I made my first attempt at washing yeast and am a little confused. So I made a breakfast stout with London ale yeast. Unfortunately when siphoning from kettle to primary I brought over a bunch of coffee grounds and cocoa nibs as well. Oh BTW, this breakfast stout was pitched on a yeast cake from an Xmas ale. May main concern is with the yeast sediment from two 10 gallon batches that now have coffee grounds and cocoa nibs mixed in, what is the "good" yeast? I've washed it 4 times with sterile water and it is now seperating. There is a thin line of a lighter color sediment on top which I think is the yeast. So my main question is, is all the sediment collected ok to make a yeast starter with? Or do I still try to collect the lighter color sediment while it is in suspension? Sorry for the long winded scattered explanation. Thanks! BeerDunson p.s. does anyone know how to post a pic, this may help show everyone what I'm trying to explain
Load a pic to photobucket or even Facebook, copy the URL, and then add that to the post using the picture of the tree in the tool bar above, next to the faded out broken chain symbol. If you are on your phone, then just paste the URL and we can follow it to the pic and post back.
I tend not to use oak, coffee, nibs, or vanilla until I'm doing the last batch with the yeast. It's a good idea for really hoppy beers too. If you want to resuse this yeast, you should consider it for dark beers that will accept a nuance of coffee to them. APAs would NOT be a good idea. When yeast washing, you want to shake up your yest and water. Let it sit for 20 minutes and then collect the water. It has yeast in it that will flock out when refrigerated. This is the good stuff. The grounds will fall within the first few minutes and should be left behind. If you've done this 4 times you shouldn't have a problem with grounds. If you do have issues, use a paint strainer bag or, *snicker* a sanitized coffee filter next time you rack.
OP, are you using 1028 or 1968? They both have London in their name. If you have 1028 then do what inchrisin posted. If you have 1968, things are going to be more difficult for you since it is such a flocculent strain. Shake and shake and shake to break up the clumps (which you will never fully do), let it settle and pour off the liquid. Do that a few times, and you still will have crap in with the yeast but at least you tried.
It is actually both 1028 and 1968, they only had one 1028 so I was forced to buy 1968x2 and one 1028.
