Top cropping 3056 worth it?

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greatschmaltez

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I've been reading a lot of literature on bavarian hefeweizen and ran across yet another fermentation step worth considering. It seems many of the breweries in the Motherland top crop the yeast to prevent the sourness of that yeast from affecting the brew. I'm wondering if anyone has gone through this trouble. With my glass carboys, I guess I would just make a six gallon batch with a blow-off to a large vessel (that I'll probably have to empty a few times). Or I could transfer to secondary after 5 days or so of fermentation and let it finish up there. Or I could say that on a 5 gallon scale the top cropping yeast accumulating won't significantly affect the flavor... Any thoughts?
 
I use 3056 for a lot of wheat beers and I have never done this. I have never had a problem with sourness from the yeast. I know people top crop to harvest the yeast for reuse.
 
Yeah, I think I may do that base case (harvest I mean). Just wanted to ask the question because I've only used this strain three times total... Currently on the third time, and I just want to dot every i that I can.

"Brewing with Wheat" was the book I read about that though, when they discus cylindro-conical fermentors versus open fermentation.
 
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