Harvesting yeast from secondary

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Indiana Red

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My thoughts are that maybe the yeast gathered this way may be less viable but you'd be leaving behind the hop trub. Maybe moving to secondary a bit earlier while there is still some decent airlock activity to get a better/bigger "harvest".
 
The best way I have found is to brew a yeast starter, split it off, save and brew another yeast starter (depending on how many times you have split it off). Way cleaner and way easier than re harvesting and rinsing the yeast IMO.
 
The best way I have found is to brew a yeast starter, split it off, save and brew another yeast starter (depending on how many times you have split it off). Way cleaner and way easier than re harvesting and rinsing the yeast IMO.

That is definitely the way to go. Works great, and you get nice clean yeast. I have some yeasts that I have kept alive, using this method, for years.
 
You would be selecting the least flocculant cells by harvesting in secondary. This will change the fermentation characteristics of you yeast strain. This could be a good thing or a bad thing. There are some breweries that harvest from bright tanks, so what you are proposing is not 100% without precedent.

If your concern is getting "clean" yeast, then harvest from starters or switch to a strain you can top crop.
 
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