Heady Topper yeast harvest

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sambr0n1

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Trying my hand at harvesting some Conan from a can of heady topper. Starting a yeast starter w dme and some yeast nutrients, and a can of heady. I'll let you know how it goes!

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I've never harvested before and I've got the better part of a case of heady in my fridge. This makes me want to try.
 
Give me all your hill farmstead and lunch!! I'd demand the heady if I didn't alreayd have it in the fridge.

I harvested my first a few weeks ago and will be kegging my Citra IPA tomorrow that I brewed with the Conan. I also pitched a Belma IPA on the cake which I will be racking on Sunday.

I had great luck harvesting off 2 cans to give me more chances for some healthy yeast. It was my first attempt harvesting myself.
 
Hey, want to trade some beer. I have never had Heady and am in San Diego. i could trade you some Pliny or Alpine or something else. Really wnat to tr y to harvest the yeast as well as I have read great things. Let me know if you are interested.
 
I understand the concept. Just more of equipment needed and how do you know when you have enough and when do you pitch?
 
Yeast ring is looking damn fine today. Definitely getting some good yeast growth in here. It smells delicious too. You can tell that so many of the tropical flavors come directly from this yeast strain. I'm so excited to brew with this.
 
Yeast ring is looking damn fine today. Definitely getting some good yeast growth in here. It smells delicious too. You can tell that so many of the tropical flavors come directly from this yeast strain. I'm so excited to brew with this.

Just so you don't lose hope later on, those tropical aromas will go away as you get further and further away from the initial dregs, after each step up. It's just that it's really the actual Heady Topper that gives those smells, not the yeast fermentation. Once you get to the size where you have to decant, most of the tropical notes will be gone and depending on how hot you are fermenting, other strange smells may appear due to the oxidation and stuff.
 
Sambr0n1

Here is what I just picked up. Let's work out a trade. I want a 4pack of fresh Heady and would be interested in some KBS or Hill Farmstead too.

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Here is another picture of the haul.

Sorry about crappy picture quality. 4 pliny, 2 blind pig, 1 redemption blonde, 1 damnation golden ale.

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Cbaddad said:
Here is another picture of the haul.

Sorry about crappy picture quality. 4 pliny, 2 blind pig, 1 redemption blonde, 1 damnation golden ale.

Pliny is good but heady is wayyyy better. IMO zombie dust is better. I've had Pliny once and could careless to have it again.
 
I haven't had either that you mentioned since we don't get it out here, but a FRESH Pliny is hard to beat. However, I would imagine that a lot of breweries are starting to catch up to Vinny from RR since he has been so forthcoming with his ideas and craft. Hopefully I can trade with someone for some Heady so that I can compare them myself.
 
Cbaddad said:
I haven't had either that you mentioned since we don't get it out here, but a FRESH Pliny is hard to beat. However, I would imagine that a lot of breweries are starting to catch up to Vinny from RR since he has been so forthcoming with his ideas and craft. Hopefully I can trade with someone for some Heady so that I can compare them myself.

Agreed fresh is key! Maybe I'm just spoiled :) there's a reason that heady is #1 on BA. More people then just me agree!
 
Any chance you can get your hands on Supplecation or temptation by RR? I can't ship growlers of HF, but could probably get some bottles. I can do some heady topper, and did you want the Maine brewing lunch too?
 
I don't know of its worth anything but I go to keene every Thursday for work. So if you're looking for a hook up and are willing to drive a couple hours I could help you out.
 
Hey man, I actually grew up near keene, and will be making the trip in two weeks. Do you want some blue lobster? The ipa is incredible honestly.
 
I heard of blue lobster just yesterday. I guess the guy who started it, or maybe it was a brewer left Hill Farmstead to go to blue lobster.
 
Yeah, the head brewer (Dave) worked at HF for 2 years or so. Their new IPA "A Town Called Earth" is very similar to HF Abner. Really good stuff if you ever want to make an exchange.
 
So how did the harvest go? Did you use a stir plate? What kind of steps did you use to grow the starter. I currently have a Conan harvest underway but it looks like I am not gonna get anything... a little worried.

I started with an 8 ounce starter using 1 ounce of DME then stepped it up with 16 ounces of water adn 2 ounces of DME. Gonna do a final step tonight then crash it tomorrow to see what I have, if anything.
 
So how did the harvest go? Did you use a stir plate? What kind of steps did you use to grow the starter. I currently have a Conan harvest underway but it looks like I am not gonna get anything... a little worried.

I started with an 8 ounce starter using 1 ounce of DME then stepped it up with 16 ounces of water adn 2 ounces of DME. Gonna do a final step tonight then crash it tomorrow to see what I have, if anything.

Were you able to read my post about it? link in my sig. If you haven't gotten foam when you shake it you're going to have to increase the heat. Get it to 75 degrees or so shake the crap out of it and it'll wake up.
 
Were you able to read my post about it? link in my sig. If you haven't gotten foam when you shake it you're going to have to increase the heat. Get it to 75 degrees or so shake the crap out of it and it'll wake up.

There has been a steady layer of foam on it since I started with some condensation forming on the walls of the flask I use. The foam doesn't look like krausen, it looks more like the head of a beer. It has been on a stir plate for 3 days by now.

I will give it a shake tonight but the stir plate should have kept everything in suspension.

Based off your blog post it appears I am rushing the process.
 
There has been a steady layer of foam on it since I started with some condensation forming on the walls of the flask I use. The foam doesn't look like krausen, it looks more like the head of a beer. It has been on a stir plate for 3 days by now.

I will give it a shake tonight but the stir plate should have kept everything in suspension.

Based off your blog post it appears I am rushing the process.

That first step can be a pain but it sounds like you're good to go on to the next step. Once you get up over 500ml it seems to go normally. I've had action after a day on some, some took 5+ days. I never gave up on any of them though, and eventually something happened, and all the yeast was fine in the end.

The most common solution has been increased temperature. I've had a lot of people contact me in your same position, on this first step, and I've told them all to get it over 70 degrees and everyone reported back that next day they had results.

At this stage, you may not see much activity, you're probably not going to see a typical krausen, you would be lucky to see a few spots of brown crud on the rim at this point. The foam alone shows there is CO2 in the solution, create by some yeast. Even at the 500ml stage, you might not see a normal krausen and will have to go off CO2 and increased yeast cake size.

You should have something similar to this:

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Yeah that looks like mine, minus the yeast layer on the bottom. It has been on a stir plate though so it may just be suspended. I will move it to a warmer spot tonight and see what happens.
 
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The taming of Conan. Just decanted this liquid and dumped a fresh 1500 mL on top of it to sit for another 5 days or so on the stir plate. So excited to use... what to brew?!
 
Agreed fresh is key! Maybe I'm just spoiled :) there's a reason that heady is #1 on BA. More people then just me agree!

I wouldn't put too much stock into the BA top beers list, which is clearly colored by the relative rarity of a given beer.

PtE was #1 for a while, then it was PtY...both beers difficult to get outside CA. Westy 12 held the spot for ages, and we all know how tough it is to get your hands on that. Now the flavor of the moment is Heady, another very good DIPA, but the best beer in the world? Hardly. No doubt it will be supplanted in the near future by the next white wale the beer geek can pound his chest about having all to himself.
 
I was just trying to use as a reference. IMO PTE is overrated (through taste and multiple peoples opinions) and heady has just got something special about it. People constantly want it to harvest the yeast like this thread! Ill beat my chest for it.
 
I agree Mr. Nick. It the defense of PTE, it does have to ship across the country to get here, same with HT to get to Cali. Fresh, Heady is incredible. Although, I do have a soft spot for HF Abner.
 
Abner is amazing man. SS#6 is my favorite so far with Abner second. I haven't tried them all so that could change lol
 
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