Harvesting yeast....wash or not?

[brewmasterash]

So I am brewing a barleywine tomorrow and I plan to harvest some yeast from my bitter that will go to secondary. The yeast is Wyeast 1028. Do you guys 'clean' your yeast as Palmer suggests? He says you should scoop some trub/yeast into a sanitized jar, add boiled, cooled water and swirl. Once the trub sinks to the bottm, then decant the suspended yeast into another sanitized jar. keep doing this until you have mostly 'clean' yeast. Is this the normal practice or not? I will need to keep the yeast for 2-4 weeks until next brew.

Thanks,
Ash

[Otis_The_Drunk]

I never wash mine, I just pour right on top of the yeast cake, I always make darker beers each time.
Unless you want to save the yeast long term, I don't think that washing is necessary.

[markaberrant]

I read Palmer's "washing" instructions... and decided to skip that step. I've never had a problem.

[barleyburps]

I always save yeast from primary and have never washed it and had no problems.

[markaberrant]

I should mention that I don't have any hops or break material in my primary. I suppose that you might want to wash your yeast if you dumped all of that crap in.

[brewmasterash]

I harvested about 3/4 qt of the 1028 cake from my Bitter today. I scooped the gunk out of the primary and poured it into a sanitized 1qt mason jar. I then added boiled, cooled water to top up to a qt. It was remarkable to watch the yeast separate from the trub. within 30 mins, there was a layer about 2 inches deep of greenish trub and the rest was lily white yeast. I then decanted that yeast off into another sanitized mason jar and ended up with about 1/2-3/4 qt. This will be an interesting experiment. It is now in the fridge covered with AL foil. Thanks for the replies.