Washed Yeast Question

[Holtbrew]

Hey guys,

I've washed yeast a few times so far following the Illustrated Yeast Washing technique by Bernie Brewer (thanks btw!).

Usually when I wash the yeast and chill it in the fridge I get one small off white layer at the bottom of the mason jar, but recently I've stumbled across this double layer:

My first guess was that the thin white layer is the yeast, followed by trub? Is this correct? If so can I still use this in a yeast starter?

Or is there something funny about Wyeast 1056 that I'm missing?

Thanks to anyone that can help!

 

[smagee]

Looks like yeast plus trub, to me. Is this one of the last jars you filled during the washing process? Do you have other jars with more white and less brown?

 

[Holtbrew]

This is the last jar filled, but there are 2 others that look exactly the same. I can't believe that there would be this much trub, the original beer brewed was a Cream Ale with 1 oz of Cluster hops for bittering and that's it. I bottled straight from the primary if that helps, but every time I've washed yeast it's been from the primary and hasn't looked like this.

 

[smagee]

Did you decant directly from the bucket to the jars, or did you use an intermediary container? If the latter, how long did you let it settle? I usually decant the cake from the bucket into a gallon jug, then fridge that for a few hours and pour off the remaining liquid slurry into the jars from there. I've done it directly from the bucket and had it look a lot like yours there, so that's why I'm curious.

As for whether it's still good, you can definitely use it for a starter. When you do so, I'd just shake it up a bit to get everything in suspension, fridge it for an hour or two to let the worst of the trub settle, and then pour off the remaining liquid slurry into your starter container. That way you'll have the best yeast and a minimal amount of trub transferred.

 

[jmarshall]

The whitish layer on top is the purest yeast. The rest is yeast with impurities and trub all throughout. Basically the heaviest trub and most flocculant/dormant yeast settle first and create the bulk. The yeast in suspension is slower to flocculate out and produces the more pure whitish layer. Agree with smagee, all good to use.

 

[Holtbrew]

Sweet, thanks for the help guys. I'll be sure to try that techinque you suggested smagee for making a starter with these jars.

 

[jwic]

The whitish layer on top is the purest yeast. The rest is yeast with impurities and trub all throughout. Basically the heaviest trub and most flocculant/dormant yeast settle first and create the bulk. The yeast in suspension is slower to flocculate out and produces the more pure whitish layer. Agree with smagee, all good to use.

I (tried) to wash according to the sticky but my cake doesn't fit into a single gallon jug or big jar. At any rate, I didn't think I washed correctly because I got only brownish, no clean white pure yeast layer. I kept a few jars nevertheless and I just used one. Despite the fact that it looked like mostly junk trub I made a starter for it and got some action out of it so I decided to actually pitch it. Boy, did fermentation take off!!!!!!! So go ahead and make a starter for it when the time comes and you'll see you probably have a good amount of yeast.

 

[Flomaster]

I just washed some yeast yesterday and today my results look similar to yours.

it was 1056 used in a summer crisp IPA

I tried my best not to get any trub in there, a little bit made its way, but I too have a very thing pure white layer on top with what looks like trub that settled out on the bottom.

-=Jason=-

 

[Flomaster]

sorry to hijack the thread, but does my yeast look legit?

-=jason=-

 

[smagee]

Looks muddy, but viable. Be sure to make a starter with it first; otherwise you're fine .

 

[Flomaster]

Looks muddy, but viable. Be sure to make a starter with it first; otherwise you're fine .

yeah I'll be making a starter for sure. I was kind of disappointed with what I ended up with after seeing other photos. it was the several chunks of trub that made its way into my starter before they should have.

-=Jason=-

 

[smagee]

Truth be told, at a certain point it becomes mostly aesthetics; sure, you can get small off-flavors from huge amounts of trub. but a starter minimizes the problem. Just follow the starter process I described earlier in this thread (I think? On my phone for now...) for the starter and you'll be in good shape.

 

[jwic]

Truth be told, at a certain point it becomes mostly aesthetics; sure, you can get small off-flavors from huge amounts of trub. but a starter minimizes the problem. Just follow the starter process I described earlier in this thread (I think? On my phone for now...) for the starter and you'll be in good shape.

I don't have any photos of mine but from the looks of it it's way muddier than yours. I made a starter and it really took off!!!!!! The yeast really did some work on a pretty high gravity IPA. I haven't bottled it yet so the taste is yet to be tested but in terms of the viability of a murky wash, there are definitely some yeast in there still ready to go!