Yeast Layers Look Inverted

This is my first attempt at rinsing yeast and there are two distinct layers with the darker layer on top. I thought the dark layer was supposed to be on the bottom.

I racked the beer (Dortmunder Export) into a keg leaving about 1/4 inch of beer on top of the cake in the carboy. I swirled the carboy and poured everything into a sanitized flask, added some sterilized water and shook it thoroughly. Let that sit for about 20 minutes and poured the top layer into the quart mason jar you see here. After about 2 hours this is what it looks like. I'm hoping to pitch this into a Maibock on Sunday and wanted to get your opinions on whether this looks correct.

Thanks,
Ron

Hey chief764,

I had the same thing happen to me and the outcome was, the yeast was on the bottom. I was using WLP002, highly flocculant so it settles faster than the trub. Here is what mine looked like



Let's see what others have to say
Toy4Rick

I should have added that it's Wyeast 2124.

Just discard the top and keep the bottom. Highly flocculant yeasts will settle quickly and this is the result.

Thanks for the tips, I'll only pitch the bottom layer.

Always throw away the bottom and top unless you are purposely trying to grow mutants to.change flocculation rates. The.middle yeast is your.normal healthy yeast. But remember you will change your attenuation as well and these strains should.only be.used 5-10 generations of cropping before you need a new starter

mtarselli said:

Always throw away the bottom and top unless you are purposely trying to grow mutants to.change flocculation rates. The.middle yeast is your.normal healthy yeast. But remember you will change your attenuation as well and these strains should.only be.used 5-10 generations of cropping before you need a new starter

Click to expand...

Man, I really hate that book, Yeast. So much bad information in it. At least it's got people thinking about yeast in a more detailed fashion.

Here, that advice isn't helpful. Taking the middle layer. Is applicable to conical fermenters. Presumably, the op only harvested the yeast once from a bucket or carboy and then he explains he shook the jar up. The harvesting and shaking event would redistribute any stratification of yeast based on flocculation tendencies. Further, it takes a lot to get DNA to mutate in Eukaryotes. So, unless the op is introducing chemical agents or blasting his beer with ionizing radiation he's unlikely to see any proliferating mutations. And even then he'd likely need to plate them and grow those colonies independently.

Now he could be unintentionally selecting for certain traits that could generate genetic drift but that's still unlikely to happen in any reasonable amount of time.

This is not to say that there aren't issues with over pitching washed yeast for several batches but these issues aren't because of mutations.

Guess I'll have to go back and NOT read "Yeast" again. See, these threads are useful not only to the people who are trying to learn about their own question but also to the people who post without thinking, or more commonly post while drinking! I admit I had a D'oh moment after rereading what I had posted. Looks like I will have to change my posting name to avoid further embarrassment! Cheers!~ MT