Yeast Washing Question

[Pancoastbrewing]

Hello all. I just went through my first yeast washing process. Seemed to go pretty well. I ended up stashing what I saved in 3 (1 quart) mason jars. I’ve had the jars in my fridge for about 24 hours now. The picture below is what I’m seeing now.

Am I right in thinking that the white layer on the bottom is the yeast? I’m just a bit confused and don’t want to assume it’s yeast when it’s actually trub. I’d like to decant off most of the liquid and build a starter from that. Thanks in advance!

 

[homebrewer_99]

It's yeast. Trub is (much) darker.

I wash mine in 1 gal jugs. I add 1/2 gal of boiled then cooled water to the primary and give it a swirl until everything is off the bottom.

I dump it all into the gallon jug (that will fit). After about 5 mins MOST of the trub/hops/dead yeast, etc., will fall out.

I then pour off just the creamy water (that's the yeast in suspension). There's no reason to get greedy about it and try to get the last drop of water...there's more than enough yeast in there. I usually stop when the trub gets 1-2" from the mouth of the jug.

Place the jug in the fridge 12-24 hours. Once the yeast drops out of suspension I pour off half of the liquid before swirling the yeast off the bottom and moving it to smaller containers.

 

[Pancoastbrewing]

It's yeast. Trub is (much) darker.

I wash mine in 1 gal jugs. I add 1/2 gal of boiled then cooled water to the primary and give it a swirl until everything is off the bottom.

I dump it all into the gallon jug (that will fit). After about 5 mins MOST of the trub/hops/dead yeast, etc., will fall out.

I then pour off just the creamy water (that's the yeast in suspension). There's no reason to get greedy about it and try to get the last drop of water...there's more than enough yeast in there. I usually stop when the trub gets 1-2" from the mouth of the jug.

Place the jug in the fridge 12-24 hours. Once the yeast drops out of suspension I pour off half of the liquid before swirling the yeast off the bottom and moving it to smaller containers.

Thanks for the reply. I did pretty much what you did. 3/4 gal of water, boiled, cooled and added to primary. Then swirled up, dumped into a 1 gal jug and left to settle for about an hour. Decanted off as much as I wanted to keep and set in fridge for 24 hours. I just now decanted off the liquid in the 3 quart jars and consolidated yeast slurry into 2 jars. I should have plenty for next time. Thanks for your help!

 

[homebrewer_99]

Thanks for the reply. I did pretty much what you did. 3/4 gal of water, boiled, cooled and added to primary. Then swirled up, dumped into a 1 gal jug and left to settle for about an hour. Decanted off as much as I wanted to keep and set in fridge for 24 hours. I just now decanted off the liquid in the 3 quart jars and consolidated yeast slurry into 2 jars. I should have plenty for next time. Thanks for your help!

You're welcome.