Yeast Harvesting in a Conical

[BrewingGunner]

Hello everyone! Looking for some tips on trub dumps and yeast harvesting.

When do you do the first trub dump?

When is the best time to harvest yeast?

Do you need to wash the harvested yeast?

Which part of the yeast do you keep?

Thanks in advance. This is my first time harvesting! Looking to step up my game.

 

[Darwin18]

This website's FAQs should give you the basics of what you're looking for:

http://conical-fermenter.com/info-discussions/

 

[BrewingGunner]

Bump

 

[SagamoreAle]

I do the first dump@ 4 days and the second at 9-10. I harvested the yeast a couple of times from the second dump.

 

[BrewingGunner]

I do the first dump@ 4 days and the second at 9-10. I harvested the yeast a couple of times from the second dump.

Thanks for the advice. After you get all of the yeast out, how long do you secondary in there? I'm assuming 5-7 days after fermentation is complete? I used to primary in the carboy for 10-14 days, and then secondary for another 5-7 days. So following that formula, I'm guessing 15-21 days in the conical?

 

[SagamoreAle]

Fermentation for me is usually done around 2 weeks, then I keg.

If I'm making a keeper, I rack to a glass carboy. I don't want to keep the conical tied up because I usually have another beer I'm ready to brew.

 

[eastoak]

seems like you would only dump yeast after the beer has fermented but i don't have a conical so what do i know?

 

[BrewingGunner]

seems like you would only dump yeast after the beer has fermented but i don't have a conical so what do i know?

That's the fine line. You want the yeast to clean up the flavors, but you don't want the beer to sit on dead yeast. Plus you want the middle layer of yeast. The early fallout is weak and the late may be schizoid or so I hear.

 

[SagamoreAle]

seems like you would only dump yeast after the beer has fermented but i don't have a conical so what do i know?

You can simply pour the wort from a new brew onto the yeast cake immediately after bottling/kegging the previous.

I never harvested yeast from a carboy for cultivation. If you want to do that, somebody else will need to pipe in.

 

[BrewingGunner]

You can simply pour the wort from a new brew onto the yeast cake immediately after bottling/kegging the previous.

I never harvested yeast from a carboy for cultivation. If you want to do that, somebody else will need to pipe in.

I don't use carboys. I'm harvesting from a conical.

 

[eastoak]

That's the fine line. You want the yeast to clean up the flavors, but you don't want the beer to sit on dead yeast. Plus you want the middle layer of yeast. The early fallout is weak and the late may be schizoid or so I hear.

unless the conical is in a hot environment the yeast in a conical will not be dead for a very long time, not a home brew conical anyway. i'm not sure getting the "middle layer" is a very precise operation anyway. many people here, including me, scoop up some amount of yeast from the bottom of the fermentor and pitch that.

 

[BrewingGunner]

unless the conical is in a hot environment the yeast in a conical will not be dead for a very long time, not a home brew conical anyway. i'm not sure getting the "middle layer" is a very precise operation anyway. many people here, including me, scoop up some amount of yeast from the bottom of the fermentor and pitch that.

I understand, but i am not interested in, or looking for information on how to collect yeast from a carboy, or pouring wort back on top of the yeast cake.

I'm not trying to be rude or flame anyone here, but...look at the title of the thread. I' looking for help on HARVESTING yeast from a CONICAL. I don't care about anything to dowith a carboy, pail etc.

However, thanks for responding.

 

[eastoak]

I understand, but i am not interested in, or looking for information on how to collect yeast from a carboy, or pouring wort back on top of the yeast cake.

I'm not trying to be rude or flame anyone here, but...look at the title of the thread. I' looking for help on HARVESTING yeast from a CONICAL. I don't care about anything to dowith a carboy, pail etc.

However, thanks for responding.

i was just pointing out the imprecision of "top, middle and bottom layer" when it comes to harvesting yeast in ANY fermentor. scooping it out of the bottom of a mason jar, bucket, carboy or conical makes no real difference outside of a lab.

don't worry, you can't be rude to me or flame me, i'm not that sensitive.

 

[afr0byte]

i was just pointing out the imprecision of "top, middle and bottom layer" when it comes to harvesting yeast in ANY fermentor. scooping it out of the bottom of a mason jar, bucket, carboy or conical makes no real difference outside of a lab.

don't worry, you can't be rude to me or flame me, i'm not that sensitive.

Well, but he has a conical, with witch he can relatively easily get (roughly) the middle layer of yeast. So, it only makes sense to do what yeast scientists recommend, no?

 

[watchir]

I've harvested from my conical a few times. All Ales so far.

My process has proven quite successful.

Trub dumps-
1) 20min - a few hours after I transfer wort to my conical on brew day.... pitch yeast after first dump.
2) 2-4 days into fermentation (I do a gravity check first); you want to make sure you dump during peak fermentation....this ensures the best yeast are all in suspension and only the crap yeast have fallen out (this should work for ales and lagers as even lagers go into suspension during active fermentation)

Yeast Harvest-
(1week - 3 weeks)
Yeast harvest should take place before you rack off your beer ...just don't forget to remove the blowoff tube or you will be suctioning up your blow off water/starsan.

If you did not do the #2 step above just waste a little bit of yeast when you do the final dump / yeast harvest, as this will likely have the dead yeast and trub left in it.

With the above procedure; I typically don't wash my yeast unless I'm reusing yeast that are going from an extreme style to a lighter style (IIPA or Imp Stout to say a kolsch style ale).

**I've recently read in zymurgy, you should be very hesitant to reuse yeast that has fermented smoked beers as the smoke flavor can cary over even with washing.