Harvesting Yeast from "Unfiltered" Primary

My standard practice when transferring my cooled wort from the kettle to primary is to pour it through a funnel/strainer, so that it catches the larger hops and break material. However, this past weekend, I brewed a stout that I added cherries and cranberries to. While my recipe was different, I still checked out Papazian's "Cherries In The Snow" recipe, and followed his directions regarding when to add fruit.

What this meant was that, right after flameout, I scooped out as much of the boiling hops as I could without being OCD...then, I added the finishing hop pellets and the fruit while it was still hot, so that they would sanitize. I then cooled, poured the whole thing into my big bucket, and pitched.

My question, though, is: I used some harvested Wyeast London ESB yeast; this is only the second time with this strain. I love this yeast, it flucculates really well and produces very clear beer. So I'd like to harvest it at least 2 more times. But, I worry with this batch, because it wasn't properly strained like I usually do. Not to mention all the gunk from the finishing hops that I put directly into the wort.

So, do you think there's any point in harvesting this batch? Or should I just give up on it? I know that I can usually separate out much of the trub through the standard yeast harvesting practices, but I'm not sure if that will work as well with all this gunk in my primary.

There's only one way to find out...go ahead and go through your yeast-washing procedure. You should be able to tell visually whether you've been able to seperate the yeast slurry off the trub sufficiently. If not, just toss it.

Just wash it good and it'll come out clean.

Sometimes I'll use the usual washing procedures then if the liquid is a bit dark I'll re-wash it until it's just very light colored water (indicating some beer is in the mix). Then I'll pour off most of the liquid and seperate into baby food jars for several batches of yeast.

I would not try to harvest yeast after some high gravity/alcogol beer fermentation. Yeast is not very strong after extreem fermentations and better not used for something else.

AdIn said:

I would not try to harvest yeast after some high gravity/alcogol beer fermentation. Yeast is not very strong after extreem fermentations and better not used for something else.

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Well, the stout in question isn't very high grav.

I do plan on harvesting the Pacman from the Winter Ale that's fermenting right now, though. Its OG was around 1.075. But Pacman is a resilient yeast---Rogue does PLENTY of high-grav beers, and Maier says he reuses his yeast 6 times. I'll just be sure to add yeast nutrients to the starter, and they'll be fine.

Evan, go with HB Bill's suggestion. BTW , I love that yeast too!

My main worry right now is those damned cherry pits. They'll most assuredly be polluting my trub. I might have to filter the trub through a sanitized large-holed strainer.