Bottle Harvesting

[NIU_Brew84]

This is what I've found, just checking if the instructions are correct (in this instance I'm looking to bottle harvest from Sierra Nevada Pale Ale):

1. Pour the last bit of beer/sediment from several beers into a yeast starter (sanitized jar with 1 pint of water 1/2c of DME boiled and cooled)

2. Cover/put on air lock and let ferment until settled out.

Then you just repeat that process with the same batch until you get a nice "creamy" layer of yeast? Is it better to keep adding new wort to the same bottle containing the yeast? Or should it be transferred to fresh jar/wort each time?

 

[dbhokie]

I don't put an airlock on. I generally have it on a stir plate with aluminum foil over the top, just like a starter.

 

[Pie_Man]

I've not done this yet, but this guy's video seems pretty good:

I'd start with a basic 1.040 OG yeast starter, for this I do 1g of DME per 10mL of water.

Also, for what it's worth, Sierra Nevada is WLP001 or Wyeast 1056.

 

[ao125]

Also, for what it's worth, Sierra Nevada is WLP001 or Wyeast 1056.

Yeah - I'm not sure why you'd want to culture that, when it can be had so inexpensively from Safeale, Wyeast, or White Labs - unless of course you aren't anywhere near a home brew shop.

 

[tre9er]

Harvest your own yeast after each brew, too. I wish I had done this from the beginning. Save yourself $5-$10 per brew! Plus some of those strains aren't always around when you roll up to the LHBS last-minute before a brew!

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

First off, read this. It's very easy to harvest from a bottle, it just takes a little time to get the yeast up to population.
Second, when harvesting, make sure that the bottle conditioning strain is the strain you're looking for. Many breweries do not use the fermentation strain to bottle condition. SN is one of these, they're fermentation strain is Wy 1056, but according to their brewer, they bottle condition with a different yeast.
Last, there's TONS of threads here on HBT about harvesting yeast from many different commercial beers.

 

[JonK331]

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-7.html

 

[pfgonzo]

First off, read this. It's very easy to harvest from a bottle, it just takes a little time to get the yeast up to population.
Second, when harvesting, make sure that the bottle conditioning strain is the strain you're looking for. Many breweries do not use the fermentation strain to bottle condition. SN is one of these, they're fermentation strain is Wy 1056, but according to their brewer, they bottle condition with a different yeast.
Last, there's TONS of threads here on HBT about harvesting yeast from many different commercial beers.

In Chris White's Yeast, he says many breweries claim they use a different yeast to bottle condition, but that they're lying. Food for thought. Not sure if SN is one of them. :cross:

 

[NIU_Brew84]

When you're harvesting your own from the fermenter, how do you store it? I've read steps indicating basically to stage it up with yeast starter as noted above and then to pour it off into pre-boiled water and keep sealed in the fridge. Sound right? and how long should it keep?

 

[tre9er]

There are varying opinions on this. I take the easy route: whatever doesn't make it into bottles/keg goes into a few large mason jars. Once the liquid settles out a bit, I split these into about 4 containers, leaving the bottom-most sediment behind.

I don't wash or make starters. I just set a jar out on brew day plenty early so it hits room temp by the time I need to pitch.

 

[jmprdood]

^^^Some make yeast harvesting out to be rocket surgery, it ain't - I top crop during fermentation and bottle harvest as well. Use very good sanitization and you are good to go.