Yeast Harvest

[badhabit]

I posted something similar a short time ago but have decided to put this up again just because I am at a loss. I have had two batches of yeast that I have washed recently, WLP029 and WLP001 that have acted pretty much exactly the same way. First I get a huge harvest of yeast with little apparent trub from the fermenter. (the better part of half a gal). I wash in the fermenter by adding a half gal of boiled water and let sit a half hout to 45 minutes. I then take off the top half gal yeast slury/trub and let sit about an hour at room temp. I then pour off about the top half into 4 pint jars and refrigerate. I end up with about 2 pints of what appears to be yeast. (The four pint jars each about half full of "yeast" topped by about half wort/beer. The big problem is that there is never any clear seperation between the trub and the yeast. I never get the nice white layer that I typicaly get over the trub. My thought is that I am not washing the trub/yeast enough, that i may not be adding enough water when I first take the material from the fermenter. By not washing with enough water I am not giving the yeast and trub enough "room" to clearly seperate. Anyone have any thoughts or suggestions? I have though about taking what I have in the jars and washing it again with another quart or so of water and seeing what happens different if anything. What are your thoughts about trying that?

 

[bruin_ale]

how long have these pint jars been in the refrigerator? In my experience, it takes a few days to a week before things settle into finite layers.

If that's not it, then you can try 1) adding more water and/or 2) letting each step settle a little longer before you transfer them to the next step.

 

[badhabit]

Thanks bruin ale. I did exactly what you talked about last night. Washed with another couple qts of H20 and let sit for about 4 hours before decanting into pints and into the refrigerator overnight. Took a look this morning and there is absolutly no difference yet. Maybe I just have a couple pints of good yeast???? I plan on giving it at least a week in the refrigerator before I move it into tubes for long term storage. Anyway, thanks again for the input.

 

[bruin_ale]

I don't think you have pints of good yeast, it takes a while for it to compact. Check it again in a week and I bet it's just a 1/2" on the bottom of the jar like all of mine.