Yet another question about saving yeast

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theck

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I think I might have not collected all that I could but I did end up with some... is that brown, beerish, stuff unusable and should be discarded? Or should I just save the whole jar? There is a decent layer between the trub and the brown, that's the good stuff right? Also, brewing another batch Sunday and was going to do a starter tomorrow, should I put all that jar into the starter? Or extract that middle layer mostly by pouring off the top?

2013-10-31 13.29.42.jpg
 
Is that a pint jar? There is very little yeast in top wort layer if it has been cold crashed for a day or more.
Decant most of the wort that is above the yeast layer. Get your starter wort ready to go. Swirl up the remainder in the jar. When you see the trub layer starting to settle on the bottom and a slight clear layer forming at the top, about 20 to 30 minutes, pour the solution into your starter without the trub layer.
This should collect most of the saved yeast.
 
You can continue to decant off of the yeast layer that collects on bottom. You will want to leave some of the wort on top of the yeast cake(a la White labs vials) which is more or less what you have created by washing this yeast and storing it. Build a started offof it for your next batch and you've successfully done your first yeast wash!
 
Thanks, it's a quart jar... Probably just about the same amount in a White Labs vial from what I can see so save myself a good $4-6 on the next batch which is cool. I have it in the fridge now, that picture was after about 40 mins of settling on the counter. I'll probably just leave it as is for now, dump some of the top off tomorrow afternoon and use the rest in a starter for Sunday brewing. Gotta get one last one in before winter shuts me out of the garage, ha...
 
Must have done ok... starter is going crazy, only 6 hours old but really working well.

2013-11-01 17.58.12.jpg
 
That batch went very well, I washed it again but ended with this... it doesn't look the same as the first time I did it, looks more solid like, grainy and brownish. Is it just waste at this point of can it be used? I pitched a jar (ended with 3) into some apple cider I'm doing and waiting now for bubbles but wondering now if I'll see em.

2013-11-07 10.50.00.jpg
 
In both cases the bottom layer is mostly yeast, the middle layer is mostly trub, and the top layer is yeast. Some high flocculating yeasts (like 1968/002) will settle before the trub). If you are ditching the bottom layer you are loosing lots of yeast. An HBT member (woodland) has done experiments (and is currently writing a book) and he found that the viability of yeast/trub mix is just as high as the pure yeast layer.

My procedure is to toss some water in the carboy, shake it up, pour into jars, let it settle, decant the beer/water layer, and replace with boiled/cooled water. The beer/water can contain bacteria that you want to replace for long term storage. Then, when its time to make a starter, I decant again and pour all the trub/yeast. Unless the trub contains high levels of hops or roast grains, you shouldn't have any issues with flavor transfer.
 
In both cases the bottom layer is mostly yeast, the middle layer is mostly trub, and the top layer is yeast. Some high flocculating yeasts (like 1968/002) will settle before the trub). If you are ditching the bottom layer you are loosing lots of yeast. An HBT member (woodland) has done experiments (and is currently writing a book) and he found that the viability of yeast/trub mix is just as high as the pure yeast layer.

My procedure is to toss some water in the carboy, shake it up, pour into jars, let it settle, decant the beer/water layer, and replace with boiled/cooled water. The beer/water can contain bacteria that you want to replace for long term storage. Then, when its time to make a starter, I decant again and pour all the trub/yeast. Unless the trub contains high levels of hops or roast grains, you shouldn't have any issues with flavor transfer.


Ya exactly what I've done but it looked a little odd, not like the first time I did it. It's bubbling, slowly, maybe 1 per 10 secs but it's going. I guess I was checking to see if it was ok since it looked a little off.
 
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