nasty yeast starter

[showcow]

I've made quite a few starters before, and am a moderately advanced brewer. I've washed yeast only a couple of times, though, both with success. This time, i washed Wyeast 1028 london ale from a 1.051 pale ale, and I'm planning on using it (today) for a 3 gallon batch of a 1.088 OG english old ale. The starter took a good 18 hours to take off (and by "take off" i mean when i shook it it foamed... usually they foam after a couple of hours, this one took all night and then some). Once it started, i wasn't worried... until i looked at the bottom. check this nasty sh*t out:

http://i.imgur.com/8Af1q.jpg


is that dead yeast? It looks pretty dark grey/brown, with a layer of white yeast on top. could it be hops from me not washing enough? and, the big question: should i cancel brew day? haven't crushed yet.......

also, when i washed it, it looked totally normal. maybe this jar had a little more trub than my other jar, but it was mostly off-white yeast. ???

 

[badhabit]

Not to worry....think of the guys pitching right on the whole cake!

 

[bknifefight]

I think it looks fine. It's just trub (that settled out first, which is why it's on the bottom) with a nice layer of yeast on top.

 

[android]

how old was the washed yeast? i've used a few old washed jars (in the 6 month old range) that took a solid 24 hours to show significant activity. all the time leading up to that the starter is a very dark, not healthy looking color. but then it all of sudden transforms into a standard starter color and gets really foamy. i've never had a problem using those for beers, i just wait until the yeast tells me it's ready. the resulting beers have always been exactly what i expected.

 

[asterix404]

Yea, this is why you use a starter from washed yeast. It takes a long time to take off because it's tired and cold. The starter starts the activation. The trub is definitely what is on the bottom, I wouldn't worry about it. The yeast cake on top is very nice.