Using yeast again

[paultr]

Having made 3 kit lagers I am itching to try a biab AG brew :)

I have a batch of Coopers European Lager which has been fermenting for 2 weeks and is nearly finished. Today I plan to make a small 8L brew length (only got small pot) using lager malt.

I plan to take some of the stuff from the bottom of the fermenting vessel and use it for my new biab brew (it is a bottom fermenting lager yeast apparently).

I understand that the goop I will remove will be a mixture of live & dead yeast cells and other compounds that have precipitated out during the fermentation. Is there a way to get rid of the rubbish and concentrate the live yeast cells ? Also, how much of the goop will I need to remove to produce enough viable yeast to ferment 2 x 4L demijohns of my new biab brew - 10ml/50ml/other ?

Any tips welcome :)

 

[bunkerbrewer]

Yep, it's not difficult. Search the forum for "yeast washing" to get an idea of the process and ask about anything that's not clear :thumb:

 

[bobsbeer]

You can wash the yeast. Take about 1/2 lt of the trub and add about 1/2 lt cooled boiled water. Give it a good stir and let it settle. The the dead yeast and other stuff will settle out leaving the live yeast in suspension. Pour off the upper half into another container. Then you can re activate the yeast by adding some sugar.

 

[paultr]

Thanks for the super quick replies :thumb:

Would it better to make a starter from the trub 24 hours before I do my brew or just wash it and add it as it is ?

 

[paultr]

In the end I decided that instead of scooping out some of the yeast from the bottom of the bucket that I would rack all the beer off into another FV and wash the yeast properly as you suggested.

There are loads of videos on YouTube about it and very satisfying it is too :)

Quite tempted to dust off the old microscope to see if I can see any of the wee beasties but considering there is supposed to be several billion of them in suspension I think it will not be powerful enough !