Is this all yeast?

[GDubs]

Harvesting yeast is new to me so I came back over to the beginners forum for this post.
Last night, I kegged a pale ale fermented with WLP-095. After pouring off most of the remaining beer, I was left with a fairly dense 1.25” yeast cake, to which I added a half gallon of distilled water, gave it all a good shake, filled a bunch of mason jars…. And waited for the yeast and the trub to separate.
Its 12hrs later and i still dont see the sort of separation I was expecting based on the dozens of web tutorials I watched.
I hoped to harvest this yeast all along, so i left a lot of gunk in the kettle on brew day and only dry hopped a couple ounces in a hop bag.
Is this ALL yeast? I’m sure there will be more settling while I’m at work today, but it looks like I will have +/-2 quarts of yeast????

 

[Donoroto]

It is mostly yeast.

I hope the distilled water was sterilized. If not, the yeast could be contaminated. The usual practice is to scoop up what's there with a sanitized cup or spoon, into a sanitized jar, and don't add anything else. Leave the lid on loosely.

 

[GDubs]

It is mostly yeast.

I hope the distilled water was sterilized. If not, the yeast could be contaminated. The usual practice is to scoop up what's there with a sanitized cup or spoon, into a sanitized jar, and don't add anything else. Leave the lid on loosely.

Don,

Thanks again for your quick response. I rely on YouTube for a lot of my tutorials. I will watch 5-6 videos to see how folks do a certain thing and then tweak things to fit my process. I was apprehensive relying on distilled water but quite a few of the tutorials I watched used it so I went with it out of convenience.... fingers crossed that I dont run into any issues. Is there anything I should I look for to know if I have a problem with my yeast? Or is it something that I wont know about until after it is pitched?
I dont have a stir plate to make a starter yet. I was planning to use it in the next 3-4 weeks and simply direct pitch the contents of the 8oz jar to 6g wort. If making a starter will save me the trouble of dumping a batch I will move that up on my priority list.
Scooping some yeast sounds like the way to go. Do you try to skim from the top of the yeast cake as I have read some suggest? What sort of volume do you collect for a batch?
I appreciate our help as always...... BTW, I have only watched the Bruins twice this year, unfortunately it was the last two games. Your Leafs clearly want it more.
Cheers!
GDubs

 

[west1m]

When I have done it ,I have just sloshed any remaining liquid left in the fermenter (not adding any new liquid ) real good to get it slurried and pour into sanitized 8 ounce jars.
I have gone 3 - 4 batches on one original pack of yeast. No reason I could not have gone more. I do pour off the liquid from the jar before using. And did not make a starter.

 

[Donoroto]

Don,

Thanks again for your quick response. I rely on YouTube for a lot of my tutorials. I will watch 5-6 videos to see how folks do a certain thing and then tweak things to fit my process. I was apprehensive relying on distilled water but quite a few of the tutorials I watched used it so I went with it out of convenience.... fingers crossed that I dont run into any issues. Is there anything I should I look for to know if I have a problem with my yeast? Or is it something that I wont know about until after it is pitched?
I dont have a stir plate to make a starter yet. I was planning to use it in the next 3-4 weeks and simply direct pitch the contents of the 8oz jar to 6g wort. If making a starter will save me the trouble of dumping a batch I will move that up on my priority list.
Scooping some yeast sounds like the way to go. Do you try to skim from the top of the yeast cake as I have read some suggest? What sort of volume do you collect for a batch?
I appreciate our help as always...... BTW, I have only watched the Bruins twice this year, unfortunately it was the last two games. Your Leafs clearly want it more.
Cheers!
GDubs

Bad yeast will be obvious - foul odor, weird colors, etc. Distilled water should be mostly sterile.

As for scooping, the yeast cake is only an inch or inch and a half thick, so there's little top to scoop. After a couple of meaty scoops, I swirl the fermenter like @west1m and pour what I can into the jar. I use quart jars.

A stir plate is nice but not absolutely necessary. A couple good shakes over the first couple hours is sufficient. Maybe try an experiment: a tablespoon of yeast glop into a quart of unfermented wort (or mix up some malt extract or propper starter). Leave the cap loose enough so pressure can escape. Shake it every hour or two for three times to get some oxygen into it, then ignore it until 24 hours. See what happens