Top Crop

I just top cropped my open fermentation of wlp550 yeast. I have a mason jar full of foam. What do I do with it? Will the foam settle into liquid or do I have to put water or wort in it?

 

Great question. Im interested in the answer

 

That's pretty much pure yeast you have there, along with some of the solids they may have brought up with them. You'll want to add some boiled and cooled (or otherwise sanitized) water to the jar.

 

When i top crop, i boil and cool water in mason jars then add the "foam" or yeast to that. Doing it with the liquid helps create that solid layer of yeast that will settle to the bottom of the jar.

I'd say boil and cool enough water to fill half the jar, that'll settle all the yeast out, then you can pitch into starter like usual with liquid yeast

IMO top cropping is much better/easier than washing, simply becuase you are getting the freshest most active yeast

 

Yes, agree. That's what I do. When I'm scooping it out, I usually have a little water in the jar, cap, then shake it to knock down the foam, then keep filling. It allows me to get more foam in the jar.

Top cropping FTW. And that's a great strain for it.

 

I didnt put any water in it. The foam settled but is thick. How many yeast cells are in a ml of pure teast?

 

About 4 to 4.5 billion.

 

How much yeast is safe to grab?

 

grab as much as you'd like.

Usually the first bit of krausen is mostly gunk...hop trub, protien, etc. The krausen will look greenish and i usually discard this stuff about 2 days into ferment. A new krausen should appear within half a day and will be white and creamy, this is the money stuff.

 

+1 agreed