harvesting yeast slurry from bucket fermenter

[Zeppman]

Hey all,

I'm in the process of trying to find new fermentation vessels to replace my glass carboys. (Found a large crack during the last brew and don't want to deal with the dangers of glass anymore.) Harvesting yeast is one of my priorities. With my old glass carboys I've had decent success with yeast washing as illustrated in this forum. I'm assuming if my new fermentor has a large opening (such as a bucket), I can just scoop slurry out with a sanitized spoon, and collect in jars? I would just be careful to skim the top most layer of the cake.

Anyone else do this?

 

[LLBeanJ]

Yes, I do exactly that often. I don't wash, though. If I'm reusing yeast from a fermenter, I will usually scoop some slurry out of one fermenter and toss it into another one that is full of fresh wort or into a mason jar to direct-pitch into soon to be brewed wort. All of my clean yeast is harvested from a previous starter.

 

[Zeppman]

Cool, what do you use to ferment in? (Since i'm still weighing options)

 

[Weezy]

You might consider top cropping. Skim off and discard the first thin layer of junk that shows up when the krausen first starts building, then a nice clean creamy white krausen will build....collect that before it falls. No trub to deal with.

 

[Tinpanharry]

Woodlandbrew did some research into how much viable yeast is in the trub versus the creamy stuff on top and found good yeast in both. http://www.woodlandbrew.com/2012/12/yeast-washing-exposed.html

 

[Weezy]

Its not so much about good yeast as it is about no trub. You don't need to wash the floaters.

 

[LLBeanJ]

I ferment in buckets, as they are easy to fill, move, and clean.

 

[WoodlandBrew]

In my experience microscope examination showed that water washing yeast does a poor job of removing trub. Water washing used in laboratory protocols to separate the suspended particles from the solution.

To the op's question: I find that fermentation buckets are much easier to use than glass carboys. The wide opening makes almost everything much easier. For harvesting I swirl the slurry in a little of the beer and poor into a mason jar in the sink. It really doesn't need to be any more complicated than that.

 

[Zeppman]

Thanks guys,

And never any strange off flavors from plastic?

 

[LLBeanJ]

Never.

 

[WoodlandBrew]

Ditto. No off flavors from plastic.

 

[Orthobrewsky]

Thanks guys,

And never any strange off flavors from plastic?

I don't use buckets, but according to the September Zymurgy, the most recent Ninkasi Award winner (AZ_IPA to us) uses plastic buckets. It can't be that bad.

 

[Gavin C]

In my experience microscope examination showed that water washing yeast does a poor job of removing trub. Water washing used in laboratory protocols to separate the suspended particles from the solution.

To the op's question: I find that fermentation buckets are much easier to use than glass carboys. The wide opening makes almost everything much easier. For harvesting I swirl the slurry in a little of the beer and poor into a mason jar in the sink. It really doesn't need to be any more complicated than that.

Just did this yesterday. Harvested 6 1/2 pint mason jars of slurry from primary. Racked the ESB to keg, swirled the slurry and poured it into my sanitized jars (previously boiled for 10+minutes and allowed to cool). Prior to this I had been using the yeast washing methods so well documented in the yeast forum. Without the rinsing the process is much simpler and quicker. I'm going to pitch 2 jars into a stout to be brewed this weekend.

 

[flashcdog]

Gavin... dumb question here.

When you say slurry you mean everything at the bottom yes? I know stupid question but I am most interested in simplifying the yeast harvesting process and I have read several threads where the definition of slurry is questioned.

BTW I read your BIAB setup and am most impressed... I might have to try and bring my BIAB setup inside.

Cheers!