Help! Yeast Harvesting

[Hibbs13]

Hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

Trying to harvest yeast for the first time from a batch I made yesterday. I’ve poured out the trub/yeast mix from the fermented and added cold boiled water. It’s settled out but all I see is water and trub. Everything I read says there will be three layers: water, lighter yeast and darker trub. I’ve attached a picture, is there any yeast in here or is it all trub? Any ideas what I should do next?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[z-bob]

The jar or the plastic tub? I'm assuming the jar.

It's both; the trub and yeast just have a gradual transition instead of a bright line. When you're ready to pitch, pour off some of the clear liquid (leave a little) and swirl it around to mix, then pour it all in. Don't worry about the trub and dead yeast, they are good yeast nutrients.

 

[kh54s10]

There is yeast in all three layers. If there is a creamy white layer between the water and the darker trub on the bottom, that is cleaner, mostly yeast.

Someone posted recently and did a second wash with a larger jar and more water and got better separation.

IMO the best way to harvest yeast is picking the right brew. Take the yeast cake from a lower gravity, less hoppy beer. Swirl up the cake, pour into sanitized mason jars or the like leave it covered with beer, not water, and put it in the fridge. For the next brew pitch 1/4 to 1/3 of the saved yeast. More if it has been sitting around for a while.

 

[z-bob]

There is yeast in all three layers. If there is a creamy white layer between the water and the darker trub on the bottom, that is cleaner, mostly yeast.

Someone posted recently and did a second wash with a larger jar and more water and got better separation.

IMO the best way to harvest yeast is picking the right brew. Take the yeast cake from a lower gravity, less hoppy beer. Swirl up the cake, pour into sanitized mason jars or the like leave it covered with beer, not water, and put it in the fridge. For the next brew pitch 1/4 to 1/3 of the saved yeast. More if it has been sitting around for a while.

And you can go the other direction by taking a little of the yeast cake from a strong dark beer and using it to seed a starter. I just pitched a blonde ale using yeast harvested from December's robust porter by making a small starter. The blonde had active fermentation in just a few hours.