Yeast Harvesting Pictures

Here are some pictures of the trub I gathered from my primary and put in a sanitized mason jar. What I still haven't figured out is which part is the yeast cake. I'm pretty sure that the yeast cake is the bottom part, but it has some hop sediment in it, and the stuff at the top is the beer that has been seperating. What am I looking at here? Is this stuff pitchable?

http://www.geocities.com/moonriverales/yeast.html

When I did my initial effort of this, after I dumped it from the fermenter to the mason jar I swirled it around good and then took the liquid off the top after about 10-15 minutes. I then built a starter from the top clearer liquid. The lower part is way to much trub.

I used to worry a lot about getting the "right" part of my yeast sediment. Now I just sanitize a growler and dump it in. Haven't noticed a difference.

I get a kick out of showing non-brewers the yeast. Looks like something that came out of a baby's diaper.

SkewedAle said:

Here are some pictures of the trub I gathered from my primary and put in a sanitized mason jar. What I still haven't figured out is which part is the yeast cake. I'm pretty sure that the yeast cake is the bottom part, but it has some hop sediment in it, and the stuff at the top is the beer that has been seperating. What am I looking at here? Is this stuff pitchable?

http://www.geocities.com/moonriverales/yeast.html

Click to expand...

how much do you have? that looks like a huge sarter...throw that ***** in a high gravity ale and youll be good to go...

The yeast is right on top of the trub. What I do is pour off a good amount of the separated wort on top, gently swirl for a few seconds, then pour the top inch or so into a sanitized bottle, cap and store. Or, use immediately in a starter. You'll see a visual difference b/w the yeast and the trub as you pour.

So I should pour off the wort sitting on top then pour the first few inches of the trub into a starter, correct?

What you want to do is:

1) Shake that jar to death, and then shake it some more. Shake it until you feel like your arms are gonna drop off. You've got to shake it well enough to get the yeast separated from the trub and into suspension.

2) Wait 1-3 hours, watching closely after about an hour. The trub will settle first, then after a bit the sediment will start to get lighter on top. When that happens, most of the trub has fallen out and the yeast is just starting too. Now's the time to pour the liquid off the top. You can use that liquid to make a starter, or put it in the fridge until all the yeast falls out and discard the liquid.

You're not doing it right. Try this:

Boil 2 c of water and cool it off to under 80F.

Mix up (swirl) the trub and liquid in your jar then pour the contents into a gallon jug.

Add the water and shake it up.

Sanitize another jar.

After 10 minutes a lot of the trub will fall out (drop to the bottom of the jar) from the liquid.

Pour ONLY the "cloudy water" (liquid) from the jug. Leave the trub behind.

The "cloudy water" is your suspended yeast.

Re-sanitize the first jug.

After about 1/2 hour pour only the liquid into the jug leaving any other sediment behind.

You should be left with only "cloudy water" (your yeast).

The yeast will continue to fall out of the liquid. You can place the jug in the fridge. Try to fit the jug with an airlock.

Re-check the jug the next day. You'll notice a big difference in the way your yeast looks and what you started out with.

You've just washed your yeast.

Good luck!