2 different yeast starters from the same slurry

[bja]

Last week I made 2 - 1 liter starters by adding 30 ml of the same WLp002 slurry to each flask. After fermentation completed, one starter flocculated very well just like you'd expect WLP002 to do. The other never flocculated and even after 24 hours of cold crashing still has not fully dropped out.

Can someone tell me what's going on?

 

[TipsyDragon]

yeast have a flocculation range. for what ever reason the second flask got the less flocculating portion of the vial. now all the yeast in there have the low flocculation genes. did you shake the vial well before splitting it?

 

[bja]

yeast have a flocculation range. for what ever reason the second flask got the less flocculating portion of the vial. now all the yeast in there have the low flocculation genes. did you shake the vial well before splitting it?

It wasn't a vial. It was a slurry from a previous batch that I had kept in a gallon glass jar. I used a spoon to scoop it from the bottom. Everything should have been evenly distributed.

 

[TipsyDragon]

not really. the less flocculating yeast will be on top of the more floculating yeast.