Yeast Washing - Yeast vs Trub

I harvested some belgian ale yeast for the first time from the primary a couple days ago and I absolutely cannot tell what is the yeast and what is the trub.

I followed the basic procedure of adding chilled, boiled water then pouring it into a large jar. After 40 min, no change so I continued to let it sit in the fridge. It has now been 2-3 days and the only difference I see is there is now a thin, watery brownish liquid sitting on the white/yellowish colored yeast or trub(not sure what to call it). I am pretty certain this liquid is just the water I mixed in when trying to wash the yeast.

Are there any tips on how I can separate the yeast and trub? Or possibly more importantly, will it hurt me if I just leave it all in the fridge then pitch to a starter before brewing? I have about a 1/4 gallon in volume of this water, yeast, trub combo right now but could easily decant the watery part on top to bring it down to half that.

All suggestions are welcome. I feel like there is a key point not clicking from the research I have done on this so far.

Yeast should be the lighter colored layer on top.

You didn't follow the directions.

Take it out of the fridge and shake it up until it is all mixed. Let it warm up and give it another shake. Then let it sit for 20 minutes at room temperature. You'll see some sediment at the bottom. Decant into a large jar and let it sit for 20 minutes. Then decant again to your mason jars.

It won't be a night and day difference between what you decant and what you don't, but you will see a layer of crap in the bottom. That's what you want to avoid.

Bernie Brewer did a good photo tutorial here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/

GT

I'd shake up your container put in fridge, wait 30 minutes and see what it looks like. Light layer should be yeast on top. If you want cleaner yeast, do this a few times until your trub layer seems non existant as opposed to the layer on top.

Does this help?

So I've been intrigued by this "yeast washing phenomena". But I can't figure out how crucial it is to separate trub from the yeast not. I tend to have a lot left over. Not trying to hijack the thread, but it seems on topic.

How much of an impact does it have on the beer if you add trub to your next brew? I've done this when racking onto an old cake.

Woodlandbrew did an interesting study on the amount of yeast left behind in the trub. http://www.woodlandbrew.com/2013/01/yeast-washing-revisited.html

I no longer rinse as I use a BIAB bag for hops, and not much hop debris gets left behind in the primary.

Cheers!
TPH