How do I harvest yeast?

I've heard two schools of thought on this and was curious as to what you folks out there do. The first involves skimming the yeast off the krausen and culturing. The main flaw I see in this method is that I'd be picking up a lot of "stuff" with an unknown amount of yeast. The second involves waiting until primary is complete and getting yeast off the bottom of the fermenter after racking to secondary.

Either way, how the #%#@ do I get the yeast out of the carboy without contaminating it?

Follow the yeast link in my signature. I use a sanitized glass to scoop the goop out of the bottom of the fermenter.

EDIT: Oops, just realized you're talking about a carboy, not a bucket. For a glass carboy, flame the mouth of the carboy briefly with a propane torch. For a plastic carboy, squirt some Star San (or equivalent sanitizer) on the carboy mouth and let it sit for the recommended contact time (a couple of minutes). Swirl the carboy around until you get the trub and yeast a bit loose. Pour all the "good stuff" into a sanitized jar or flask. Proceed with the rest of the steps outlined in the yeast link.

Thanks for the link, it helps a lot. How do you actually get the yeast from the bottom of your carboy? I could pour it out I suppose, but am concerned about potential contamination as the yeast flows over the brown ring o' dead yeast. (Or am I worrying too much?) :fro:

Thanks again for the edit, I think I posted my follow up right after you. I like the AG recipe for Alton Brown's Better Brew. That show is what got me into homebrewing. (You mean I can do THAT?!) I altered my method from his after I picked up "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" as pre-brew research but man, what an eye-opener.

Carne de Perro said:

Thanks for the link, it helps a lot. How do you actually get the yeast from the bottom of your carboy? I could pour it out I suppose, but am concerned about potential contamination as the yeast flows over the brown ring o' dead yeast. (Or am I worrying too much?) :fro:

Click to expand...

You won't need to worry about the trub ring inside the carboy since it's already sanitized, it's just dead and you'll get rid of them when you let the yeast settle. You should sanitize the mouth of the carboy though.