brewinginct
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2009
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Yesterday, I attempted to harvest Conan yeast from some Heady Topper cans. The beer was probably canned three months ago.
Here's my procedure. (Just a note: I'm aware that it would have been ideal if I had used heat/flame to sterilize the mason jar and cans, rather than Star San.)
1. I prepared 150 ml of wort with a gravity of 1.020, which I poured into a sanitized mason jar.
2. I sanitized three cans of Heady Topper with Star San and poured all but about 30ml of the beer into pint glasses.
3. The remaining 30 ml of beer was swirled around in each can and then poured into the wort in the mason jar.
4. I covered the mason jar with sanitized tin foil and left it in a dark spot, swirling it occasionally.
150 ml isn't exactly a lot of food for the yeast, so I expected this first step in the starter to finish quickly. I checked today and saw zero signs of activity (no foam, clear wort.)
I do think that there is more trub at the bottom of the glass, which could be yeast. The thing is that the trub looks grey, which makes me think it's more the flakes from the can than yeast.
Right now I have the starter sitting in my fridge; I plan on giving it 24 hours, then I will decant and step up to a 1000 ml starter with a gravity of 1.040.
Is my attempt at harvesting Conan off to a bad start? A typical start? I've never harvested yeast from a bottle/can, and despite reading threads on here about harvesting yeast I am still unsure what to expect at this point.
Here's my procedure. (Just a note: I'm aware that it would have been ideal if I had used heat/flame to sterilize the mason jar and cans, rather than Star San.)
1. I prepared 150 ml of wort with a gravity of 1.020, which I poured into a sanitized mason jar.
2. I sanitized three cans of Heady Topper with Star San and poured all but about 30ml of the beer into pint glasses.
3. The remaining 30 ml of beer was swirled around in each can and then poured into the wort in the mason jar.
4. I covered the mason jar with sanitized tin foil and left it in a dark spot, swirling it occasionally.
150 ml isn't exactly a lot of food for the yeast, so I expected this first step in the starter to finish quickly. I checked today and saw zero signs of activity (no foam, clear wort.)
I do think that there is more trub at the bottom of the glass, which could be yeast. The thing is that the trub looks grey, which makes me think it's more the flakes from the can than yeast.
Right now I have the starter sitting in my fridge; I plan on giving it 24 hours, then I will decant and step up to a 1000 ml starter with a gravity of 1.040.
Is my attempt at harvesting Conan off to a bad start? A typical start? I've never harvested yeast from a bottle/can, and despite reading threads on here about harvesting yeast I am still unsure what to expect at this point.