# Farming yeast & making a starter from keg dregs?



## rockeye84 (21/8/13)

Hi Brewers,

Not sure if this has been covered elsewhere. But... What is stopping me from making a starter out of the settled yeast at the bottom of a keg?

When im finished drinnking a keg, there is always heaps of settled yeast in the bottom. Well I think its mostly yeast?

I was thinking... When the keg is basically finished stir up the dregs & pump it into a starter. I can be much different from making a starter out of coopers dregs can it? It would save alot of dicking around washing yeast etc.

My lager kegs stay refigerated untill they are finished & ales I usually give a 1 week in keg secondary @ room temp, then in the fridge @ 2c untill empty. The yeast would still be good yeh?

Thanks !!

Rock


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## slcmorro (21/8/13)

I'm certainly not 100% sure of this, but everything I've read seems to state that harvesting yeast from your primary is best practice. Something to do with the yeast being more viable and healthy at that stage, rather than perhaps 4 weeks later when they've been sitting dormant in the keg, refrigerated.

I'm not saying that it couldn't work, as the principle is similar to reculturing from Coopers bottles for example, however if you've got an available supply of 'healthier' yeast available at time of kegging, why not collect, wash and store it from that point instead of x amount of time later?


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## Yob (21/8/13)

Coopers bottle yeast is a re introduced priming batch of yeast that has only carbed and as such is 'healthier' than a yeast that has gone a full ferment.

Selecting from the keg could be problematic over a few cycles as you will be selecting less floculent yeast repeatedly.. You may end up with a beer that goes dusty or cloudy (eventually) essentially you will be selective breeding a less floculent yeast. Doing a wit? Wouldn't matter as much? Lager? Big no no, ale? Could perhaps get away with it for a gen or two, not great practice though.. Experiment with a starter or two and see how it goes.


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## WitWonder (24/8/13)

Will you be able to make a starter and ferment a beer by re culturing the yeast in your keg? Yes. Will it be the greatest beer you've ever made? Doubt it. Personally, I'd be looking at other yeast sources first (e.g. slurry from fermenter) before trying to get the yeast out of a keg. You want to start as close to the original source of the yeast as possible (ie the Wyeast packet) as the further down the chain you go you risk picking up a particular type of cell (e.g. as Yob points out above) rather than a cross section of the culture.


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## jotaigna (25/8/13)

Moreover, tired yeast is more vulnerable to be overcome by infection despite your best sanitising efforts.


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## timmi9191 (25/8/13)

He is wise man that yob..

The question is.. Why bother risking a starter from the keg.. When the tried and tested method of farming from the primary is soooo easy!! Have a farmed yeast settling now that I harvested from a primary yesterday.. All up 15 minutes work and ill have 4 more wy1272s.. That's $48 of wyeast for 15 mins effort.. Wow almost $200ph - I should start a business, wonder if wyeast labs would mind?


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