[jordynferg6]

Can anyone explain this to me? I stepped up WLP800 which is a Lager yeast and when I was in the last step of removing viable yeast off trub. This happened I'm a new brewer, having 3 successful brews so don't waste my time making me read a sarcastic ass comment just help explain what is going on in this pic. Everything I have read and after trying every variation of words I can't find anything on Google to explain this picture which appears that the trub is resting on top of the yeast. This yeast is at room temperature when pic was taken.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[joelv]

In a Homebrew Talk thread, someone had a similar photo and there were questions about highly flocculent strains. I wonder if a flocculent strain could clump in a manner that makes the clumps heavier than trub clumps...?

Is there a very thin lighter colored layer on top of the trub but below water?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Robert]

I see this phenomenon when harvesting and rinsing the first couple of generations of lager yeast, though I've never used WLP800.  That middle layer is yeast, it is just not packing down as quickly as the bottom layer.  If you chill it, it will settle faster, but may still look a bit different.  Some of the yeast cells are just less flocculent and of the older generation from the lab. I find this phenomenon virtually disappears after the first couple of repitches of the yeast, when more of the yeast will be new, young, vigorous, unifom cells from the latest fermentation. What you are seeing does not affect the fermentation performance of the yeast, in my experience.   

(Unless I'm unable to see some additional details in the photo, and you're sure it it trub.)

[jordynferg6]

I see this phenomenon when harvesting and rinsing the first couple of generations of lager yeast, though I've never used WLP800.  That middle layer is yeast, it is just not packing down as quickly as the bottom layer.  If you chill it, it will settle faster, but may still look a bit different.  Some of the yeast cells are just less flocculent and of the older generation from the lab. I find this phenomenon virtually disappears after the first couple of repitches of the yeast, when more of the yeast will be new, young, vigorous, unifom cells from the latest fermentation. What you are seeing does not affect the fermentation performance of the yeast, in my experience.   

(Unless I'm unable to see some additional details in the photo, and you're sure it it trub.)

Okay that sounds logical when I chilled it after I decanted off the starter I barely had any trub in it, or at least what I think was trub. I wish I had taken a picture of it then, it had a large middle layer that was lighter colored, a thin bottom layer that was darker colored, and leftover dme starter on top. This is my first time doing any sort of yeast washing but I've had so much trouble with slow fermentations. So before I start my first lager I wanted to build some good yeast. I should mention this is just from a liquid pack that I stepped up so it probably won't even have much trub. I'm just a perfectionist and worried about getting any off flavors in the Mexican Honey Lager I'm about to brew.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[jordynferg6]

I pitched this yeast 17 hrs ago, gravity started at 1.078 and has dropped to 1.058 already. Fermenting at 50 degrees Fahrenheit for a week then raising to 60 degrees gradually for a week. Then Diacetyl rest at 62 degrees still researching how long to do this rest for though.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[hmbrewing]

"I'm a new brewer, having 3 successful brews so don't waste my time making me read a sarcastic ass comment just help explain what is going on in this pic. "

Do you not have a sense of humor or something? You are brewing beer, not curing cancer. Lighten up and learn to enjoy this incredible hobby that is surrounded by awesome peeps who happen to enjoy sarcasm. I promise you'll enjoy it so much more.

[Robert]

I pitched this yeast 17 hrs ago, gravity started at 1.078 and has dropped to 1.058 already. Fermenting at 50 degrees Fahrenheit for a week then raising to 60 degrees gradually for a week. Then Diacetyl rest at 62 degrees still researching how long to do this rest for though.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

As an experienced lager brewer, rather than going by time, I would recommend you allow the temperature to start rising on its own when the gravity has dropped to 50% of OG, and when it reaches ~60°-65° just keep it there until completely fermented out.  Diacetyl reduction and other flavor maturation will be incorporated in finishing the fermentation as the temperature rises. Then you can cold crash the beer just to clarify it.  However you proceed, good luck and enjoy.

[jordynferg6]

I pitched this yeast 17 hrs ago, gravity started at 1.078 and has dropped to 1.058 already. Fermenting at 50 degrees Fahrenheit for a week then raising to 60 degrees gradually for a week. Then Diacetyl rest at 62 degrees still researching how long to do this rest for though.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

As an experienced lager brewer, rather than going by time, I would recommend you allow the temperature to start rising on its own when the gravity has dropped to 50% of OG, and when it reaches ~60°-65° just keep it there until completely fermented out.  Diacetyl reduction and other flavor maturation will be incorporated in finishing the fermentation as the temperature rises. Then you can cold crash the beer just to clarify it.  However you proceed, good luck and enjoy.

Yeah I was probably going to go by gravity, I was going to let it ferment colder for a little longer than 50% though I was thinking 60-65%. Its my first lager but since there is 3 lbs of honey I figured that would ferment fast so I was going to let it go a little bit longer to get some of the sugar from the grains to ferment but this is just my thinking and I could be overthinking things. My tilt bluetooth hydrometer has it at 1.051 but from the spigot at the bottom I'm getting 1.061. This is the first time using this tilt so I'm not sure if gravity on top is usually a little lower than gravity from the bottom or if this tilt isn't very accurate.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

[Saccharomyces]

Here's one of the reasons why one should never rinse yeast with water.  It is an unnecessary step that opens the culture up to infection because it raises the pH of the culture.  Cropped yeast is best stored under beer.  Yeast rinsing buys one absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things.  It is like using stir plate for making starters.  Stir plates were designed to stir things, not grow cultures.  The proper mechanical device for growing cultures is known as a shaker table.  The correct flask to use on a shaker table is a shaker flask.

Anyway, to answer the OP's question.  I would pitch the culture into starter medium, wait a few hours to allow the cells to go into suspension, and then decant the liquid fraction to another sanitized vessel if you desire to separate the yeast cells from the trub.  That being said, a little trub never hurt a culture.  That is why there is zero reason to rinse yeast.