MyQul
Chairman of the Bored
I say new but I've never come across this yeast harvesting method other than here
http://forum.craftbrewing.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=9710 14th post by INDIAPALEALE
So I decided to have a go. The basic methods is; 36hrs after pitching clear a space in the krausen and harvest 500ml of wort from just below the krausen. Put it in a bottle and allow to ferment out then cap. You'll then have about 1ch-2cm of yeast in the bottm of the bottle. When it comes to using the yeast just decant of the beer (and drink) swirl the yeast into suspension with a little bit of remaining beer then pitch into a 2L starter.
Being paraniod about opening my FV too much I bought one of these 500ml oil pump/syringe thingies
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sealey-Oi...443430?hash=item1e906343e6:g:AxgAAOSwDN1UQUBL
I tried it on a brew where I just used notty, just in case anything went wrong and I somehow lost the strain. Although you need to be careful with the pump as the yeasty wort seems to want to squirt back out again as you withdraw the hose bit from the FV. It worked really well and I ended up with about 1cm of yeast in the bottle.
I didn't bother to pitch the resultant harvested yeast into a starter though as it was only notty and I was more interested in trying the harvesting part of the method rather than the propagation part.
I'll be trying it again on my newly bottle cultured Shepard Neame strain after I pitch on monday.
It may be possible to use this method from brew to brew almost indefinately as your harvesting cells of all kinds during the most vigourous part of fermentation and not putting any selective pressure on cells like you do with say bottom cropping. It seems similar to top cropping but you dont need a massive krausen as your harvesting from just below the krausen so you should be able to use this method on any ale strain
I think this method will be particularly useful for me as I can build up a little "bottle bank" of different strains and just keep them with the rest of my bottles. Ideally you want to keep them in the fridge but I think you dont HAVE to, as all a particular strain might need to compensatefor keeping it at room temp is an extra step up
http://forum.craftbrewing.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=9710 14th post by INDIAPALEALE
So I decided to have a go. The basic methods is; 36hrs after pitching clear a space in the krausen and harvest 500ml of wort from just below the krausen. Put it in a bottle and allow to ferment out then cap. You'll then have about 1ch-2cm of yeast in the bottm of the bottle. When it comes to using the yeast just decant of the beer (and drink) swirl the yeast into suspension with a little bit of remaining beer then pitch into a 2L starter.
Being paraniod about opening my FV too much I bought one of these 500ml oil pump/syringe thingies
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sealey-Oi...443430?hash=item1e906343e6:g:AxgAAOSwDN1UQUBL
I tried it on a brew where I just used notty, just in case anything went wrong and I somehow lost the strain. Although you need to be careful with the pump as the yeasty wort seems to want to squirt back out again as you withdraw the hose bit from the FV. It worked really well and I ended up with about 1cm of yeast in the bottle.
I didn't bother to pitch the resultant harvested yeast into a starter though as it was only notty and I was more interested in trying the harvesting part of the method rather than the propagation part.
I'll be trying it again on my newly bottle cultured Shepard Neame strain after I pitch on monday.
It may be possible to use this method from brew to brew almost indefinately as your harvesting cells of all kinds during the most vigourous part of fermentation and not putting any selective pressure on cells like you do with say bottom cropping. It seems similar to top cropping but you dont need a massive krausen as your harvesting from just below the krausen so you should be able to use this method on any ale strain
I think this method will be particularly useful for me as I can build up a little "bottle bank" of different strains and just keep them with the rest of my bottles. Ideally you want to keep them in the fridge but I think you dont HAVE to, as all a particular strain might need to compensatefor keeping it at room temp is an extra step up
