How many yeast cells are you at? I was targeting 3 jars of ~100 billion cells each, so I got up to about 300 billion cells and then crashed for two days in the fridge. I divided it up into 3 jars and then topped with boiled/cooled water for storage.
So if I've done this right, if I decant and add 2 L of fresh wort I should get to 214 B cells (I completed the 3rd step on yeastcalc). If I then do another 2 L step I will end up around 393 total cells. To calculate this I entered 214 in the Initial Cell Count field and did a 1st step of 2 L. Did I do that correctly?
If this is true, I'm thinking I could feasibly break this up into 4 jars with approximately 100 B cells in each. When I'm ready to brew a 1 step starter should get me to enough cells for a 5 gallon batch of 1.07 OG wort. Does this sound right?
Thanks for pointing out this tool. I've always used Mr. Malty to starter size calculation, but this seems a bit more thorough.
Yeah, it does bother me a bit that we make approximations on approximations, so the I'm sure we could easily be off by 2 or more times what we think we have. Thankfully brewing isn't that exact, so what's a few billion yeast cells between friends?the problem with calculating how much yeast we have in our starters is that we have no idea how many cells we're starting with. get that number wrong (which i suspect we are) and all future numbers are off.
i've seen that 2 billion starting number before (i forget who first posted it - veganbrewer?) and i still think it's too high. i suspect that the actual initial count is somewhere between 0.5 to 1 billion - when fresh. typical cell counts in bottled beer is 1M/ml. a can of HT is 472 ml, so if you double the standard count you're still below 1B. the fact that we get HT fresh helps with the cell count, the 8% abv doesn't.
anyone here have a hemocytometer?
That link isn't working for me, but I got it from the Heady Topper harvest thread, specifically this post and from his site, but the link is broken now.the problem with calculating how much yeast we have in our starters is that we have no idea how many cells we're starting with. get that number wrong (which i suspect we are) and all future numbers are off.
i've seen that 2 billion starting number before (i forget who first posted it - veganbrewer?) and i still think it's too high. i suspect that the actual initial count is somewhere between 0.5 to 1 billion - when fresh. typical cell counts in bottled beer is 1M/ml. a can of HT is 472 ml, so if you double the standard count you're still below 1B. the fact that we get HT fresh helps with the cell count, the 8% abv doesn't.
anyone here have a hemocytometer?
EDIT: here is vegan's justification for him estimates: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/conan-yeast-experiences-397947/index8.html#post5181739. i still think they're too high, but what do i know.
Have you ever confirmed the amount of cells after harvesting Conan and doing the step starters to figure out that the 1 to 2 billion per can is accurate?
My next plan for Conan is a bourbon oaked RIS...
I've been wanting to get away from kits so I'm thinking I might use Conan for my first recipe. I've got some whole leaf Calypso and Columbus on the way from a trade so I think that will be my starting point.
Hey guys,
Quick Q for everyone, anyone seen color stratification like this in their conan? I have about 10 mason jars, and all show the same stratification to some degree, but this is my largest individual culture (about 300ML in thick yeast sediment/slurry; this is a 600ML jar), so it is the most pronounced. Almost 100ML is noticeably darker than the bottom 200ML. Thoughts/observations?
I harvested Conan a few time before with excellent results. I have a 400ml step going right now from a recent harvest and all I'm getting is bread-like aromas when I smell it. It is fermenting nicely and it looks real good. But no peach aroma like usual. Anyone ever get that?
-Mike
I wouldn't really worry about that law. I'm sure lots of states have that law. And with you able to get 3 Floyd's you should be able to find someone to trade with.I live in Indiana, which forbids shipments of alcohol into or out of the state. Thus, can't trade for Heady (thanks state of Indiana, for protecting me from myself). I was wondering if anyone has compared Conan with Bell's yeast/Cali V?
That yeast is also aggressive, and also gives some unique tropical fruit tastes to the beers I've brewed with it. Makes an awesome IPA. I'm just wondering if the Conan is so different that it is worth the effort it will take for me to find some.
Mine has been milky for the first day or so after a step up but then it has cleared up. I haven't had krausen issues like that either. It does seem that there is now little to no peach aroma and a lot of bready aroma. My steps were .475L > 1 L > 2 L and I will be finishing up tonight with another 2 L step.
Thanks MTate. I'm trying to figure out if I should dump this or not, don't want to ruin all my brewing effort with poopy yeast bread. I also tasted my decanted 1.6L step and it tasted like total bread & slight medicinal/band-aids. Really unpleasant.
Has anyone ever tasted their conan starter?
I just can't get past the clovey, almost saison-ish notes that come from it. I don't know if the last batch I made was fermented too hot, or what...
It's just not the bee's knees like I wanted it to be. I tossed some of it in a blonde and got the same note. No infection as it's sat around for a while, but side by side on tap in the kegerator, the farmhouse IPA I made and the conan DIPA, almost taste identical, save for the body left in the DIPA versus the saison.
Ehhh..
That's interesting. I've never got anything even close to that kind of flavor/ester profile when I've fermented with it. What temp do you ferment at with it? I ferment Conan at 59-60 myself...
I have had Conan get bad very late gen and give off clove and a little something odd. What attenuation did you get?
I was suspecting this as well...
I have a new harvest of Conan that I haven't fermented with yet. I'll have to pay attention to see if it's any different than my first harvest. I'm not really sure what generation it is. My first harvest was super clean, so I'm guessing it was an early gen.
I only mentioned it because I thought what you said seemed familiar. I drank mine and knew it wasn't infected, but it didn't pop and it was a little weird. I trashed that batch of yeast (found out it was 18th gen) and found a newer gen that was back to normal.
What I want to do is see if there is a way to bring back the good yeast, or if once it's gone, every bit of it is underperforming.
I only mentioned it because I thought what you said seemed familiar. I drank mine and knew it wasn't infected, but it didn't pop and it was a little weird. I trashed that batch of yeast (found out it was 18th gen) and found a newer gen that was back to normal.
What I want to do is see if there is a way to bring back the good yeast, or if once it's gone, every bit of it is underperforming.
How did you find out it was the 18th gen?
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