Trub with washed yeast.

[ChandlerBang]

I have a couple mason jars of washed yeast. In one of them I have about a 1/4 inch of trub under the half inch of yeast. I guess 20 minutes isn't enough time for the trub to settle out before going to the final container, noted.

Anyway, is that going to hurt a starter if I do the chill and decant method so I don't pitch the whole starter?

Also, how much yeast is half inch thick in a quart mason jar? Is that enough to use half for one 1L starter? Use the whole thing?

 

[Snowhere]

I read in Snyders book that some trub (dead yeast cells) is good for the viable yeast as nutrients. So I do not fret some trub in my yeast jars.

I would say that a half inch layer of yeast in a quart jar is plenty. I usually use quart jars to initially harvest my yeast and then transfer them into 1/2 pint jars after they consolidate down. That way they take up much less space in my fridge.

 

[jescholler]

One of the mistakes I made when I first rinsed yeast was I didn't leave enough beer behind when racking to give a higher liquid to yeast/trub ratio. That really allows the trub to settle out much better allowing you to get more yeast. I want to say that the recommended ratio is one part yeast/trub to 3 parts liquid. For example, when I washed yeast last, I had a 4 pint jar. I racked my beer (getting as much beer as I could) then put 1 pint of the remaining yeast/trub into the jar. Then I topped the jar off with boiled cooled water. I let that sit in the fridge for a couple of days, poured off the liquid, added back boiled cooled water and shook it up. I did wait a little longer than 20 minutes, but by that time you could definitely see that a good amount of trub had settled. Then I just decanted the yeast on the top into a pint jar.

If you want to know how much yeast to estimate, there are pretty good guidelines at mrmalty.com. Here is the link to the calculator:
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

And here is a link that gives guidelines on how to use the "Repitching from Slurry" tab:
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/instructs.html

Basically, I think you can get what you want by assuming a higher non-yeast percentage.

 

[Calder]

Don't fret the trub. It's got lots of dead yeast cells = yeast nutrient.

Half inch of yeast is a lot. If you collected it within the last month, just straight pitch without a starter.

 

[ChandlerBang]

wowza! I just punched the specs into Mr. Malty for repitching. It said I only need 4.5oz of slurry. I might brew tomorrow and pitch it straight in.

Now, I just need a reason for the wifey to be busy doing something else.......