First yeast wash, did I get mostly trub?

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damdaman

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Followed the directions from the Yeast Washing Illustrated thread, but I'm worried I got mostly trub.

The batches I washed from were my 1st and 2nd all grain brews and there was a lot of trub in the fermenter. I had difficulty swirling the trub/yeast cake on the bottom to get all the slurry up into the sterilized water I added. I also didn't see a whole lot of separation at each step, only a little bit, but not as obviously separated as the pics in the thread.

Now, it's been in the fridge for 24 hours, and it looks like mostly trub with a small white layer of yeast on top. Perhaps it just takes longer to separate more, but here's a pic...

yeastwash.jpg


Thanks in advance for any opinions! :)
 
I think you may have a bit of trub there, but dont worry i have many jars that look just like that in my fridge. Just throw the whole thing in a starter to get it kicked off and into the beer. If you add a little trub to your primary fermenter from your starter you wolnt be able to notice.

Chromados
 
Thanks for the reply... so do you think that layer of yeast I have in there will be enough for a 5gal batch, assuming I use a starter? It seems kinda wimpy. :)
 
Yeah im sure there is enough yeast in there, even though it may only seem like there is a thin layer on top there is plenty mixed in with the trub. 2 days before the brew make a starter and your ready to go.

Chromados
 
It's not too late to continue washing if you want. Boil and cool some water in another mason jar. Shake up your current jar. After stuff just starts to settle, pour the top into the jar with a little bit of water in it. You can do the same thing over and over until all you have is that nice layer of creamy yeasties.

I have some jars that look kind of like that too. I thought there wasn't much yeast in there due to how small the creamy layer looks. But I figured I'd wash them further anyway just for practice. Ended up with a nice THICK creamy layer due to all the yeast in suspension and under trub still. It's worth it to me to do this, just so I don't add back trub into my starter or my beer.
 

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