I've have been successful collecting, washing and re-using yeast cakes with my beers, but I am now looking into top cropping as the yeast is supposed to be more healthy and will last more generations. To do this, some collect a volume of fermenting wort from the top of the fermenter, while some simply collect the krausen from the top.
My idea is this: put a sanitize blow-off tube in my carboy, then put the other end of the tube in a sanitized growler, then wrap the connection in foil. If I make sure to fill the 5 gallon growler to the appropriate mark, then all of the krausen should go into the growler, which should give me a nice, healthy amount of yeast for making my next starter. Right? Any foreseeable problems to this method? Anyone tried it?
My idea is this: put a sanitize blow-off tube in my carboy, then put the other end of the tube in a sanitized growler, then wrap the connection in foil. If I make sure to fill the 5 gallon growler to the appropriate mark, then all of the krausen should go into the growler, which should give me a nice, healthy amount of yeast for making my next starter. Right? Any foreseeable problems to this method? Anyone tried it?
