Top Cropping Yeasts

[Thirsty Boy]

If you are top cropping your yeast for re-pitching purposes... Then whether the yeast is amtrue top cropper or not makes very little difference at all. You shouldn't be waiting for FG to take your crop for pitching, you should be doing it more or less as the yeast is at high krausen.

Basically you discard the first or "brown" yeast heads, you will know what they are, brown scum mixed in with the foam (its hop goo and coldbreak mostly) - thats if you are skimming it off anyway, just ignore it till it goes away if you aren't. Then when the yeast is in vigorous growth phase, with creamy white heads... THEN you take your crop of yeast for re-pitching. Store it in the fridge under sterile water or pitch it directly to your next batch. After that anything else yu do in your main fermentation is just about your preferred method of clarification.

Using this sort of yeast, cropped at it most healthy and vigarous, is why english breweries are able to serially re-pitch their yeast so many times without horrible strain drift, infection and changes in the yeast's brewing properties. Whereas if you crop from the bottom, or after the yeast has finished fermenting, you are more likely to only be able to do 8-10 re-pitches before things start to noticably change about your fermentations and beer. You will also notice a BIG difference in the performance of the yeast... If bottom cropped yeast is David Banner - then top cropped yeast is what happens when you make him angry.

This works pretty much the same way for ALL strains, not just top cropping ones.

TB

 

[mje1980]

TB, im brewing a stout, so it was brown, 2 days after pitching is when i spooned it out. It was like mousse, and i checked it the next day, the stuff settled under the water looks light tan in colour. Have i just grapped a heap of ****, instead of good yeast cream??. Might keep some slurry anyway in case.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

It almost certainly mostly yeast - if not, the yeast you have gotten will be perfectly good, just maybe you grabbed a bit of gunk as well thats all.

Only you can tell really. They yeast will carry to the surface all kinds of gunk for the first day or so, then most of that gunk will stick to the sides of the fermenter or eventually fall to the bottom. So, it will start out dirty, then get cleaner. If it was cleaner when you took the crop... You got the good stuff. If it gets cleaner and cleaner... Just take some more and discard the first lot. Its only experience that will tell you.

An open, easy to open or see through fermenter lid will help a lot with this stuff.

BTW - i am mostly parroting stuff from books here. I've done this a few times, but dont brew beers with the same yeast in a row very often, so haven't got much in the way of practical experience. It is very solid book learnin' though. Nothing controversial in it.

 

[mje1980]

I grabbed some more today, which is certainly lighter. Though i think the first lot should be ok. I made sure i got a good cup's worth, so im guessing/hoping the amount i got will make up for crap stuff. Its the first beer made with a fresh smack pack, so should be good. I brewed a TTL inspired ale today so i'll get it in there within a few days. Will update.

Might have to look into one of these books.

Thanks mate, much appreciated

 

[mje1980]

I used the original sample and pitched it into a TTL style ale. A few hours and it was foaming!!. Faaark this is bloody easy. Just need some more open mouth jars!!. Took some off the TTL style ale ( took like 3 days to get to almost done ) just now, and it was like a cake, so thick haha. A bloody good idea.

 

[davo4772]

Hello All,

How long could the yeast be kept in the fridge under sterile water? I would guess no more than a couple of weeks?

 

[adryargument]

2-3 weeks i believe, just started farming myself, however you can mix them with antifreeze and place them in the freezer for upto a year.
Every year you just need to cultivate a new started and refreeze.

Hello All,

How long could the yeast be kept in the fridge under sterile water? I would guess no more than a couple of weeks?

 

[Eater]

I certainly wouldnt want an angry David Banner in my fermenter....

 

[Wolfy]

How long could the yeast be kept in the fridge under sterile water? I would guess no more than a couple of weeks?

If you are going to repitch the yeast without making a starter, its best to use it as soon as possible, no more than a week or two from when it was harvested.
However, if you are going to make a starter, the yeast can be stored like that for a much longer period of time, 6 months is a resonable period of time, but there will still be some yeast viable after 12 months.

2-3 weeks i believe, just started farming myself, however you can mix them with antifreeze and place them in the freezer for upto a year.
Every year you just need to cultivate a new started and refreeze.

Storing yeast samples in the bottle or under water can easily last 6 months and up to 12.
Using slants/slopes is also a good way to store yeast in the fridge.
If you want to freeze yeast you need to ensure that the freezing process does not rupture the cells, most often this is done by the addition of glycerin.
Once successfully frozen, yeast samples should remain viable for a long period of time, much longer than 12 months.

 

[beerbrewer76543]

:icon_offtopic: Every time I see this thread "Top Cropping Yeasts" I think of the Beastie Boys song "Block Rockin Beats"




edit: make pic work

 

[Lecterfan]

OK, so it's old news to many people, but I just top cropped my first 1469 from a TTLL type recipe. First of all the smell was amazing (pitched on Sunday lunchtime-ish), thick and creamy head of krausen, skimmed, waited then skimmed from the new yeast layer. I felt like putting it in a desert bowl, chopping in some strawberries and hooking into it.


In fact the amount I have will probably be overpitching for 23L of 1.048...now where are my chocolate sprinkles?

 

[bullsneck]

I'm doing a 23L LCBA on Saturday, then a 12L American Stout on Monday. How much top cropped yeast do I need so that I can pitch the right amount of yeast, as in cell count etc?

 

[argon]

I'm doing a 23L LCBA on Saturday, then a 12L American Stout on Monday. How much top cropped yeast do I need so that I can pitch the right amount of yeast, as in cell count etc?

What's your OG of the American Stout?

Go to Mr Malty and plug in your figures and look at the "Repitching from Slurry" window. when top cropping your taking pure yeast and if done correctly picking up nothing else. So when i do the figures i set a thick slurry and 0% non-yeast %... as below;



So assuming you you've got 12L of 1050 you'll need about 26mL of top cropped yeast.

 

[mje1980]

Just top cropped some fresh 2565 from a koelsh, nice tan mousse!!!. Love top cropping!!

 

[argon]

Just top cropped some fresh 2565 from a koelsh, nice tan mousse!!!. Love top cropping!!

I know... i just rinsed a yeast cake over the weekend. Freakin' tipping cooled boiled water from jar to jar over a few hours. PITA.
Top crop straight into cooled boiled water into sterile jars is too easy.

 

[manticle]

Top cropping straight into another waiting brew is even easier.

 

[argon]

Top cropping straight into another waiting brew is even easier.

Surely is.... But I never have confidence in myself that I've harvested enough. That is until the foam starts to jump out of the fermented inside 12hours! Always looks like not enough, but I guess because it's so pure it's right.

 

[RdeVjun]

12 hours, argon? Oh my, you must've had a sluggish one!
Around here a generous 1469 top crop is away in a new wort within few hours, definitely bulging the cling film overnight, in fact to the extent that I wonder about overpitching, but the results have been quite OK. Saves all the rinsing caper too, that certainly has its place, but if you're happy to coordinate several batches to use the same strain one after another it makes pitching all but the first one a real breeze. B)
No- chill and cheap big green shed fermenters have been a real boon for this process too. :beerbang:

 

[mje1980]

Anyone got a list of which UK strains are good for top cropping? I know most of them are, just looking for a few different strains, so when i buy a few more, they are all good top croppers. 1318 seems like a good one. I've used 1469 too, but its not always available. Just got past a run of infections, so want to get back to having a fridge full of sweet sweet UK ale yeasties!!

 

[Midnight Brew]

You can top crop any strain but the true top croppers for the UK strains are

WLP022 Essex
WLP023 Burton Ale
WLP038 Manchester
WLP033 East Midlands
Wyeast 1187 Ringwood Ale
Wyeast 1318 London Ale III
Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale