Yeast harvesting

[ceejam]

So, I decanted all the FV trub from my last beer into two jars and they’ve sat in the Fridge for 5 days.

My next stage is to decant the liquid off the top into another two sterilised jars.

Any advice?

 

[Leon103]

Follow this

 

[MyQul]

You could do what Leon says, but personally I dont like yeast rinsing because a) I'm lazy, b) I've read even if you boil and cool the water for rinsing the water can potetially contaminate the yeast c) The yeast is protected under the beer as beer is alcoholic, low ph/acid all stuff nasties dont like.

What I normally do is, do the same as you have their, then once I need to make a starter just take a sanitised tea spoon an put 1 or 2 teaspoonfuls in a starter. The jar lasts ages then

 

[matt76]

You could do what Leon says, but personally I dont like yeast rinsing because a) I'm lazy

Stop right there, no need to expand further, you had me at (a)
(though clearly there is method in your madness!)

Seriously @MyQul , the more I read your posts the more I'm convinced the whole brewing beer thing is just a front and you'd happily spend your time growing yeast!

Thanks for the info though, this was actually what prompted my question in the other thread about rinsing yeast - good to know, will give it a bash

 

[Llamaman]

If your curiosity (hope you’re not a cat) gets the better of you, why not try rinsing one jar and leaving the other? If you mess up the rinsing, you’ve still got some yeast to build a starter with.

 

[MyQul]

Stop right there, no need to expand further, you had me at (a)
(though clearly there is method in your madness!)

Seriously @MyQul , the more I read your posts the more I'm convinced the whole brewing beer thing is just a front and you'd happily spend your time growing yeast!

Thanks for the info though, this was actually what prompted my question in the other thread about rinsing yeast - good to know, will give it a bash

Busted!

Yeast, and yeast propagation is a bit of a (brewing) interest of mine, far more than say, water treatment. Which I have a minimal interest in

 

[MyQul]

@ceejam looking at your jars you have a lot of trub in there so I'd use about 4-6 dessert spoonful rather than just a couple of teaspoon fuls

 

[ceejam]

@ceejam looking at your jars you have a lot of trub in there so I'd use about 4-6 dessert spoonful rather than just a couple of teaspoon fuls

Thanks - I was going to decant, but wasn’t sure where the “yeast line” was?

 

[xozzx]

Ive just started with liquid yeast but what I do is overbuild the starter by about 100billion cells then remove this before pitching the main part of the starter into the wort. I stick the part I removed in a platic vial and leave in the fridge until next brew and do the same again so I always have some left over for next time.

I use this calculator for quanitties and starter sizes:
http://www.brewunited.com/yeast_calculator.php

 

[matt76]

Hey @MyQul , as the resident yeast expert maybe you can advise...

I just cracked the lid of my FV after 14 days to dry hop my IPA (visible on the surface). But I also noticed a ring of "scum" on the walls of the FV just above the waterline, light tan color and still moist.

Might this be harvestable yeast or just some other crud?

Cheers,

Matt

 

[MyQul]

Hey @MyQul , as the resident yeast expert maybe you can advise...

View attachment 17144

I just cracked the lid of my FV after 14 days to dry hop my IPA (visible on the surface). But I also noticed a ring of "scum" on the walls of the FV just above the waterline, light tan color and still moist.

Might this be harvestable yeast or just some other crud?

Cheers,

Matt

Although their is yeast in it, it's as you say "crud" and not harvestable. German brewers call this 'braun hefe', if you were to taste it, it would taste really bitter. Most of it will have fallen back into the beer and form part of the trub but some sticks to the side of the FV to form that brown crud ring you see

 

[matt76]

@ceejam looking at your jars you have a lot of trub in there so I'd use about 4-6 dessert spoonful rather than just a couple of teaspoon fuls

Hey @MyQul when you have your yeast in jars as ceejam does in the OP, do you stir it up before you take your x spoonfuls or is the yeast distributed enough that you can just dive in?

(asking for a friend )

 

[MyQul]

Hey @MyQul when you have your yeast in jars as ceejam does in the OP, do you stir it up before you take your x spoonfuls or is the yeast distributed enough that you can just dive in?

(asking for a friend )

Well tell your "friend"... I just take a spoonful straight out the jar unstirred. The reason being is that I dont get that much trub in my FV. Basicially I get about a cm or so in my trub (which is mostly yeast) in my 10L brews, which I can then tip into a jar.
They way I manage this is; after my boil I jug my wort into 5L no chill FV's, I then leave the wort to cool overnight. At the same time the wort is cooling all the hot break material sinks to the bottom of the no chill FV. Then then the next day when the wort is cool, I decant the now cool off the break material/protiens into a fresh FV. Doing this leaves the vast majority of the beak material forming trub behind in the no chill FV, so most of my "trub" in the fermenter is actually yeast.
If you use a chiller you can use a technique called whirlpooling (not to be confused with hop whirlpooling) that does the same thing

 

[Zephyr259]

Got a tangential question for you @MyQul I've just got a conical fermenter so figure I'll start harvesting after fermentation rather than overbuilding starters. Do you think dumping the trub from the cone after 24hrs of fermentation mimic your low trub method? Then I can dump the yeast before bottling and keep in in a jar for later.

 

[Gulpitdarn]

Seriously @MyQul , the more I read your posts the more I'm convinced the whole brewing beer thing is just a front and you'd happily spend your time growing yeast!

I have a friend who is also dedicated to growing yeast but hers is yoghurts and even gives them a pet name!

 

[MyQul]

I have a friend who is also dedicated to growing yeast but hers is yoghurts and even gives them a pet name!

I defiantely dont go that far!

 

[MyQul]

Got a tangential question for you @MyQul I've just got a conical fermenter so figure I'll start harvesting after fermentation rather than overbuilding starters. Do you think dumping the trub from the cone after 24hrs of fermentation mimic your low trub method? Then I can dump the yeast before bottling and keep in in a jar for later.

I'm not entirely sure whether it would work (especially as I dont have a conical). The best way to find out, of course is to try it. I dont think anything bad would happen.

As mentioned my 'low trub decanting method' really just mimics what whirlpooling does so perhaps have a go at that first and see if it works for you?

https://byo.com/mr-wizard/what-does-whirlpooling-your-beer-mean-and-how-do-you-do-it/

 

[The Baron]

I know it is frowned on but is it possible to ferment a say golden ale on a previously bitter fermentation and why is it not recommended? I simply just pour some of the previous yeast slurry into a bottle fridge and pour off the beer when about to use is this ok?

 

[Zephyr259]

I'm not entirely sure whether it would work (especially as I dont have a conical). The best way to find out, of course is to try it. I dont think anything bad would happen.

As mentioned my 'low trub decanting method' really just mimics what whirlpooling does so perhaps have a go at that first and see if it works for you?

https://byo.com/mr-wizard/what-does-whirlpooling-your-beer-mean-and-how-do-you-do-it/

Thanks. I guess I do that already since it helps to stops the grainfather filter from blocking. I am greedy though and tilt the GF to get as much wort out as possible so the last runnings are a bit more trubby.

Will play about with the conical and different dumping times.

 

[MyQul]

Thanks. I guess I do that already since it helps to stops the grainfather filter from blocking. I am greedy though and tilt the GF to get as much wort out as possible so the last runnings are a bit more trubby.

Will play about with the conical and different dumping times.

Perhaps try not tilting the GF. When decanting from the no chill FV, as soon as i seem some protien matter start to head towards the lip I stop decanting