Life?

Day three of the Yeast Thief experiment. So far, I'm not getting much response from mrs. Yeast

Here's the bottle yesterday evening, after giving it a bit of shaking aeration:

 

 

 And here's the bottom of the bottle today (before shaking):

Those floating bits and the white sludge on the bottom is yeast, and perhaps it's my childlike optimism, but it looks like there's now more than I poured in three days ago.
While that sounds good, I'm not sure it is. I wouldn't be to surprised if what we see here as dead yeast cells, and I think it's obvious why I don't want those.

Some advice-gathering revealed that

• my wort may be too heavy (SG 1065 is good for my brew, but may be too much for the weakened bottle yeast at the moment)
• I may have "drowned" the yeast in too much wort. A small initial volume, increased exponentially (doubled each day) is preferrable, although I don't really understand how that should make much difference.

Anyhoo, later today (or tomorrow), I'll try a similar experiment, using apple juice as starting "wort", in smaller volumes, upgrading to lighter wort if and when the yeast wakes up.
Alongside, I'll keep this bottle and see how it evolves.

Come on li'l yeasties! I'm rooting for you!

Greetz

Jo