I harvested some yeast from 6 of Bells Pale Ale to go into a Hopslam clone (OG 1.090). Things were going well, I was using my newly finagled stir plate and stepping up and decanting as recommended.
100 ml (1.020)
250 ml (1.020)
500 ml (1.030)
1000 ml (1.030)
2000 ml (1.040)
My next step was to go to 4000 ml (1.050) but I did not have a container big enough to hold it all. I did my best to mix the wort and yeast equally and split it into (2) 2000 ml containers.
Here's where I begin to scratch my head a bit... One half of the starter went on the stir plate and the other half was intermittently shaken. After about 24 hours I could see that the half on the stir plate was taking on a darker shade than the shaken half. After I shut the stir plate down and the yeast began to settle, there was a nice thick layer of yeast at the bottom of both, but with a definite difference in color between the two. The stir plate half of the yeast was a much darker tanish/brown, and the intermittently shaken half was a nice creamy white, the way it was throughout all the previous steps.
I decanted both and combined the 2 slurries together. I separated the pitch amount of slurry as calculated by Mr. Malty and bottled what was left for another batch. As the slurry settled you can see the 2 very distinct differences in the yeast in the picture below.
I went ahead with the brew anyway and pitched 300 ml of this two toned slurry. It took off within 5 hours and is still going at it 6 days later.
I guess my question to the yeast experts are, why the difference in color and will it impart any off flavors in the brew? I read in Palmer's Guide to discard any yeast that looks like peanut butter. I think the top layer is pretty darn close to that. Should I use what was left over or donate it to drain?
100 ml (1.020)
250 ml (1.020)
500 ml (1.030)
1000 ml (1.030)
2000 ml (1.040)
My next step was to go to 4000 ml (1.050) but I did not have a container big enough to hold it all. I did my best to mix the wort and yeast equally and split it into (2) 2000 ml containers.
Here's where I begin to scratch my head a bit... One half of the starter went on the stir plate and the other half was intermittently shaken. After about 24 hours I could see that the half on the stir plate was taking on a darker shade than the shaken half. After I shut the stir plate down and the yeast began to settle, there was a nice thick layer of yeast at the bottom of both, but with a definite difference in color between the two. The stir plate half of the yeast was a much darker tanish/brown, and the intermittently shaken half was a nice creamy white, the way it was throughout all the previous steps.
I decanted both and combined the 2 slurries together. I separated the pitch amount of slurry as calculated by Mr. Malty and bottled what was left for another batch. As the slurry settled you can see the 2 very distinct differences in the yeast in the picture below.
I went ahead with the brew anyway and pitched 300 ml of this two toned slurry. It took off within 5 hours and is still going at it 6 days later.
I guess my question to the yeast experts are, why the difference in color and will it impart any off flavors in the brew? I read in Palmer's Guide to discard any yeast that looks like peanut butter. I think the top layer is pretty darn close to that. Should I use what was left over or donate it to drain?
