Yeast Farming

[Spiesy]

Ok probably a dumb question but I am about to harvest my first yeast ... from a brew I am making now. As part of fermenting I always chill down to 0c at the end of fermenting to clear the beer. Will this adversely affect my ability to harvest the yeast ?

It shouldn't, no.

 

[Yob]

As part of fermenting I always chill down to 0c at the end of fermenting to clear the beer. Will this adversely affect my ability to harvest the yeast ?

It'll actually help, crashing assists yhe yeast in dropping out, so what you end up with is a compact layer on the bottom, a mixture of most flocculent to least flocculent (and dead cells and other assorted crap and hop debris) after you have bottled/kegged you can either let it warm up and take a big old jar full and rinse it or take a big old jar full and bung it in the fridge to rinse later (label it) if using a viability calculator like my malty, use the date of last active fermentation or date of FG.

Cheers

 

[skb]

Great thanks !

 

[heshtek]

If I want to pitch the vials of yeast directly into the wort am I supposed to pour off the layer of water on top of the yeast and replace it with some new boiled water before shaking it up and pitching it?

 

[Yob]

Vials as in wlp? Pitch direct

 

[Icewind]

Guys, i'm looking to get into yeast farming, as I received some WL vials mead, cider yeast, ultra high gravity and a few others. So I may have been able to procure a working stirplate with heat.

Where can I get appropriate test tubes (those baby soda bottle ones look good for not breaking) in Oz?

I'm presuming i'll need the following:

Stirplate
2L erlenmeyer flask
1L erlenmeyer flask
2 x 500ml erlenmeyer flask
30 or so vials
slant racks
sanitising solution
pressure cooker

 

[Yob]

Try MartinOC, he recently did a bulk buy for test tubes so may be able to help out with those,

Where are you located? I may be able to assist with flasks.

Are you going slants or freezing?slants you will need a bit of extra gear

Cheap pressure cookers are rare as rocking horse shit but are invaluable for this hobby.

 

[shaunous]

Cheap pressure cookers are rare as rocking horse shit but are invaluable for this hobby.

BigW currently has a decent looking one on special around the $90 mark.

 

[Eagleburger]

http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR11.TRC1.A0.H0.Xcentrifuge+tube&_nkw=centrifuge+tube&_sacat=0&_from=R40

 

[MartinOC]

These are probably the best ones for what you want to do:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/50-ml-Centrifuge-Tubes-PKT-50-Self-Standing-CT50S-Fusion-Scientific-/331208126993?pt=AU_Business_Industrial_Medical_Scientific_Equipment2&hash=item4d1d8af211

That's a good price & postage is free.

If you go elsewhere, make sure you get ones that are PP or HDPE, so that you can autoclave (pressure-cook) them. Anything made from PET will melt with heat & can only be sanitised chemically. From memory, the WLP vials are actually PET & are the "pre-formed" version of PET soft-drink bottles, so NO HEAT!

 

[Yob]

Re the white labs vials, they soften with heat but don't deform. They are quite thick.

 

[Icewind]

Says the caps aren't auto-clavable? is that an issue?

 

[MartinOC]

Says the caps aren't auto-clavable? is that an issue?

I've done it & not had a problem. Never heard of anyone else having that problem with the ones we ordered from Proscitech (Google it, I dunno how to do schmick things with hyperlinks :unsure: ) in a BB. The ones I linked-to would probably be from the same source. Caveat Emptor, of course!

The only problems I'm aware of is applying heat to PET containers. Products we bought from them warped in boiling water (Proscitech changed their catalogue listing after I brought it to their attention).

 

[TidalPete]

If you buy the autoclavible tubes with the screw-on caps then you're obviously guaranteed that the caps are autoclavible too. I'm still using the16mm tubes (with caps) bought in a BB many years ago.
If you're thinking of getting a pressure cooker then consider a 10-litre minimum size which should be big enough to house a 10-tube rack + syringe + whatever assorted odds & ends you want to sterilise.
Have never had trouble sterilising White Labs vials & caps but the vials do become opaque from the heat. NBD there.

For 20c or so a pop those single-use 10ml sterile syringes are great value being autoclavible & also very handy around the brewery until the rubber plunger or markings wear out from continuous use.

 

[shaunous]

Just dont do what I did and forget about them on the stove, and come back to a smoking pile of melted test tubes and no water, and a pot u can never use again.

 

[shaunous]

For 20c or so a pop those single-use 10ml sterile syringes are great value being autoclavible & also very handy around the brewery until the rubber plunger or markings wear out from continuous use.

Where u get them bad boys form TP?

 

[Grainer]

Got heaps of WLP833 Bock larger and Wyeast Munich Dunket atm if anyone wants it..Just finished about 120L brew..

South East Melbourne

 

[Weizguy]

Been up late making yeast starters.
Reviving some fresh Wyeast Bavarian wheat (2X) - Can't keep enough of this in stock
WLP833 (X2) - One for me and the other for a brew club member of HUB by request.
W1010 - Yeast last stored in April 2010 - small starter - Widmer clone expectations
Wyeast - Flying Dog (PC release) - hope to split for me and Fat *******. Yob? hand up if you want this one when I sort the Pacman for you.

I found a Pacman culture (undated) in a plastic bottle. Looked clean but the lid was damaged. Will see if a sample of it comes good, and maybe ferment the Rogue I²PA that's been waiting years in a cube for this yeast.
And a sample of the Pacman to Yob, as well. If it doesn't come out clean, I may be able to culture on agar and isolate a clean culture (been a while since I used the agar).

Les out

 

[Yob]

"rubs hands together"

Mwoohahahaha

Yes please mate, me have plenty big freezer

 

[Weizguy]

"rubs hands together"

Mwoohahahaha

Yes please mate, me have plenty big freezer

Oh, then you'll also want the King & Barnes festive ale yeast that I saved from a bottle and the Yeast Lab yeasts I got in the early '90s...