I had salvaged yeast from my primary.  I boiled water and some mason jars/ with their tops for ten minutes to sterilize them.  I pulled out the jars with the water still inside and lightly screwed their tops on and let them cool.  Poured their contents into the primary, swirled the carboy and poured the trub/yeast and water mixture back into the mason jars. put them into the fridge to cool and separate.

I was going to wash them but I got pulled away on something else and unfortunately they have been sitting in the fridge with the tops screwed on lightly for about 3 weeks.  This is were I need help- I would like to brew using this yeast in 4 days - its unwashed.  Could I make a starter by pulling out a couple jars and pouring off the top  (yellow) water layer and allow both jars to warn to room temp while at the same time making a starter wort solution, allowing the wort to cool then pouring the wort into both jars, then swirl very now and then for 2 days?

Im worried about infection and the if I'm doing the process right...

How big are your jars, you aren't going to get much starter wort in there if they are little...do you have a growler or something else to sanitize for the starter?

I wouldn't worry too much about the "washing" and trub at 3 weeks myself.

Mason jars are the 1 quart size.  I was going use two mason jars per 5 gallon batch.

OK, those might work then...I think you will be happy with the results when you get that large amount of active yeast pitch, its been great for me.  What kind of approximate cell count are you guessing?

I just did the same thing.
My yeast was older though, almost 6 weeks.

I had a total of 3 pint jars about 1/3 full, so maybe a pint of yeast total, give or take.
I didnt wash it either, I didnt have any real trub in there, it was from a batch of SkeeterPee. I made a nice 2L starter with 1.040 wort, let it go for about 36 hours, and had nice healthy yeast to pitch into my fresh batch of cranberry mead.

Let the harvested yeast warm up to room temp. Decant off the beer in your mason jars, swirl the yeast up and pour into a yeast starter (wort) that is at room temp. I like to use a sanitized growler with a bung and airlock. Obviously make sure everything is sanitized. Yes, you have some trub in there since you never washed, but no worries I'd say. It's not going to hurt anything.

I am no professional but I've used yeast that has been in the fridge for 6-8 months with no problems.

Yeah, I dont think letting yeast be in the fridge for a long time is that big of a deal, as long as they are stored properly and you make a starter to revive them.

pour off the clear, dump the rest in.



I stopped washing my yeast- too much trouble and really no need.



If you have over 1" of solids I would not waste time on a starter for 5 gallons.