Possible Infection in yeast starter?

[Kingomri]

Hey all, I just tried harvesting yeast from a bottle for the first time, and after stepping up my starter, I looked at it to notice some stuff that appeared to be both growing and not yeast, and would like confirmation that it is indeed an infection before I use it to make a 5 gallon batch of beer.

 

[makomachine]

Hard to tell from the picture but looks more like yeast floaters and possibly start of kraussen, but can't be sure given pic resolution. How long in the starter?

 

[avidhomebrewer]

Yeah, based upon what the pic looks like, it doesn't look like an infection but rather the start of fermentation.

 

[70Cuda383]

so...one can take the "cake" at the bottom of a bottle and use it to start another batch of yeast? or do you just keep a small sample of the beer and add sugar water to it for the yeast to start multiplying again?

how hard is all this to do? is it as easy as brewing beer? keep everything sanitized?

 

[Revvy]

Looks like yeast to me....Just like on the surface of many beers, it's rarely free of yeast rafts.

 

[Hatchbrew]

All woman and children aboard the yeast rafts first!!!

 

[HH60gunner]

Hard to tell from the pic, but it looks like yeast floaties to me.

@ Cuda: Yes you can re-use your yeast. In one of these forums (I think the fermentation forum) there's a good sticy about washing and re-using yeast. You can use the same yeast if you after bottling or kegging and just brew that day for the next batch or you can collect it, wash it, and store it in the fridge for a good amount of time. If you store it for a while be sure to make a starter with it to ensure it's still good. You can even harvest yeast out of the bottom of commercial bottles from companies that don't filter out the yeast. Just make sure to do a search, because some companies will use a different yeast for bottling than they do for fermentation.