Has anyone had luck culturing from the bottom of your keg? I was thinking that the bottom has active yeast that can be pitched to a starter and then re-pitched into a new batch. This saves putting in mason jars, decanting etc.
Culturing From Keg
- Thread starter asdtexas
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COLObrewer
Well-Known Member
I'm sure it would work, just remember you are selecting the least flocculant yeast of the population each time you do it. I would think eventually you would have real clarity problems at the least.
+1 to the comments offered by the gentleman from Colorado. I bought a yeast geneticist a few beers a while back to buy an hour of his time, and prime on my mind was this idea of "genetic drift". The summary of what he told me is that homebrewers have essentially nothing to worry about from yeast mutation, but A LOT to worry about from unintentional yeast selection pressure. If you harvest from a keg, you're going to be getting a yeast that is significantly different (and probably worse) from the yeast that was in the beer.
kanzimonson
Well-Known Member
So what do you do with your pet geneticist now?
He performs menial tasks for me around the brewery and sings me to sleep at night. I think a pet geneticist is the best investment any homebrewer can make (after temperature control and a stir plate, of course).
