Is this my Yeast?

[Craigerrr]

Harvested yeast from my last brew a couple days ago, has been in the fridge for a little more than a couple days.
The brew was a hazy one, so the beer on top is hazy.
Is the layer between my two marks my harvested yeast?
In the second picture, jar on the left, is that almost pure yeast at the bottom.

 

[Nosybear]

Looks like it to me.

 

[Craigerrr]

Woot!
I think the jar on the left may be pretty much pure slurry.
I filled a gallon jug, let it settle, then decanted to the two jars.

 

[Hawkbox]

Looks like yeast to me.

 

[Herm brews]

Ooh, I think that looks good, but I can’t be sure since I’ve never harvested yeast before. I currently have a batch of IPA in primary fermenters, and I want to try harvesting yeast from that batch. In the coming days, I will bottle my batch, then attempt to harvest and wash yeast from the leftover slurry at the bottom of the fermenters. The yeast used in Safale US-05 which is readily available, but I want to try the harvesting.

 

[Vesparados]

I have harvested yeast for a year and never been brave enough to try it on a batch. Maybe tomorrow, No Guts, No Air Medal.

 

[thunderwagn]

Harvested yeast from my last brew a couple days ago, has been in the fridge for a little more than a couple days.
The brew was a hazy one, so the beer on top is hazy.
Is the layer between my two marks my harvested yeast?
In the second picture, jar on the left, is that almost pure yeast at the bottom.
View attachment 9664
View attachment 9665

Is that the kveik? If so, you'll never have to purchase that strain again lol. I pitched less than a tablespoon my latest batch and came up with about a quart of solid yeast after fermentation. It's insane.

 

[Vallka]

Ooh, I think that looks good, but I can’t be sure since I’ve never harvested yeast before. I currently have a batch of IPA in primary fermenters, and I want to try harvesting yeast from that batch. In the coming days, I will bottle my batch, then attempt to harvest and wash yeast from the leftover slurry at the bottom of the fermenters. The yeast used in Safale US-05 which is readily available, but I want to try the harvesting.View attachment 9667

Yes that top layer is yeast, just do a YouTube search on washing yeast and your off

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

Harvested yeast from my last brew a couple days ago, has been in the fridge for a little more than a couple days.
The brew was a hazy one, so the beer on top is hazy.
Is the layer between my two marks my harvested yeast?
In the second picture, jar on the left, is that almost pure yeast at the bottom.
View attachment 9664
View attachment 9665

It looks like to me that your yeast isn't very flocculant. If you use harvested yeast before it floc's out, the yeast on the bottom is the most flocculant yeast from the strain your using. The yeast in suspension is still viable and may be the healthiest, dead yeast drops fairly quickly and has a grayish color. Live yeast has a tannish pink color.

If you don't wait for most of the yeast to drop out, you will end up pitching less flocculant yeast and it will be different from the original beer, plus it may have less attenuation because the yeast drops out too quickly. Yeast strains aren't "pure" per se. They are closely related genetically and as the yeast gets re-pitched, it "drifts" as the overall genetic make up changes slightly with every fermentation. The more the yeast is re-used, the further it gets from the original yeast bank pitch. The pitches you receive from Wyeast, White Labs, etc. are built up from yeast cells that have single genetic source. Even with asexual reproduction, they change genetically over the generations.

On top of that you have proteins, trub, hop residue, starches and even small amounts of bacteria mixed in with the yeast (all this stuff changes it's color), so it's sometimes hard to know just how much yeast you have without a hemocytometer. Sometimes you just need to run with it, re-pitch it and see what happens. It's the best way to learn.

Brew on!

 

[Hawkbox]

I'd just put that jar in the fridge and leave it. I harvest off my starters rather than after fermentation so it doesn't need to be washed or anything.

 

[Craigerrr]

Thanks for all of the great input.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Looks good Craig and a lot cleaner then my yeast harvesting I tend to get a load of trub in along with yeast. Thunderwagon is on the money you only need a teaspoon or two and thats a standard pitch for kviek.
You'll get a better flavour profile I've found pitching low. I'm on gen 7 ish on my voss kviek yeast I got more than a year ago.
Most kviek arnt pure single isolate yeast strains and being farmhouse style yeast handed down over hundreds if not thousand years are a perfect yeast to just keep on culturing along into a Craig specific kviek yeast strain.

 

[Over The Cliff Brewing]

Question: Does it matter the size of the mason jars that you keep the washed yeast? I want to try this but don't want to buy new jars. I have the pint size ones for making lemoncello. Should I just buy more jars?

 

[thunderwagn]

Question: Does it matter the size of the mason jars that you keep the washed yeast? I want to try this but don't want to buy new jars. I have the pint size ones for making lemoncello. Should I just buy more jars?

Pint size is just fine. I prefer pint and even the smaller 8oz jars.

 

[Mark Farrall]

Yep, bigger than your size is a waste as you'll hardly ever need to pitch more than that.

 

[Hawkbox]

I use 500ml jars cause they're easy to get locally.

 

[Craigerrr]

Looks good Craig and a lot cleaner then my yeast harvesting I tend to get a load of trub in along with yeast. Thunderwagon is on the money you only need a teaspoon or two and thats a standard pitch for kviek.
You'll get a better flavour profile I've found pitching low. I'm on gen 7 ish on my voss kviek yeast I got more than a year ago.
Most kviek arnt pure single isolate yeast strains and being farmhouse style yeast handed down over hundreds if not thousand years are a perfect yeast to just keep on culturing along into a Craig specific kviek yeast strain.

Thanks Ben
I do like to take things and make them my own

 

[Herm brews]

Yay, the yeast harvested from my previous brew is now busy working on yesterday’s brew. Both fermenters are burping away!

 

[Craigerrr]

Cool, same here!
Made a 2 liter starter from one of those jars then pitched into 10 gallons Tuesday.
It is almost done! VOSS works real fast.
Going to leave it alone for another 4-5 days before cold crashing thugh.

 

[Herm brews]

I did not build a starter, just pitched swirled rinsed slurry straight into the fermenters, then crossed my fingers, tossed a pinch of salt over my shoulder, rubbed the lucky rabbit’s foot, did a magic dance ......... and waited. The slightest bit of activity was evident after 6 hours. Then this morning it was bubbling away.