Rinsing Yeast (in Pictures)

[MaltyHops]

Thanks Wolfy,

Seems to be considered a difficult thing to do - even more so with
lager yeasts perhaps. Will just have to try and see how it goes.

 

[Nossil]

Hey guys, just tried to rinse a WLP013 London Ale yeast and got the following:
First Rinse:


Second Rinse:



I only dry hopped .4 grams per litre, but my 0min hop additions were in the cube...which I think a lot ended up in the fermenter when I transferred. But still, cube hops plus dry hops combined would only be just over 1g/litre in this recipe so I'm not sure what the story is with all the green hop gunk!!

Do you think the second rinse jars are good enough to keep for a few months? Hard to tell in the picture but there is a shitty grainy layer followed by a more white layer... I thought hops were heavier than yeast?

Bit confused with this one.

 

[lukiferj]

Thanks for such an easy to follow, informative post Wolfy. I have read a fair bit about yeast but it always seemed like quite a bit of effort to save a few dollars. I have learnt more from this post, along with my having a go with a few different strains of yeast than I have from reading any books. Have now managed to save quite a few dollars over the last few months.

Now to go back and re-read the books to understand the science behind it

 

[butisitart]

i doing my first wash now, and i figured that hoovering the yeast layer out with a 100ml horse syringe would be a lot easier than decanting and being overly careful. it works. then putting it into urine sample jars (available from chemist about $1.10 each). and they stack on top of each other. very space saving. contemplating the next time a family member has to take a urine sample to the clinic. can't wait for a pathologist to find nothing but clotted beer yeast in my kid's 'urine' sample. they'll all come and visit me - child protection agency, current affairs, the vigilante mothers association, other really envious kids, good thing i'm pretty social.

 

[Yob]

Thing is, how much of that is healthy viable yeast, the rinsing provides a way to select the good stuff.

 

[butisitart]

from what i can gather, you have to get rid of the top layer carefully, then go for the 2nd layer, the yeast, while avoiding the 3rd layer, the trub. so, my enthusiastically uninformed theory is that if you rinse and then suck out the middle layer of yeast in a whopping great syringe, it is for the most part going to be pretty good value.
the yeast i sucked out today is now chilled and sitting at about 80-85% yeast and 15-20% clear on top with no colour differentiation underneath. i figure i've selected the best straight out of the middle. i'll know for sure when i pitch it, but i'm feeling pretty good about it.
it's also stacked in 4 containers in an unobtrusive back corner of the fridge where it doesn't annoy the wife, (in urine sample jars). all compact, stacked and ready to go. :icon_cheers:
i hope.
trick is, if you try it, is to hoover slowly and manoeuvre the syringe around at level. cos it does seem to suck upwards (from towards the bottom) if you go too hard.

 

[MartinOC]

Excellent premise, butisitart.

'Been thinking the same sort of thing myself using a 25ml pipette to draw "the middle" bit out of a washed sample & then reculturing it on a stir-plate.

 

[Yob]

Sorry, I thought (for some unknown reason) you were talking about pulling it out of primary,

have done similar in the past myself with the syringe from the rinse jar, in the end I found it just to be too much effort and just pour carefully

 

[MartinOC]

Sorry, I thought (for some unknown reason) you were talking about pulling it out of primary,

have done similar in the past myself with the syringe from the rinse jar, in the end I found it just to be too much effort and just pour carefully

Are you saying that getting "anal" about what you select from the rinse doesn't matter?

 

[Yob]

No, just it can be done without doing so,

TBH I don't worry about selecting from the middle, but I tend to rinse twice so I can, if I choose, discard the top layer on the second rinse. (less flocculent yeast)

Overall, can't say I've noticed much difference if I don't though. It becomes more important the longer you're keeping it going, a few times makes no never mind.

 

[MartinOC]

Got it!

 

[butisitart]

culture on a stir plate?? i like that idea.
technically, i guess you could get pure every time -
keep us posted if you go down that road

 

[hwall95]

Cheers Wolfy for tutorial, was really helpful.

This is my jar of yeast from my latest pale ale - us05 (2 weeks old now - lagged post)

Ended up transferring it quite a few times to completely separate the layers and have tested it in one of my little 2L cider experiments I have running in an Old Rosie flagon in my cupboard and it seems to be working really well.

My next step (once my exams are over) will be to separate them into bottles so then I can just use them with a bit of ease; as using a sanitised spoon was a bit troubling the first time..

 

[Yob]

That still looks to have beer on top, was this the initial photo before rinsing?

Remember that the longer store it, the less viaviable the yeast become, over 3 to 4 weeks a starter is a good idea.

That said, I recently pulled out some slurry after about 4 months in the fridge, rinsed extremely well (3 times) and it fired up in a starter with no problem.

 

[lukiferj]

I once used slurry that was 3 months old and it fired up no worries too. Now that I have the facilities, I would make a starter. Just cause I can.

 

[GrumpyPaul]

Thanks Wolfy.

tonight I rinsed my first yeast.

The hardest bit is the waiting.....

 

[hwall95]

That still looks to have beer on top, was this the initial photo before rinsing?

Remember that the longer store it, the less viaviable the yeast become, over 3 to 4 weeks a starter is a good idea.

That said, I recently pulled out some slurry after about 4 months in the fridge, rinsed extremely well (3 times) and it fired up in a starter with no problem.

My bad, this was after rinsing it three times.. I was waiting for the yeast in suspension to drop and forgot to rinse it again.

Yeah I was going to run a starter just to be safe as I won't have time to brew until my uni exams are finished unfortunately (4 weeks to go).

 

[Mickcr250]

if that was rinsed 3 times already it must have been a very dark beer.

Sent from my HTC Velocity 4G using Tapatalk

 

[Yob]

Says it was a pale Ale, I think he needs to up the rinsing volume quite a bit.

 

[SimoB]

View attachment 71651

Here is my first rinse effort. Been in the fridge for a week. Does this look normal?

edit: sorry double up photo