haven't seen this before...

On Saturday, I made a starter with the intent of using some for a brew I'm planning on doing Friday, and holding onto some for a later time. I let it tamp up for a day, then cold crashed, drained off much of the excess liquid and canned the rest. When I checked it this morning, this is what I found...





what is that top layer?! When I cold crashed, some of the yeast did freeze (not sure how, never happened before). Could that be the dead yeast on top or did I somehow pick up an infection?

Break material maybe.

The top layer is yeast the bottom is just sediment, dead yeast/break material/proteins...I see it all time.

Revvy said:

The top layer is yeast the bottom is just sediment, dead yeast/break material/proteins...I see it all time.

Click to expand...

Sure you don't have that backwards? Healthy yeast is the color of the bottom layer.

NCBeernut said:

Sure you don't have that backwards? Healthy yeast is the color of the bottom layer.

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Nope Revvy's right its the top layer.

I'm not gonna argue with him, I don't have a hemocytomter so I'm not going to drive over to the OP's house and do a count to see who's right or wrong. If it's all yeast or trub (my definition of trub is probably closer to beernut's belief of what's in there than he imagines.)

I'm just going to go with THE MAIN POINT OF BOTH MY ANSWERS.

Revvy said:

But it doesn't really matter does it? The point is there's nothing to worry about.

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It's not an infection like the op was worried. It's NORMAL, whether it's 100% yeast, or it's a mixture of yeast and protien, or if it's even hopcrap is really irrevelant to calming the person's nerves.

If beernut wants to deal with semantics of what's in there that's his perogative, but I think we both can agree for the purposes of this thread, that the OP's jar is fine.

Sorry guys, no argument here.

Alrighty, thanks all

Dang. That means I have some vials of nicely washed trub, NOT WL810. sigh....

Revvy said:

Yeast usually sits on top of trub. It's a density thing.

But it doesn't really matter does it? The point is there's nothing to worry about.

It's yeast and trub...

Give it a big swirl and let it settle again. If it settles the same way it's yeast.

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Revvy, you are making the assumption that there is trub in there. Just look at the jar. Any experienced homebrewer that makes starters should know what healthy yeast looks like. In unwashed yeast from yeast cakes where there is all kinds of other trub, the yeast can be a bit more brownish, but washed yeast and yeast from starters appears as that whiter layer. His jar doesn't have that trub layer. That is simply healthy yeast in there. Your crude Microsoft Paint drawing doesn't accurately depict this.

http://home.comcast.net/~wnevits/wizards/yeast_washing_rev_5.pdf

Take a look at the "step 7" pic. THAT is stratified yeast and trub. That is not the case here. His resembles the white healthy yeast layer that the "step 9" picture shows. The brown stuff is most likely just yeast that is not as flocculant or dead.

https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/gallery/data/1/yeast3.jpg

Here. In well stratified yeast wash, you can really see the healthy yeast vs the other stuff. Again, it is important to note that his jar is NOT washed yeast cake. It is a starter. Besides, do you really think he would have that much trub from the break material in a starter?!

Wow NCBeernut,

You seem VERY passionate about yeast.

Well it does make my beer, so we have a pretty loving relationship ; )

My passion in this thread comes from my distaste for people that have a habit of spreading bad information, yet always insist on arguing...

Here we go.

I got my popcorn ready

Peace, gentlemen. Goodwill. 'Tis the season.

I'm not gonna argue with him, I don't have a hemocytometer or a microscope and even if I did, I don't plan on driving over to the OP's to do a cell count or whatever to see if it's 100% yeast or a mixture of trub (which my definition of TRUB is prolly closer to what beernut believes is in there than he realizes) or protiens or green cheese.

Nor do I think it's necessary.....

I'm going to go with the MAIN POINT OF BOTH MY POSTS.

revvy said:

But it doesn't really matter does it? The point is there's nothing to worry about.

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The OP is worried that there's an infection MORE than if it's all yeast in there or anything else.

Beernut can deal with semantics or specifics of what's in there if he wants, but in truth, NEITHER OF US KNOWS FOR SURE without a scope And we probably BOTH are right....I'm sure it's not 100% clean in there.

But I'm sure that he at least will agree with me that there's NOTHING for the OP to worry about....

Which I think is what the OP is looking for.

*shrug*

Nothing for him to worry about. Agreed. Tis the season.

Man, this forum is so warm and fuzzy recently. Cheers, gentlemen.

Haha, look what I started... Glad you all agree there's no infection. There shouldn't be much/any trub because it was from a starter, so im guessing its a small amount of dead yeast from the accidental freezing.

Should I decant and wash the yeast I plan on storing or am I okay to leave the wort from the starter on top of the yeast?

Depends on what he used for a starter. If it was the last 2c of wort from a batch of APA then yeah I could see that much trub

Yeah, working in a lab that routinely uses yeast, that white layer on bottom is definitely live, happy yeast. People are confusing the layers DURING the yeast washing step with what it looks like after cold crashing. During yeast washing (from top to bottom) it goes beer, live healthy yeast, dead yeast, trub. After cold crashing the yeast settle into a very dense white or cream colored layer at the bottom. Agreed that it is fine, though.

I followed the washing instructions on here and from billybrew.com and got good results with 1056 (wash with 1 gallon in carboy, settle 30 minutes, pour about a half gallon into 1 gallon jar, shake like crazy, settle 40 minutes and pour top layer into 4 pint jars). This is a picture after only a few hours of cold crashing. It eventually settled into a single cream colored layer. I'll try to get a picture of it later.



EDIT: Here it is after several weeks. A single layer of cream-colored, delicious 1056.