Separating Yeast from Wart

[acroporabrewer]

I'm trying to save my yeast from a recent batch of a rye IPA. I have read about doing this on several other threads and it seems like a fairly simple process.

I emptied the remaining slurry out of the carboy into a sanitized Erlenmeyer Flask and let it sit for 24 hours. However, I am seeing a lot of beer and the mash cake. Should I separate the mash from the wort?

 

[Calder]

You really need a bigger container. Separation is easier with a bigger volume (I like 4 parts liquid to 1 part solids). If you have a 2 liter flask/container, decant off the liquid/beer, pour the solids into the larger container, fill with water to the 2 liter mark, shake, and place in fridge. The dead cells and trub should drop first, so when you have some solids on the bottom with a lot if particles in suspension, decant (and keep) the liquid. Discard the initial solids. Let the rest of the solids drop, which is mostly yeast, and discard the clear liquid. Repeat if you feel there is too much trub in the final sample.

 

[T29]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/

that works

 

[jtratcliff]

To counter T29's post.... Don't wash it at all:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-exposed-376860/

The blog posts referenced in that thread suggest washing isn't needed. Just decant the top liquid and use the slurry.

 

[EarlyAmateurZymurgist]

You do not have to separate the yeast/break from the green beer. In fact, leaving the yeast/break with the green beer is better for the culture than replacing it with boiled tap water. Boiled tap water is not sterile, and it raises the pH of the culture. All you need to do to use the crop is to replace the green beer with fresh wort on brew day. I would suggest limiting your crop to around 350mls next time. Cropping 350mls of thin slurry will yield about 175 to 225 milliliters of solids, which is enough to ensure a very quick start when pitched.

 

[acroporabrewer]

You do not have to separate the yeast/break from the green beer. In fact, leaving the yeast/break with the green beer is better for the culture than replacing it with boiled tap water. Boiled tap water is not sterile, and it raises the pH of the culture. All you need to do to use the crop is to replace the green beer with fresh wort on brew day. I would suggest limiting your crop to around 350mls next time. Cropping 350mls of thin slurry will yield about 175 to 225 milliliters of solids, which is enough to ensure a very quick start when pitched.

That sounds good. I always like it when I can do more good by doing less. This might be a dumb question...What do you meab by crop? The malt cake?

 

[flars]

That sounds good. I always like it when I can do more good by doing less. This might be a dumb question...What do you meab by crop? The malt cake?

Crop means to harvest or otherwise take 350ml of the final suspension which will be mostly yeast. A pint jelly jar holds about 470ml. Nice size to store in the frig.

And then there was another post that said the beer left in the fermentor could possibly contain more bacteria than tap water. Long storage of the yeast could be adversely affected.

I use plain tap water to rinse and store yeast. Did lose one batch a couple years ago that was in the frig for 9 months.