Did I Screw Up BIGTIME??? Transfering Yeast

So I took the advice someone had given me on this board of scooping out some of my yeast cake, with a sanitized spoon, and putting it in a sanitized mason jar. As I was scooping, some liquid would plop back into the layer of trub/yeast/beer. Would this plopping add unwanted bacteria to my yeast harvest, and mess up my new batch???

I need to know FAST because I'm steeping my grains for the batch I was going to dump these yeasts into!!!

I don't quite understand your question- liquid was plopping? If you have liquid in with your yeast cake, just pour it off the best you can. Don't worry about the bacteria chance- you used a sanitized jar with a sanitized spoon, right? Cover it with some sanitized foil and just dump it in when when your wort is about the same temperature as this yeast. That is, cool your wort after boiling, add water up to the amount you're making (5 gallons), make sure the temperature is about 70 degrees or so, and throw it in.

Lorena

I was wondering more about the air getting into the yeast. That wouldn't infect the yeast?

Air, like you're describing won't hurt yeast - they need oxygen. Are you making a starter with your yeast sample? Most people either rack onto the old yeast cake or boost the sample with a starter. I'm worried that your going to under-pitch if you just add that unwashed sample.

no, that's ok. You don't want to leave it open to the air (so cover it up with the sanitized foil) but the little bit of exposure you're talking about (if I'm understanding right) is ok. I've poured my trub into my jars in the past and then poured off the liquid. You want alot of it, if you're not making a starter, so I would just throw it on the yeast cake you already have.

You know the mantra, Relax don't worry have a homebrew.....

Lorena

Yeah, while I'm a sanitation nazi, you'd be surprised how resilient beer is, and how difficult it is to contaminate a batch.

In the future, here's a better way of going about this:

1. Add some sanitized/boiled (cooled) water to the yeast cake after you've racked your beer off of it.
2. Swirl around until most of the solids have been hydrated and your slurry is a consistent texture.
3. Pour all of it into a big sanitized container (make sure you have a lid) and put the lid on it. Put that into the fridge for a few hours, or longer.
4. Pour off the liquid on the top. Add more water, gently shake/swirl, set back in fridge and wait again.
5. After doing this 2 or 3 times, you should see a whitish layer on the top of the solids. This is what you want. Pour off the liquid, then pour this whitish layer into a lidded sanitized container. Store this for up to 2 months in your fridge.

Thanks, Guys!

I tossed the 8 or so spoonfuls of the 2nd generation yeast from that cake, and a vile of WhiteLabs Trappist Ale Yeast into this new brew.

It's a Belgian Trippel, and had an OG of @ 1.080

5gB