First Yeast Saved Questions

[sTango]

Hi, So I am going down the road of making my own starters and I kept the yeast from the batch of Ale I bottled last night.

I boiled the jar to put it in and the water also, let it cool and then drained the yeast from the secondary carboy into the jar.

After seperating, I noticed two different colors of the yeast. I am assuming that the top layer is better or more viable than the darker, lower layer, but is this true?

Or can I just drain off the excess liquid on top and add my own starter wort to the whole thing?

Also, how long should this yeast remain viable assuming that everything was sterile when I put it in and I keep it refridgerated without nutrients?

The jar i am referring to is the one on the left in the attached image.

 

[sTango]

ooops....here is the image

 

[TheJadedDog]

You have some yeast and you have some trub. The top layer is the yeast. Try to get as much of the yeast as you can with as little of the trub (although you may get some trub it shouldn't hurt anything).

 

[Professor Frink]

When I wasn't using a centrifuge, I would pour the yeast cake into the mason jar, then wait about 10 minutes for the trub to settle out. Then I'd pour the liquid into the new jar, there should be plenty of viable yeast left in it.

 

[sTango]

You have some yeast and you have some trub. The top layer is the yeast. Try to get as much of the yeast as you can with as little of the trub (although you may get some trub it shouldn't hurt anything).

thanks so much, I'll boil some more water today and drain the jar and get the yeast off (yes, I realize how this sounds....lol).

 

[sTango]

When I wasn't using a centrifuge, I would pour the yeast cake into the mason jar, then wait about 10 minutes for the trub to settle out. Then I'd pour the liquid into the new jar, there should be plenty of viable yeast left in it.

wow, a centrifuge? nice....at what point is too many homebrewing gadgets enough? lol....I personally have not reached it yet.

 

[Professor Frink]

I end up freezing down yeast in the lab I work in. If my boss knew I had a yeast bank in the -80C freezer...

 

[Chriso]

He would.... ask for homebrew in recompense?

 

[Melana]

If i could only get my boss to give me one of our -80's! We keep getting them in from our consignment customers and they take up so much room in the warehouse!

 

[malkore]

I know this was your first time, and its definitely a learning experience.

I like this link for yeast washing due to the large pictures - http://www.donosborn.com/homebrew/yeast_washing_the_wyeast_way.htm

Also, you're better off washing yeast from primary. One reason is you get a much larger quantity...easily 3-5 starter's worth. The other reason is that secondary yeast is the less floccualant specimens of the colony, which could mean the beer you make with it will take a little longer to clear, especially if its a very low flocculant strain to begin with.

I'm definitely not saying you can't make good beer with yeast from secondary though.

 

[SuperiorBrew]

Yeast Washing Illustrated

 

[sTango]

Thanks so much for the links on yeast washing. I feel much better now.

 

[raceskier]

Professor Frink,

Can you expand on the centrifuge use for yeast separation? I was watching a vacuum centrifuge mixer being used the other day at work and started wondering how I could use it.