Yeast washing question

[mtb]

I grabbed myself one of these separatory funnels a couple months ago, but the little stopper at the bottom doesn't quite seal properly. It's just glass on glass, no rubber seal, so I'm not too surprised. Pay close attention to that if you buy your own.. I know it sounds like common sense to check for that, but I also thought it was common sense for it to seal properly by default.

 

[Bribie G]

I bought one of these from Aldi a couple of years ago to serve strong farmhouse cider. I inadvertently destroyed the thing on a tiled floor so it was short lived.

However bugger me dead I should have done some lateral thinking there... 10L, dismantle-able for cleaning... pour in and dilute a whole yeast cake.

$16

Keep eyes peeled, they've been around a few times now.

 

[TidalPete]

You ideally need a ratio of four parts sterilised water to one part yeast slurry for a successful result & a parallel-sided vessel is best according to the "Yeast" book
This glass vase from a local el-cheapo emporium holds 4.5 litres & works brilliantly.
Having said that, other vessels of various shapes will probably get the job done I'm sure.
Top-cropping via a sterilised blow-off tube is also possible with some of the big top-cropping yeasts depending on your fermenter head space.

 

[Smotgon]

Good point mtb never thought they wouldn't seal,there made for laboratory use too! Leaking vessels in a lab sounds dangerous...Great cheap alternatives there too guys, I might opt for something along these lines! Thanks

 

[Lionman]

The trick is to pour off the yeast as soon as possible. It looks like in the picture in the op, the slurry has been left to settle for too long.

Trub will fall out of suspension pretty quickly as its bigger heavier chunks.

I pour the bulk of the yeast cake into an erlenmeyer flask mix 50/50 with water. Stick it in the fridge with some glad wrap over it,only takes 30mins or less usually and I pour the cloudy liquid into a reagent bottle. The shape of the flask makes it very easy to separate the solids from the liquids.

Let that settle out overnight, pour off the liquid and re dilute the yeast with clean water.You will now have what I believe to be a yeast solution that is more than pure enough for hem brewing requirements.