Found this after watching your kveik yeast drying video. Lovely explanation. A lot of people do it backwards from this! They throw out what you call yeasty water and keep the sediment. Does that actually work too or is this the only way it works? I only tried washing yeast once, many years ago and found it tedious to do, but your method seems a lot easier than the instructions I had at the time!
I just found out that I did this and I think i ruined my kviek yeast. I was so confused about why my mead wasn't fermenting. Probably because I dumped in lease and no yeast.
You totally know your stuff! Your episodes are awesome. I’ve been brewing for a year or so and looking now to branch out. Your info has set me up to do just that! Keep it up.
It´s an interesting way to save money in the brewing process. I repeat this step when brewing beer, however there isn´t a consensus in how much of the harvested yeast you should pour into a carboy, considering it could be good or bad for the fermentation. I´ve seen several diferent ways of doing it, but it´s nice to learn a new one, even if produces the same outcome at the end. Thanks.
Very helpful thank you! My question is, after this is done, how much yeast water is is pitched per gallon? I'm not sure how much to put in my one gallon and 5 gallon fermenters. Thanks!
about 90% of my mason jars are wide mouth like your's. However if you are going to be pouring something, regular mouth is a much better option. Also useful, a large pyrex measuring cup (with spout)
I have a batch of EC-1118 I have been washing and reusing for 3 years. It's mutated to where 21%-23% ABV are common... with no off flavors. Tried this with 71b and it only stretched for a few months. Oh well.
Thanks for the video but there is still one question, how much harvested yeast to use ? For example a batch of 35l is finished and i recover similar like in the video. In the next batch use all recovered yeast ?
Great question. Id do a yeast starter before use to build up a good healthy colony. Im fairly new to brewing so not sure myself though. Definately going to try washing and reusing my favorite french saison yeast
When making homebrew, I dealt with yeast differently. Instead of washing the yeast post-fermentation, I would overproduce my yeast on the stir-plate and process some of that to be preserved for future use. I also kept Duran laboratory bottles that were boiled and stored with boiled water in them. I would then, pour off some of the water in the Duran bottles and top off with my newly fed yeast from the stir-plate operation. I found this to work really well for homebrew. I could coax back yeasts that were a year old through multiple ramping-up stir-plate sessions. I dedicated one of five kegerators just to store my yeasts, vacuum-packed garden seeds, and other things at ~40F. I wonder if I could do something similar for the yeasts to make mead, but instead of using DME, I'd use honey and nutrients.
Very cool! Do you know how using washed yeast vs dry yeast would affect total nutrient requirements? I'm assuming some nitrogen is in the washed yeast due to dead yeast still in suspension. And then of course if you use the washed yeast without drying, you would not use rehydration nutrients like goferm...
Have you tried to harvest yeast from the primary fermention bucket from the first racking. Was thinking that the yeast would be healthier at that stage in fermention. I've just tried doing this a few days ago into a very small batch of wine. Yeast was still active after 2 months when I pitched a starter. Is this normal. 🤔
Are there any easy litmus tests for if a yeast has mutated for the better or worst? Is a culture going to change alot in a brew compared to just feeding it as a bread starter?
I believe the misconception with a sourdough starter is that it is one yeast colony doing work. But flour has yeasts living in/on it that add fresh yeast to the starter when it is fed. So it definitely becomes its own ecosystem, but it's also always being refreshed. Washed yeast for fermentation doesn't experience this phenomenon, since you're working in an enclosed system. So the variances you get will be more due to the yeast changing, evolving. Off-flavors are your litmus test. Usually these will be identifiable on the nose and in the palate. Souring, staleness, fusels, etc can all happen from yeast that have mutated poorly or become stressed. It's one of those, when you know, you know sort of things.
You can pitch it right in, or rehydrate with a nutrient like Go-Ferm. I usually pitch directly in unless I have concerns about needing it to take off quickly.
@@DointheMost Is there anyway to measure the cell count or would it be an approximation. I ask in relation higher gravity beers or ferments that may need a starter to get that cell count higher.
BibbusTV That typically requires some scientific equipment that you may not want to invest in on a homebrewing scale - IMO its best to ensure high counts by whipping up an aggressive starter with organic nutrient in the mix. White Labs has a cool, short video on cell counting: th-cam.com/video/KipazFPxhu4/w-d-xo.html
Started making my first mead with a mead making kit that provided nutrients but have a question I cant remember where I saw it but I saw somewhere that you can uses the old lees as nutrients in your next batch as some yeast are cannibals. I was wondering if you heard this to or have tested this process or can provide any feed back on this idea.
I've got a couple of questions after watching this. 1) Does this work with all common wine yeasts? Lalvin 71b or ec1118 for example? 2) How to properly store the washed yeast? Refrigerated? 3) How long can you store the washed yeast? Meaning could it become inactive if not brewed with within a certain span of time? Oh also, I remember watching a video you made about killer yeast strains. I can't seem to find it anymore for some reason. Would greatly appreciate some help with locating that video. Thanks in advance!
1. Yes, this should work with any yeast. 2. You can store it sealed in your fridge. Ideally with an airlock or just slightly open in case of any potential off-gassing or fermentation, although that probably isn't a risk. 3. I've generally read 2 months is the limit, but I've heard stories of guys using yeast that's close to a year or more. Yeast viability continues to drop over time so you'd definitely want to make a yeast starter if it's getting a little old.
I've heard stories of guys on HomebrewTalk using washed yeast that's almost a year old, but that seems pretty rare. Most things I've read say about 2 months.
Feasibly the answer would be “forever” with low enough temps, but I’ve found efficiency starts to drop after 4-5 months. Typically I have to use a starter and whip in a ton of oxygen at that point.
Hi, so my fermentation carboy has the fermented yeast, and also the liquid is a roughly 14-18% mead. I was hoping to somehow separate most of that mead alcohol and then wash it. I tried using a coffee filter but it's slow going. In your video here, was your liquefied mixture yeast and whatever you brewed? Thx
Thanks for the explanation. It's the first time I've watched one. My question is, can you grow the yeast from a small harvested amount to be an amount suitable for pitching into a DIPA for example? Thanks
Yes, definitely. You could mix up a half gallon of starter with Go-Ferm and water and whip a ton of oxygen and some fermentable sugars into it to get the yeast synthesizing and reproducing.
I am not sure I understand the advantage for recycling the yeast like that. Seems like a lot of effort to save 1$ or 2$ for a yeast packet. If I was doing batches of 250 gallons at a time I guess it would make sense because I would need to use a ton of yeast for each batch and it would be very expensive... but for home brewing I don't see a reason to do this... what am I missing?
Hi! Thanks for the videos, they're so helpful! Loving your content. I'm making skeeter pee and trying to use strong yeast. Would you recommend washing my ec1118 from the batch im brewing now and pitching it, a new packet of ec1118 or a different yeast all together? I can order 1, I just happen to have these 2 on hand.
Couldn't one just siphon the yeast water off top so as not to disturb the leevs at the bottom? And for that matter even all in one larger container or one that tapers down like a funnel?
Will washing yeast this way cause off flavors depending on the specific batch. For example if I did a Cyser or pyment, washed the yeast, and used it for a traditional. Would I get any off flavors from the first batch through the second?
Great video! Saw this after your ten homebrew tips video and you definitely earned my sub. I have a couple of questions about your yeast storage though. Do you have a link for the vials you use from amazon? And how long/in what environment do you store that (dormant?) yeast? I am looking forward to getting into yeast farming and would appreciate hearing about your experiences.
I get mine on Amazon, but it's not letting me copy a link right now. Search for Honbay 10ml plastic vial. I use a little plumbers tape to make sure they are liquid-tight. Expect yeast to be easy to revive several months in the fridge. I start to see them wane at 4 months or so.
@@MAGACOPP Whereeve youd toss the washed yeast. I mean why do you have to wash the yeast to reuse it? Does the other stuff cause the beer to taste bad?
@@mixturebeatz It does not if you use it to produce the same product, however if your cake is soaked in grape wine it would alter the flavors of mead etc. The dead yeast is actually good for your brew as it is nutrient rich and also this way you don't introduce selection pressure by removing a specific segment of dormant / floaty yeast. So you HAVE to wash ONLY if you want to reuse your yeast in anything and not just the same product. Also you might want to wash it after a few cycles of reuse if you dump the whole thing back in since there is such a thing as over nurture. You Don't want too much waste product in your batch.
If you used your washed yeast for only 1 brew mainly skeeter pee. Would it ever develop an off flavor as the only usage would be the same flavor profile.... Also, I have only done 1 gallon brews so my colonies are not as developed as yours. Could I combine washed yeast from multiple brews to generate the desired amount for 5 gallons of skeeter pee?
I would caution anyone from getting overly "thorough" in their yeast collection....if you stop short on the poor to be certain you are leaving every large particle behind, you are also leaving behind yeast that flocculate faster than the others and inadvertently applying a selection pressure for less flocculant yeast...same goes for letting the jar sit in the fridge for a shorter period of time and then dumping the top "water" layer, selecting more flocculant yeast than the ones that were still in suspension for 24 hr. Inadvertent selection is a lot of the evolution or change in yeast that you see when washing and storing them.
How much have you experimented with recycled yeast? Did it change the flavors after the first run, or did it take 20 for you to notice anything? Assuming you have reused it a lot that is. I'm curious to try and keep a batch of yeast going for my convention meads and use that as a cool element. "This stuff you drank is using the children of the yeast you drank last year, congrats!"
I am currently experimenting with this - harvesting the same yeast and brewing the same recipe with it over and over and over. Will report back - I'm brewing with 3rd generation now.
I have done this in jail when i was making pruno in a garbage bag. When a batch was finished i would take a piece of fruit and put it in the next batch to kick it off. I honestly think each time i did it i got stronger wine. Like the Yeast that survived were the high alcohol tolerate yeast. Just a theory but i think u could start isolating alcohol tolerant genetics carrying yeast batch to batch.
This is the opposite to what every other brewer I've seen to do. Also the trub is full of nutrients and if you just pitch a bit of that it seems to work fine , i want to see a historical reference to this " yeast washing" i suspect it could be a post-internet fashion
One might think that preservation of a good batch of brewing yeasts (after you got past the magic stick idea!)was done similarly to the way you preserve sourdough...by providing a small amount of them with a hospitable growing media, and covering to keep other types of wild yeasts from colonizing the starter; then feeding regularly with more of same media. Bear in mind, different yeasts grew better in each location, much like cheese bacterias, so that even if you did bring a tasty beer yeast home from another village some miles away, with time it probably reverted back to the more familiarly flavored yeasts of the local area. Just my impression from my studies on making cheeses. You could do some reading on Dr Noella Marcellino, the Cheese Nun. There's a documentary, too.
Found this after watching your kveik yeast drying video. Lovely explanation. A lot of people do it backwards from this! They throw out what you call yeasty water and keep the sediment. Does that actually work too or is this the only way it works? I only tried washing yeast once, many years ago and found it tedious to do, but your method seems a lot easier than the instructions I had at the time!
I checked your channel first to see if you had a yeast washing video!!
I just found out that I did this and I think i ruined my kviek yeast. I was so confused about why my mead wasn't fermenting. Probably because I dumped in lease and no yeast.
i finally get it, other videos don't explain enough so i was always confused about which parts to throw and why
Exactly what I was looking for. Especially loved the messy pour into jars. Well done.
You totally know your stuff! Your episodes are awesome. I’ve been brewing for a year or so and looking now to branch out. Your info has set me up to do just that! Keep it up.
Thank you! This means a lot to us!
It´s an interesting way to save money in the brewing process. I repeat this step when brewing beer, however there isn´t a consensus in how much of the harvested yeast you should pour into a carboy, considering it could be good or bad for the fermentation. I´ve seen several diferent ways of doing it, but it´s nice to learn a new one, even if produces the same outcome at the end. Thanks.
Love your channel. Just started making mead have three different ones going now Is this what you do for skeeterpe
Easier than I thought. Thanks! Now how to make a hop'd mead...
How do you store the yeast for future use? Nice channel btw, Ive learned heaps!! Cheers mate!
Very helpful thank you! My question is, after this is done, how much yeast water is is pitched per gallon? I'm not sure how much to put in my one gallon and 5 gallon fermenters. Thanks!
about 90% of my mason jars are wide mouth like your's. However if you are going to be pouring something, regular mouth is a much better option. Also useful, a large pyrex measuring cup (with spout)
I have a batch of EC-1118 I have been washing and reusing for 3 years. It's mutated to where 21%-23% ABV are common... with no off flavors. Tried this with 71b and it only stretched for a few months. Oh well.
Thanks for the video but there is still one question, how much harvested yeast to use ? For example a batch of 35l is finished and i recover similar like in the video. In the next batch use all recovered yeast ?
Great question. Id do a yeast starter before use to build up a good healthy colony. Im fairly new to brewing so not sure myself though. Definately going to try washing and reusing my favorite french saison yeast
I have the same question
When making homebrew, I dealt with yeast differently. Instead of washing the yeast post-fermentation, I would overproduce my yeast on the stir-plate and process some of that to be preserved for future use. I also kept Duran laboratory bottles that were boiled and stored with boiled water in them. I would then, pour off some of the water in the Duran bottles and top off with my newly fed yeast from the stir-plate operation. I found this to work really well for homebrew. I could coax back yeasts that were a year old through multiple ramping-up stir-plate sessions. I dedicated one of five kegerators just to store my yeasts, vacuum-packed garden seeds, and other things at ~40F. I wonder if I could do something similar for the yeasts to make mead, but instead of using DME, I'd use honey and nutrients.
Very cool! Do you know how using washed yeast vs dry yeast would affect total nutrient requirements? I'm assuming some nitrogen is in the washed yeast due to dead yeast still in suspension. And then of course if you use the washed yeast without drying, you would not use rehydration nutrients like goferm...
Great but how do you store the washed yeast?! In fridge for 2-5 months like a fresh yeast pack? I would definitely use a starter before use.
Have you tried to harvest yeast from the primary fermention bucket from the first racking.
Was thinking that the yeast would be healthier at that stage in fermention. I've just tried doing this a few days ago into a very small batch of wine. Yeast was still active after 2 months when I pitched a starter. Is this normal. 🤔
Can you also use the yeasty water to add nutrients for mead and any spirit making?
Can you use the washed yeast as a yeast nutrient and use a new yeast for a new batch of mead/moonshine?
Thank you -Great video I always knew saving yeast was smart, but I never fully understood how to save it. Now I'll be saving Mason Jars :-)
How long can you store this in the fridge before use?
Are there any easy litmus tests for if a yeast has mutated for the better or worst? Is a culture going to change alot in a brew compared to just feeding it as a bread starter?
I believe the misconception with a sourdough starter is that it is one yeast colony doing work. But flour has yeasts living in/on it that add fresh yeast to the starter when it is fed. So it definitely becomes its own ecosystem, but it's also always being refreshed. Washed yeast for fermentation doesn't experience this phenomenon, since you're working in an enclosed system. So the variances you get will be more due to the yeast changing, evolving. Off-flavors are your litmus test. Usually these will be identifiable on the nose and in the palate. Souring, staleness, fusels, etc can all happen from yeast that have mutated poorly or become stressed. It's one of those, when you know, you know sort of things.
@@DointheMost wow, great response; thanks!
Great video! Is there a video on how to reuse this stored yeast (how to make a starter from it) for your next batch?
You can pitch it right in, or rehydrate with a nutrient like Go-Ferm. I usually pitch directly in unless I have concerns about needing it to take off quickly.
Thank you!
@@DointheMost Is there anyway to measure the cell count or would it be an approximation. I ask in relation higher gravity beers or ferments that may need a starter to get that cell count higher.
BibbusTV That typically requires some scientific equipment that you may not want to invest in on a homebrewing scale - IMO its best to ensure high counts by whipping up an aggressive starter with organic nutrient in the mix. White Labs has a cool, short video on cell counting: th-cam.com/video/KipazFPxhu4/w-d-xo.html
Doin the Most Makes sense, cool video and thanks for the response
Can you show a tutorial on how to spill enough water so we can mop later. Thanks
How long can you store washed yeast?
Started making my first mead with a mead making kit that provided nutrients but have a question I cant remember where I saw it but I saw somewhere that you can uses the old lees as nutrients in your next batch as some yeast are cannibals. I was wondering if you heard this to or have tested this process or can provide any feed back on this idea.
I've got a couple of questions after watching this.
1) Does this work with all common wine yeasts? Lalvin 71b or ec1118 for example?
2) How to properly store the washed yeast? Refrigerated?
3) How long can you store the washed yeast? Meaning could it become inactive if not brewed with within a certain span of time?
Oh also, I remember watching a video you made about killer yeast strains. I can't seem to find it anymore for some reason. Would greatly appreciate some help with locating that video. Thanks in advance!
1. Yes, this should work with any yeast.
2. You can store it sealed in your fridge. Ideally with an airlock or just slightly open in case of any potential off-gassing or fermentation, although that probably isn't a risk.
3. I've generally read 2 months is the limit, but I've heard stories of guys using yeast that's close to a year or more. Yeast viability continues to drop over time so you'd definitely want to make a yeast starter if it's getting a little old.
@@lanesmyname thanks a lot for taking the time man!
Good job.
Thanks!
When you added that boiled water at the first step, what temp was the boiled water? Was it room temp so it wouldn't kill the yeast?
Boiled and cooled to room temp.
Once washed, how and for how long can you store the yeast ?
In the freezer. Not sure how long though.
6 months in the freezer, 3 months in the fridge
I've heard stories of guys on HomebrewTalk using washed yeast that's almost a year old, but that seems pretty rare. Most things I've read say about 2 months.
I'm really enjoying and learning a lot from your videos. How long can you keep a washed yeast before its unusable?
Feasibly the answer would be “forever” with low enough temps, but I’ve found efficiency starts to drop after 4-5 months. Typically I have to use a starter and whip in a ton of oxygen at that point.
Could you dehydrate it and store it dry?
Hi, so my fermentation carboy has the fermented yeast, and also the liquid is a roughly 14-18% mead. I was hoping to somehow separate most of that mead alcohol and then wash it. I tried using a coffee filter but it's slow going. In your video here, was your liquefied mixture yeast and whatever you brewed? Thx
How much of that finished yeast product do you need for a 5 gallon batch
How do you store this ? Like say if i wanna save it for like a month or more before i make my next batch ?
How long can you keep in fridge?
I've got some washed yeast but nothing to ferment at present
Thanks for the explanation. It's the first time I've watched one. My question is, can you grow the yeast from a small harvested amount to be an amount suitable for pitching into a DIPA for example? Thanks
Yes, definitely. You could mix up a half gallon of starter with Go-Ferm and water and whip a ton of oxygen and some fermentable sugars into it to get the yeast synthesizing and reproducing.
How do we dry it down for storage?
I am not sure I understand the advantage for recycling the yeast like that. Seems like a lot of effort to save 1$ or 2$ for a yeast packet. If I was doing batches of 250 gallons at a time I guess it would make sense because I would need to use a ton of yeast for each batch and it would be very expensive... but for home brewing I don't see a reason to do this... what am I missing?
Many people home brew in countries where brewers yeast isn't available and the cost of postage is 10 times the cost of the yeast.
Hi! Thanks for the videos, they're so helpful! Loving your content. I'm making skeeter pee and trying to use strong yeast. Would you recommend washing my ec1118 from the batch im brewing now and pitching it, a new packet of ec1118 or a different yeast all together? I can order 1, I just happen to have these 2 on hand.
Couldn't one just siphon the yeast water off top so as not to disturb the leevs at the bottom? And for that matter even all in one larger container or one that tapers down like a funnel?
? Is there a way to make the dead yeast into nutrients🤔? Just asking
Will washing yeast this way cause off flavors depending on the specific batch. For example if I did a Cyser or pyment, washed the yeast, and used it for a traditional. Would I get any off flavors from the first batch through the second?
If done properly, you shouldn’t get much flavor from the prior batch. Unless it was like, a root beer or something really pungent.
Say I'm making an identical wine from batch A->B, could I just pour the next batch directly onto the lees? Or would that result in something nasty?
You absolutely can. The dead yeast even act as nutrient.
@@DointheMost Thanks, I'll have to try this next time I want to make something again right after!
Great video! Saw this after your ten homebrew tips video and you definitely earned my sub. I have a couple of questions about your yeast storage though. Do you have a link for the vials you use from amazon? And how long/in what environment do you store that (dormant?) yeast? I am looking forward to getting into yeast farming and would appreciate hearing about your experiences.
I get mine on Amazon, but it's not letting me copy a link right now. Search for Honbay 10ml plastic vial. I use a little plumbers tape to make sure they are liquid-tight. Expect yeast to be easy to revive several months in the fridge. I start to see them wane at 4 months or so.
@@DointheMost Do you feed them?
@@johnpaulsmajda No - they hibernate in cold storage for up to a few months. 🍻
Thank you
I'm wondering why we must wash the yeast? Why not just toss the yeast cake right in?
Toss the Yeast cake right in where?
Btw you dont HAVE to wash the Yeast.
This is just to save money.
@@MAGACOPP Whereeve youd toss the washed yeast. I mean why do you have to wash the yeast to reuse it? Does the other stuff cause the beer to taste bad?
@@mixturebeatz It does not if you use it to produce the same product, however if your cake is soaked in grape wine it would alter the flavors of mead etc. The dead yeast is actually good for your brew as it is nutrient rich and also this way you don't introduce selection pressure by removing a specific segment of dormant / floaty yeast. So you HAVE to wash ONLY if you want to reuse your yeast in anything and not just the same product. Also you might want to wash it after a few cycles of reuse if you dump the whole thing back in since there is such a thing as over nurture. You Don't want too much waste product in your batch.
Thanks!
If you used your washed yeast for only 1 brew mainly skeeter pee. Would it ever develop an off flavor as the only usage would be the same flavor profile....
Also, I have only done 1 gallon brews so my colonies are not as developed as yours. Could I combine washed yeast from multiple brews to generate the desired amount for 5 gallons of skeeter pee?
Just make a starter with the saved yeast
Why don't you siphon the top portion (with a tube) instead of making a mess on the table?
I did mine over the sink and it saved me from having to clean and sanitize a siphon + tube.
I would caution anyone from getting overly "thorough" in their yeast collection....if you stop short on the poor to be certain you are leaving every large particle behind, you are also leaving behind yeast that flocculate faster than the others and inadvertently applying a selection pressure for less flocculant yeast...same goes for letting the jar sit in the fridge for a shorter period of time and then dumping the top "water" layer, selecting more flocculant yeast than the ones that were still in suspension for 24 hr.
Inadvertent selection is a lot of the evolution or change in yeast that you see when washing and storing them.
What would be a better method ?
How much have you experimented with recycled yeast? Did it change the flavors after the first run, or did it take 20 for you to notice anything? Assuming you have reused it a lot that is.
I'm curious to try and keep a batch of yeast going for my convention meads and use that as a cool element. "This stuff you drank is using the children of the yeast you drank last year, congrats!"
I am currently experimenting with this - harvesting the same yeast and brewing the same recipe with it over and over and over. Will report back - I'm brewing with 3rd generation now.
I have done this in jail when i was making pruno in a garbage bag. When a batch was finished i would take a piece of fruit and put it in the next batch to kick it off.
I honestly think each time i did it i got stronger wine. Like the Yeast that survived were the high alcohol tolerate yeast. Just a theory but i think u could start isolating alcohol tolerant genetics carrying yeast batch to batch.
This is indeed "doin the most."
This is the opposite to what every other brewer I've seen to do. Also the trub is full of nutrients and if you just pitch a bit of that it seems to work fine , i want to see a historical reference to this " yeast washing" i suspect it could be a post-internet fashion
One might think that preservation of a good batch of brewing yeasts (after you got past the magic stick idea!)was done similarly to the way you preserve sourdough...by providing a small amount of them with a hospitable growing media, and covering to keep other types of wild yeasts from colonizing the starter; then feeding regularly with more of same media. Bear in mind, different yeasts grew better in each location, much like cheese bacterias, so that even if you did bring a tasty beer yeast home from another village some miles away, with time it probably reverted back to the more familiarly flavored yeasts of the local area. Just my impression from my studies on making cheeses. You could do some reading on Dr Noella Marcellino, the Cheese Nun. There's a documentary, too.
Use a turkey baster to move from one jar to the other, dont pour
Use distilled water