What is it? Lager or Ale yeast

[Slobrew]

I have 2 sets of harvested yeast in my fridge. 3 Bell jars of lager and 3 Bell jars of ale. I was brewing pretty regular so I never marked the jars as to what was in them. Then I had to take a break from brewing and was going to start back up tomorrow. I will be making an Ale, but I don't know which yeast is which. Is there a way I can tell when I make my yeast starter? I'm willing to toss the lager yeast but I would like to use the ale yeast for tomorrows effort. HELP!

[twhitaker]

  I've been there done that. You can try tasting, smelling, comparing starters looking for top fermenting krausen activity  for ale. A microscope view may differentiate them if you have a sample of them in bottles to compare to. You could also very comfortably use both, creating a house blend of yeast which some brewers use to cover all fermentation conditions. Some cream ales use blends, or just lager yeast.
 I used both, only in  one batch, then got new yeast. Hopefully your jars are less than 3 months old or they may be duds by now.

[Brewmex41]

Do a starter at 50 degrees. The lager yeast will ferment but the ale shouldnt.

[Scott Ickes]

Do a starter at 50 degrees. The lager yeast will ferment but the ale shouldnt.

Great answer!!!  +1 for Domingo!!!

[Slobrew]

It was an ale yeast. New system I will keep the lager yeast on the bottom shelf and the ale yeast on the top shelf. Should be easy to remember which is which that way, bottom ferment on the bottom and top ferment on the top.

[Scott Ickes]

It was an ale yeast. New system I will keep the lager yeast on the bottom shelf and the ale yeast on the top shelf. Should be easy to remember which is which that way, bottom ferment on the bottom and top ferment on the top.

I use Ball Dissolvable Labels on the lids of my canning jars.  You find them where you get canning supplies.  They work great.  I write what the yeast is, the harvest date and the generation.  When I use the yeast, I'm replacing the lids anyhow, so the label gets thrown out with the lid.