Wash the yeast?

BM1 · Post by **BM1** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 9:18 pm

Somebody mentioned washing or rinsing the yeast cake before reusing it;howzat work?

john mills · Post by **john mills** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 7:43 am

Washing the yeast is the process where you put the yeast cake in a sanitized jar, and add clean, sanitized water to it. You could swirl the yeast around a bit, or not, and let it sit for a bit. Decant off the resulting liquid on top, and repeat if needed. You could do this a couple of time until the liquid on top is as clear as water. You're just actually getting rid of the previous beer color, hop bitterness, etc. At the same time there is good live yeast in that liquid you're pouring out so if you do an extensive washing, you might have to make a starter again to bring your culture up to pitchable rate again.
You'd also want to wash your yeast if you're planning on some longer term storage in the fridge.