First time yeast washing... little confused

[robertvrabel]

I just washed my yeast out of my last batch and placed it into two jars... followed some instructions online. It turned out like this after a couple days in the fridge:

Now my question is... the yeast is the stuff on the bottom, correct? Should I dump out the rest in each bottle and just condense this into 1 jar?

The reason I'm confused is, after doing more research Ive seen some images saying that yeast is on the top... see this image: http://www.theweeklybrew.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/yeast-wash.jpg

 

[wyzazz]

Everything will start to compact after a couple of days in the fridge, leave them alone and let the cakes compact some more. When you're ready to use the yeast for a brew pull it out and make a starter to get them warm and moving again.

You've already washed them so most of what you have there should be yeast.

 

[weirdboy]

Right when you are ready to make a starter, you can decant most of the spent wort off of the yeast cake, swirl it up really good to get the cake unstuck and the yeast back into suspension, and then pitch it into your starter.

 

[bknifefight]

It looks more like trub than yeast in the bottom and there is a lot of it. Here is what you need to do:
- Set out the jars to warm up a bit
- Shake them up to get everything in suspension
- Wait 10-15 minutes until there is starting to be a defined line between the heavy trub that has settled out and the rest.
- Pour the liquid on top into another jar. This liquid contains the yeast that hasn't settled yet, leaving the useless trub behind.
- Repeat if you want but I usually only do it once.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

I'm with bknifefight on this one.

 

[mojotele]

Unless you can see some clear stratification/layers, it's either all yeast or all trub. Unless you did something REALLY wrong, it's all yeast. I can't tell by your picture.

I don't think anyone has answered this part of your question, though. You wouldn't want to cram it all in one jar because that makes it harder to reuse only a part of it. Assume you can only reuse yeast 5 times, and assume this is the product of your first use. You have two jars, so that means you can reuse the product of each jar 4 more times. Basically - those two jars give you 62 pitches if you keep washing yeast and ending up with two more jars up through the 6th generation (first pitch being generation 1).

If you only had one jar, you'd have to pitch all that yeast and you'd get a lot less reuse. Now, you probably won't be saving that many jars of yeast. But it's best to have your options open so you can save as much as you would like.

EDIT: Math is hard.

 

[malkore]

the yeast layer is usually off-white to light cream. that looks like mixed trub, and the liquid looks too dark to have been fully washed.

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

How many "washes" did you do? For example, I dump in all my jars of water then let sit for 20 - 30mins, dump slowly to avoid getting the trub into two large bottles (also leaving behind a good bit of the original water I dumped in), let those rest 20 - 30 mins, then dump slowly into 3 smaller jars. So 2 washes.

 

[Paddle_Head]

How many "washes" did you do? For example, I dump in all my jars of water then let sit for 20 - 30mins, dump slowly to avoid getting the trub into two large bottles (also leaving behind a good bit of the original water I dumped in), let those rest 20 - 30 mins, then dump slowly into 3 smaller jars. So 2 washes.

Exactly what I do.

My yeast is nice and clean white looking.

Pictures could be poor quality, but it looks like all trub to me.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I agree. Go another round or two.