How to wash brewing yeast for re-use in mead, beer, cider, and wine | Brewin' the Most 

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.

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!

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.

Easier than I thought. Thanks! Now how to make a hop'd mead...

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 :-)

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.

How do you store the yeast for future use? Nice channel btw, Ive learned heaps!! Cheers mate!

Thank you

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!

Good job.

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)

Thanks!

Love your channel. Just started making mead have three different ones going now Is this what you do for skeeterpe

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.

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...

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.

I'm really enjoying and learning a lot from your videos. How long can you keep a washed yeast before its unusable?

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?

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

How do you store this ? Like say if i wanna save it for like a month or more before i make my next batch ?

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 show a tutorial on how to spill enough water so we can mop later. Thanks

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.

Could you dehydrate it and store it dry?

How long can you store washed yeast?

How do we dry it down for storage?

How long can you store this in the fridge before use?

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 ?

How much of that finished yeast product do you need for a 5 gallon batch

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!

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?

? Is there a way to make the dead yeast into nutrients🤔? Just asking

Great video! Is there a video on how to reuse this stored yeast (how to make a starter from it) for your next batch?

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?

How long can you keep in fridge? I've got some washed yeast but nothing to ferment at present

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?

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

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?

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?

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?

Once washed, how and for how long can you store the yeast ?

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.

This is indeed "doin the most."

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!"

Why don't you siphon the top portion (with a tube) instead of making a mess on the table?

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?

Use distilled water

I'm wondering why we must wash the yeast? Why not just toss the yeast cake right in?

Use a turkey baster to move from one jar to the other, dont pour

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