Too Much Trub + Top Cropping

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kidsmoke

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I'm attempt my first top cropping of some WLP037 yeast. I brewed up a batch and pitched on Saturday.

My problem is that after the first skim off of the trub, the same brown layer has floated back to the top. I've skimmed several more times and it keeps happening. I'm wondering if I anybody else who has top cropped has faced this issue and if this affects the formation of a thick yeast layer?
 
I don't understand the question, the brew you are top cropping from is not going to stop fermenting just because you scraped some of the kreusen off the top. Thick yeast layer? Where?
 
What I meant is that there is an excessive amount of trub in the way of the yeast. Everytime I skim it off I'm left with a lot of trub a thin amount of yeast krausen—unlike most other krausen at this point—after skimming of the intial "brown" krausen—which are usually thick with yeast.

I finally gave up and skimmed off some of the krausen with a few specs of the trub on it. I think if you're left with too much trub it gets in the way of the top cropping yeast and they can't form a really thick krausen.
 
What I meant is that there is an excessive amount of trub in the way of the yeast. Everytime I skim it off I'm left with a lot of trub a thin amount of yeast krausen—unlike most other krausen at this point—after skimming of the intial "brown" krausen—which are usually thick with yeast.

I finally gave up and skimmed off some of the krausen with a few specs of the trub on it. I think if you're left with too much trub it gets in the way of the top cropping yeast and they can't form a really thick krausen.

I am brewing and top cropping a wyeast 1469 at the moment, which sounds like the same strain as what you are using. There is no science behind top-cropping. There should be a thick sludge at the top. It will be almost 100% yeast. A little bit of crud transferred from the kettle has most likely settled during the time you transferred and the build up of the krausen. Get after it with a big laddle!

My krausen was almost an inch thick and felt like cutting through cottage cheese when I top cropped it. Awesome stuff! It grew back in no time at all as well, so keep at it for as much as you want.

:mug:
 
I am brewing and top cropping a wyeast 1469 at the moment, which sounds like the same strain as what you are using. There is no science behind top-cropping. There should be a thick sludge at the top. It will be almost 100% yeast. A little bit of crud transferred from the kettle has most likely settled during the time you transferred and the build up of the krausen. Get after it with a big laddle!

My krausen was almost an inch thick and felt like cutting through cottage cheese when I top cropped it. Awesome stuff! It grew back in no time at all as well, so keep at it for as much as you want.

:mug:

Man, I wish my krausen would have been that deep. I think I would have continued skimming the trub off, but I realized at some point that I was also getting a lot of the yeast that managed to float to the top.

Also, for the record, I'm using the other Yorkshire yeast, WLP037.
 
I usually wait at least 4 days before first skimming the krausen. The next phase of yeast will normally be pure and white. If you start skimming 24 hours in when fermentation hasn't nearly completed, the brown goop will just come back to the top because the active fermentation phase hasn't finished. The amount of hop and trub in the fermenter also makes for a "messier" skim. If I were to pitch right away, I would pitch brown goop and all but since I store it for a week or more, I need more yeast and less trub material.

I haven't used Yorkshire yet, but I'm on my 4th generation of 1318 and the yeast pretty much has the consistency of peanut butter. It actually "breaks" on the surface when scooped, like thick icing on a cake.
 
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