Bottle-harvesting yeast question

[kdw2pd]

I'm in the process of trying to harvest yeast from a 4-pack of Duvel. I followed the basic instructions (sanitize, flame the bottleneck, leave about 1" of beer, shake the heck out of it before you pour, start with ~200ml of 1.02 wort, etc). I cold-crashed and decanted most of the 200ml wort, and added 800ml of about 75 degree 1.02 wort to the Erlenmeyer flask (based on a guy who successfully harvested Duvel yeast in another thread did). I have a nice krausen going on my stirplate about 12 hours after adding wort. The next steps are 500ml of 1.04 wort, then 1L of 1.04 wort.

My question is: when should I expect to see a nice creamy layer settle out? I know it's still early (RDWHAHB!), and the 1.02 wort is mostly to wake the yeast up, but I've never done this before, and wasn't sure what to be looking for to see if things are going right at this point in the process.

 

[joshjv]

If you were to put the flask in the fridge between steps, you would probably see a yeastie layer starting from the first step. You're not going to see any yeastie layer with the stirplate running, since that is keeping everything in suspension.

Some people will cold crash and decant between steps. If you do, this is a good chance to see what you've grown so far...

1.020 seems pretty small. I usually shoot for 35-40..

 

[flars]

You have a very good start. After cold crashing each step you will see a deeper yeast layer. Just don't rush the time on the stir plate. Give each wort time to be fully fermented. You could take specific gravity samples before cold crashing to see how much the fermentation has accomplished.