Yeast Washing Question

[clayof2day]

I have reviewed the threads and the Wyeast web page articles about yeast washing. I have done this a couple of times now, but I have a couple of questions for you guys that have done it. They say that within 15 minutes you should get a good separation between a "creamy" yeast layer and settled dead stuff and trub. I, however have never seen this after ony 15 minutes. It starts to stratify, but I can never pour the two layers separately. I wait a lot longer and it seems like the ammount of yeast I'm actually harvesting is much smaller than what I should be getting.

So....How long do you wait?
How well do your layers stratify?
What do your layers look like?
How much slurry do you end up with?

(in general of course)

I think this is a valid questions, but if it has been covered, I guess just ignore it!

Matt

 

[Yuri_Rage]

There's a long thread with lots of info here. I posted some pics of the process I use. I chill the slurry and wait overnight for it to settle.

 

[homebrewer_99]

The 15 mins is just a guideline.

What you want is for the trub to fall out. You can pour into another container at any time. I usually pour off a couple of times BEFORE i start to see the creamy layer. That layer is yeast. The cloudy water is yeast in suspension.

If you seperate the trub several times then you will end up with only yeast, eventually.