Hey, yeast from the brewery, sup?

I just got a couple mason jars of yeast donated to me from a local brewery; presumably the same yeast was in each jar. They looked and acted similarly, so I combined them into a growler with an airlock. I've been told by a few people that it isn't necessary to wash them and to just pitch a cup's worth.



Can someone explain why there's a top and bottom layer to these beasties? Should I mix it all together and add a cup to a starter? Decant the beer off? I'm assuming they'll last in the fridge for a good while so I can do a number of batches over the next month or so.

looks like a top fermenting yeast so i'd guess that, from the top, you have yeast, beer, trub. i get yeast from my local brewery too but i don't bother washing or saving it since i can always go get more fresh, bubbly yeast whenever i need it.

I don't think the bottom layer is trub. I've noticed that the top layer is diminishing slowly, adding to the layer on the bottom. Both layers are the same color and texture. Is this the yeast just slowly becoming dormant? They've been hanging out in the fridge for a day and a half now. I imagined that they would go dormant more quickly when cooled, but maybe it just takes time?

Yep, it's mostly all yeast. If it smells OK (no off smell), just pitch it all and watch your beer go crazy.

In the fridge it will slowly drop.

It seems like that would be a loooot of yeast to pitch. I'll rig up a blowoff, but still, does that seem like a lot to anyone else? I might use a baster suck off the layer of beer that should make its way to the top in a few days.

So I took the growler out of the fridge this morning (730a) in hopes of using half of the volume tonight (8p) in a 1.062 batch. I'm planning on just mixing it all up then measuring out half. Anyone see a problem with doing that?

Grumpybumpy said:

So I took the growler out of the fridge this morning (730a) in hopes of using half of the volume tonight (8p) in a 1.062 batch. I'm planning on just mixing it all up then measuring out half. Anyone see a problem with doing that?

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sounds like what i would do.

After sitting out for a while everything dropped to the bottom, so I decanted the beer off and pitched half (1.25 cups) to my fermenter at 10p. I got up last night around 2a to pee and obviously had to check on it. The yeast were already having a rowdy party! Thanks for the replies everyone!