settle very quickly and IMHO be no more risk - since the bottle is capped tightly - than filling it with liquid.

It seems that Coles does sell 'distilled water' but I wouldn't imagine it is sterile or even more sanitary than tap water, however the level of contaminants should be minimal, but boiling it or even better autoclaving it would be ideal - up to you if you want to be that pedantic.

Would you make any change to this process for WLP002? I find that it flocculates so well that I end up with lumps of (what I assume is) yeast, and they settle out first. Would you just throw them out with the trub and keep what's left in suspension? I guess you could also give the jar a good swirl to try to "dissolve" some of the lumps.

As Fourstar said, I just shake the crap out of the jar in an effort to break up all the clumps and flocs, that way you should still get an adequate speration of layers, even if you do discard some of the most flocculant yeast that settles within a few mins.

 

[Fourstar]

As Fourstar said, I just shake the crap out of the jar in an effort to break up all the clumps and flocs, that way you should still get an adequate speration of layers, even if you do discard some of the most flocculant yeast that settles within a few mins.

This is a very important thing to note. A reason for rinsing your yeast is that you want to be capturing the moderately flocculant yeast. so by doing this, the ones that drop out of suspension and are less attenuative are not transferred across as are the less flocculant that you pour off the top.

 

[ekul]

those sep funnels at wiltronics are a pretty good price. The bottom ones will fit into the top of a flask too.

 

[Pennywise]

Bottle just says distilled water, but on the back it says steam distilled which leaves no minerals or salts. So I'm guessing it's demineralized as well. Bugger it, the bottles opened, I'll just boil it

 

[sama]

Does anyone decant the yeast/beer/trub mix via the ferm tap after a good swirl?ive allways scooped it out with a boiled glass

 

[Wolfy]

Does anyone decant the yeast/beer/trub mix via the ferm tap after a good swirl?ive allways scooped it out with a boiled glass

I simply up-end the fermentor and tip it into the jars, that is one reason the wide-mouth jars are so useful.
In the very last photo shown in the second post, you can see that that technique does make a small amount of mess, but I'd rather wipe up the dribbles than have to use funnels and the like, and tipping the fermentor up means I have more control over what is tipped into the jars and what stays behind in the fermentor.

 

[The Giant]

I used a wlabs edinburgh ale liquid yeast for the first time in a wee heavy I put down. At $16 a pop I thought I wouldn't bother again but I think after reading this I might just have a crack at washing it and reusing it.

Cheers for the tips!

 

[Wolfy]

Here is the process again, just with a different yeast/slurry/beer.

Fermentor dregs:

Add water, mix, decant into jar:

Allow to sit for appox 20mins:

Tip out top-non-yeast layer, decant (and keep) suspended-yeast middle later into second jar (on left), discard trub remaining in original jar (on right):

Allow yeast to settle (one day) and it's ready to repitch (after decanting the clear liquid):

 

[CONNOR BREWARE]

I simply up-end the fermentor and tip it into the jars, that is one reason the wide-mouth jars are so useful.
In the very last photo shown in the second post, you can see that that technique does make a small amount of mess, but I'd rather wipe up the dribbles than have to use funnels and the like, and tipping the fermentor up means I have more control over what is tipped into the jars and what stays behind in the fermentor.

Great post mate, this compliments the farming techniques i learnt from chiller? really nicely. Patricularly the shots of old beer, yeast and trub. When i started farming i was actualy getting that bit arsed around till it dawned on me. Lately i've been getting lazy and not been following all the steps but my viability has dropped so you,ve inspired me to do it properly again.

I've always been worried that the dried brown rim of hops left behind by the krausen might contaminate the slurry so I try and use a serialized scoop or carefully clean the scum away and alcohol swab the side, on the inside, of the fermenter i'm pouring from. Please don't tell me i've just been making farming unneccessarily hard??? What do you guys think?

 

[wakkatoo]

subscribed. Yet another quality thread from you wolfy, thankyou.

 

[Hogan]

I've always been worried that the dried brown rim of hops left behind by the krausen might contaminate the slurry so I try and use a serialized scoop or carefully clean the scum away and alcohol swab the side, on the inside, of the fermenter i'm pouring from. Please don't tell me i've just been making farming unneccessarily hard??? What do you guys think?

Duke. That layer of crud is just whats left after the krausen finishes and drops. Bits of hop, yeast and protein. It should be as clean as your yeast cake and if it was infected then the beer would be too. Just spray some sanitiser on the top rim and threads or wipe with a alcohol pad.

Cheers, Hoges.

 

[humulus]

Thanks Wolfy,actually doing this right now following your post step by step,let you know how it goes!
humulus

 

[Wolfy]

Please don't tell me i've just been making farming unneccessarily hard??? What do you guys think?

Yeah I think you have.
As per what Hogan said, if there was any infection anywhere inside the container the beer and hence the yeast would already be contaminated, there is no reason to think the brown-scum would hold or contain anything nasty.

 

[CONNOR BREWARE]

Yeah I think you have.
As per what Hogan said, if there was any infection anywhere inside the container the beer and hence the yeast would already be contaminated, there is no reason to think the brown-scum would hold or contain anything nasty.

cheers lads

 

[Golani51]

thanks for the article. Great saver.

R

 

[hotchilli]

I've been salvaging trub and keeping it in the fridge for a while, but this thread has inspired me to try rinsing and separating the yeast. So far, my ale yeasts, Nottingham & US05 are separating out nicely - see photos below. BUT, my lager yeast S23 is not separating into three distinct layers. As far as I can tell, the yeast and trub are still mixed together. Is this typical for a lager yeast (bottom fermenting??) or is there something wrong with my technique?

 

[ploto]

Thanks for taking the time to make this post Wolfy, it clears up a lot of questions floating around in my head.

It seems that Coles does sell 'distilled water' but I wouldn't imagine it is sterile or even more sanitary than tap water, however the level of contaminants should be minimal, but boiling it or even better autoclaving it would be ideal - up to you if you want to be that pedantic.

In my experience it is far from sterile, I once bought a 5l bottle of distilled water from k-mart (for non-brewing purposes) and found a dead mosquito floating in it...

 

[Golani51]

Thanks for taking the time to make this post Wolfy, it clears up a lot of questions floating around in my head.



In my experience it is far from sterile, I once bought a 5l bottle of distilled water from k-mart (for non-brewing purposes) and found a dead mosquito floating in it...

Maybe they disinfected the mosquito?? Microwave on high power for 2 minutes and then sprayed with Starsan??
Don't be so quick to judge.

Just my 2cents

 

[jakethedog]

I just tried my first yeast rinsing after reading this thread. It was US05. I did not get a discernable trub layer afer leaving it overnight so should I just keep the middle part of the mixture? Also i just realised I ran the yeast slurry through the FV tap after leaving it on the bench for about an hr, so hopefully I did not pick up any nasties.