Yeast harvest question

[Blackdirt_cowboy]

I am attempting to harvest the yeast from my first brew, a Bavarian dopplebock. The yeast that I used was wyeast Munich lager 2308. I poured the yeast off the trub from the fermenter into a gallon jar. I ended up letting the jar sit overnight because something was confusing me. This is what I woke up to this morning.

I was confused because I expected the yeast to be creamy and white, and the whiter stuff was settling to the bottom. However, as you can see from the photo, the yeast is actually quite dark. Is this because my beer is so dark? How will this affect the flavor of any beer I use it on in the future? Finally, my beer is going to end up around 8.3% ABV. I read last night not to harvest yeast from a dark brew or a beer over 6% ABV because they will be too stressed. Anything to that? If I need to, I will throw the yeast out, but would like to hang onto it to save money on future brews if it is in fact good yeast. What say the experts?

Not sure why the picture is sideways, and I don't know how to fix it. Sorry.

 

[Morrey]

I have always read that harvesting yeast from a high ABV beer such as yours may not give good results. I also like to have semi-clean wort going into fermenter if I plan to harvest yeast.

My opinion...you got a layer of trub on the bottom, a fairly nice yeast layer for sure, but the ABV may dissuade me from re-pitching this jar.

On your next high ABV beer you may consider stepping up (over building) the original starter and save back half of the starter for a new batch. This gives you a "clean" starting point.

 

[mongoose33]

Let me suggest an alternate route. Harvesting yeast is an advanced technique. If you used that yeast in your next batch and it didn't turn out, would you attribute that to having screwed up the yeast harvesting or to some other mistake in process or recipe?

I'm of the opinion that for new brewers their first few brews should be a simple as reasonable so they can learn the process and get it down pat. The exception would be if you had someone locally who was mentoring you, but if you're doing it alone, well, lots that can happen.

The more variables you have operating the harder it is to pin down the source of a problem. It's possible all can go right, but is that the way to bet? I wouldn't.

Now, if you're just harvesting to play with it and learn about it, bully for you. But if you were planning on using that yeast, I wouldn't if I were you. I'd get a fresh pack and brew with that.

Brewing isn't rocket science but it is a science, and the more moving parts you have, the more possibility for something to go wrong.

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Anyway, welcome to the insanity, and good luck. It's fun! And since you have that yeast in a jar, why not try to wash it, see what you can do with it? But until you can repeat the process and produce the same thing, and a good thing.....

My 2 cents.

 

[Blackdirt_cowboy]

Thanks for the advice. I was harvesting it in part to learn about the process, and if it turned out well, I would use it. But like I said, I have no problems thowing it out if it won't work. If the consensus is that the ABV stressed the yeast too much, I'll toss it. I did sterilize a spoon and stir the yeast back up into suspension, leaving the trub on the bottom. I poured it off into smaller jars. I ended up with two really nice, clean jars of yeast. The other jar has a slight amount of trub in it. So now I know that I absolutely can harvest yeast, but what beers/conditions are ideal for this process? I'm I'll post up some pics of my jars when I get home later tonight.

 

[deepbluegroove]

This has maybe been explained before, but I stopped washing yeast. Because there are all types of issues with trub, and hops transferring from batch to batch. So I then started overbuilding my starters. Read up on the process on brulosophy.com. Much simpler.

 

[HausBrauerei_Harvey]

I just swirl the carboy and dump into sanitized mason jars and put in the fridge, trub and all. Works great for me, i keep 4-6 strains going, my saison strain for over 20 generations now with no issues. if the cake is a few months old i'll give is a small starter on a stir plate to wake up the cells and bit and usually have active fermentation just 2-4 hours post pitching.