Yeast Farming

[lucas]

Transfer the beer off the cake and remove all the beer [not the yeast] Pour 500ml of your sterile water into the fermenter and give it a very good swill around to mix the yeast and water, now with the sanitised beer glass collect enough of the yeast solution to almost fill one of the jars. Shake it really well and lightly seal it and set it in the fridge for about 10 - 15 minutes. The heavy material will drop and you can now pour the top 3/4 of the liquid into the other jar and top up with sterile water.

Shake and set aside for 10 -15 minutes and in that time sanitise the other jar. After the 10 minutes pour the milky yeast liquid into the 2nd jar and top up with sterile water. Shake and set aside for 10 -15 minutes and in that time sanitise the first jar. Now pour the top 3/4 of the liquid into the other jar and top up with sterile water. Shake and set aside for 10 -15 minutes and in that time sanitise the 3 small sample jars.

I get very lost reading this part. can someone go through and perhaps label each jar a and b so i can understand which jar im adding the sterile water to and which jar im supposed to be sanatising?

or perhaps what the end result is in simple terms? am i trying to wash out all the sugars so its just sterile water and yeast at the end? so the jar kept is always the one with sediment?

thanks,

lucas

 

[tangent]

i agree
it' all the "that jar"s that make it confusing.
if it read jarA jarB etc. maybe it's run a bit smoother.
that's why i'm keen on a Krotchrot video on the process

 

[pint of lager]

For another take on yeast washing, have a read of this Wyeast link.

Both the Wyeast site and the Whitelabs site have very inetersting FAQs and eductaion areas. Any budding yeast user should read these thoroughly. Also, any budding farmer should check out Sosman's brewiki site, he gathered all the yeast farming links he could find onto one page plus includes pictures of his own efforts.

 

[lucas]

ok, so i want to try this with the yeast from a starter I made but ended up not needing. its in a 1.25L soft drink bottle and has 3-4mm of yeast settled on the bottom. is there anything extra i can do to get the most possible yeast from it that mightnt be possible with a whole fermenter? ie. will refridgerating it before pouring off the starter beer make more yeast settle to the bottom?

 

[Dunkel_Boy]

What a great thread. What (chiller, POL) kind of effects do you think cleaning has on the yeast? I assume that is what you're doing with all the sterlised water, but is the stress on the yeast significant, and if so, necessary?

I would also like to compile a list of commercial brews (Guiness, Chimay, Hoegaarden, etc.) that have our favourite yeasts ready for us to steal, and if they use a different yeast (Coopers), a note for that.

 

[Stuster]

This link will help you with the latter. Not sure about the former, but I have been using this method and have had quite quick start times when reviving the yeast and similar fermentation characteristics, so it looks like some of the wee beasties are surviving well.

 

[Dunkel_Boy]

This link will help you with the latter. Not sure about the former, but I have been using this method and have had quite quick start times when reviving the yeast and similar fermentation characteristics, so it looks like some of the wee beasties are surviving well.

[post="116723"][/post]​

Thanks for the link. To tell you the truth, I've been over at the Green Screen too much, and cleaning/washing yeast is probably less stressful than throwing into hot water, strong wort, or making it compete with bacteria.

Cheers.

 

[chug!chug!]

Im just getting into liquid yeasts. First off whitelabs english ale.
Made first starter no dramas and poured off 500mls for next time.
Next starter had sanitation issue and rejected due to off taste :blink: :excl: .
Returned to fridge. Two weeks later sediment has a darker brown layer over the usual light brown yeast colour.
Can I save this yeast with the chiller method???
I have started anyway for practice and plan to restart from the 50ml sample and see how it goes.....

 

[pint of lager]

Chug, general rule of yeast work. If in doubt, chuck it out. Always have a pack of good dried yeast as a backup.

Knowing if a starter is ok or not is a skill learned. Start with a regular liquid yeast and make a starter. Keep sniffing and tasting. Then as your yeast work becomes more complex, and you start with smaller amounts of viable yeast, you have a good basis to assess your starter quality.

If your yeast has any issues, it is definitely not a candidate for any method, chuck it out.

Keep reading, learning, sniffing and tasting. Be as clean and sanitary at every stage of yeast work.

 

[Cortez The Killer]

I've harvested 3 jars of yeast as described above about 3 weeks ago and they have happily been sitting in the fridge.

Last night I decided to fire one up. I used 10g of LDME in about 100ml and boiled this for the requsite time. I let one of the jars come back up to room temp. I then poured off most of the water in the jar and added the yeast solution to the cooled wort.

Now my question is - what should the yeast smell like? The jar had a fairly pungent smell, but I put this down to it being yeast.

Unsure I left the culture to fire up overnight. I had a look this morning and it appears to look and smell fine with a good yeast bed and a thick krausen.

Am I stressing? Have I got an infection? Or does harvested yeast have an unpleasant smell?

Cheers

 

[DJR]

Am I stressing? Have I got an infection? Or does harvested yeast have an unpleasant smell?

Cheers

You'd be surprised how much smell a yeast can generate - taste the starter and you should be able to tell if there is anything weird going on. If it tastes sour, overly sulphuric or overly funky then be worried about it. But it sounds like you should be OK. Remember you are growing yeast not making beer.

 

[Cortez The Killer]

I stepped the culture up to 500ml on saturday and pitched yesterday - smelt and tasted just fine

Cheers

I think I just needed a bit of reassurance - cause everyone around me was telling me how bad it smelt

 

[Yeasty]

Ive started yeast collecting...(its a pitty they cant go along side the collector models in the display )

How many times can i safely "wash" the yeast without losing it all?

Ive collected the trub from my fermentor. I had say a cup of it. It had the remains of hop pellets in it as well, so it was nice and greenish in colour.

So far i mixed it with sterile water in a jar and shaken it, then let sit, and poured off the top into the new jar and refilled about 4-5 times.

Im getting closer to a whitish sort of build up in the bottom, but the liquid still comes out a little greenish.

Im going to have to let the jar sit overnight now, so do i wake up tomorrow and pour off the top liquid, then fill with sterile water and shake?

Then do i let that sit for 24hrs again?

once its close to being a clear liquid on top, do i then transfer what i have to smaller containers for the fridge?

Anyone got any whitelabs tubes i could have?

 

[Franko]

Yeasty,
you can buy tubes from here
ProSciTech

Franko

 

[Yeasty]

cheers

does - AUD19.00 /pk/50

mean for $19 u get a pack of 50? Im having a beer moment

 

[Franko]

cheers

does - AUD19.00 /pk/50

mean for $19 u get a pack of 50? Im having a beer moment

you've got it one all 50 of em for $19

 

[Yeasty]

well after rinsing through the trub about 4-5 times last night i had to let it sit in the fridge overnight. I woke up this morning and there was a thin yeast layer in the bottom of the jar. (i basically ony collected the cloudy liquid last night after each settling)

Now the liquid on top was a very clear light green. I tipped that off, and refilled with streile water, and i shook that up which is now a very yeast white colour

Im very happy with what ive collected. Now to buy some test tubes

 

[devo]

Hey fella's

Found a pretty good yeast starter time laps experiment on youtube. worth a gander

 

[warrenlw63]

Huh!! I'll be buggered.

You would have thought that No. 3 would be the hands down winner... Now that's a bit of a suprise. I like the way the rubber glove looked like it was waving. :lol:

Warren -

 

[devo]

yes, I was thinking the same so i guess I won't be rushing out to buy an oxygen set up now.

personally I would have taped down all the fingers except the middle one..