Floaties In My Harvested Yeast Starter

[chillihilli]

Hi Y'all,

About two weeks ago I bottled a Pale Ale which I brewed from Wyeast 1056 American Ale Yeast. At the end of the brew, I drained all the beer off the yeast cake. I then added about 500ml of sterile water, and put it in (what I thought were) sterile containers. I started with one, then split it with more sterile water into two.. I did exactly the same thing with my Wyeast Belgian Wit.

I checked the yeasts this morning, and discovered that both the American Ales had a floaty in them. It looks like a loose half of a cotton ball floating around. I also checked the Belgian Wit - nothing but a few dead yeast cells on the bottom so it is particular to the two American Ales.

I harvested the yeast so I could re-cycle it and get more value out of it ($15 a pop).

Has anyone seen this before? I'm scared to use it now.

It smells OK. I not sure it's an infection as I would have thought that the floaty would get bigger and bigger if that was the case and have a smell of some sort. It smells like beer yeast. Any thoughts?

 

[jimmy01]

Hi Chilli

I havn't seen this before but it sounds sus to me. Particularly if it looks different to the Wit sample you salvaged. If it was me I wouldn't use it.

I harvest yeasts as well but hygiene (and luck) is so important. I've had a few infections that I suspect came from yeast farming. In the home environment it is really difficult to maintain a high standard of hygiene.

Cheers

Jimmy

Hi Y'all,

About two weeks ago I bottled a Pale Ale which I brewed from Wyeast 1056 American Ale Yeast. At the end of the brew, I drained all the beer off the yeast cake. I then added about 500ml of sterile water, and put it in (what I thought were) sterile containers. I started with one, then split it with more sterile water into two.. I did exactly the same thing with my Wyeast Belgian Wit.

I checked the yeasts this morning, and discovered that both the American Ales had a floaty in them. It looks like a loose half of a cotton ball floating around. I also checked the Belgian Wit - nothing but a few dead yeast cells on the bottom so it is particular to the two American Ales.

I harvested the yeast so I could re-cycle it and get more value out of it ($15 a pop).

Has anyone seen this before? I'm scared to use it now.

It smells OK. I not sure it's an infection as I would have thought that the floaty would get bigger and bigger if that was the case and have a smell of some sort. It smells like beer yeast. Any thoughts?

 

[Nick JD]

Hi Y'all,

About two weeks ago I bottled a Pale Ale which....

Sounds like you've still got a huge yeast bank of the stuff to me. Crack one open, drink it and make a starter!

 

[chillihilli]

Sounds like you've still got a huge yeast bank of the stuff to me. Crack one open, drink it and make a starter!

Here I was lamenting the loss of my recycled yeast. Didn't even think of that. In the immortal words of Homer Simpson... Doh!

Thanks for the tip.

 

[Nick JD]

Thanks for the tip.

No worries. My second tip was gonna be to buy some US05, because it's the same yeast ... but that might open a can of worms B) !

 

[chillihilli]

No worries. My second tip was gonna be to buy some US05, because it's the same yeast ... but that might open a can of worms B) !

I just followed your instructions and simply had to open a brew and drink it.. oh well, thems the breaks. I boiled a jar and some water and added about 40g of Light DME (about 400 ml of water) and swirled it all around. It all fizzed as I poured in the dregs.. Not sure if that means anything but I'm confident my yeast will go on.