I am going to be brewing a batch of Dawsons multigrain red.
NB kit recommends to use dry yeast during the summer.
Why is it recommended to use dry yeast during the summer?
Because the liquid yeast option during summer weather can be exposed to very high temperatures during the shipping process. That’s bad for the live yeast.
That makes sense. Thanks
Begin harvesting the yeast in your fermentors. You’ll soon have more than enough to get you through until next winter.
I dont have stir equipment and the petri dishes to do that yet.
Also, I have not got to that level yet.
When I get a little more knowledge I’ll give that a shot.
Thanks :cheers:
You don’t need a stir plate or any other equipment, except for a large jar to make starters in. A gallon pickle jar works well. The yeast is harvested by pouring what is left in your fermentor, after racking to the bottling bucket, into a sanitized jar. A quart canning jar is what I use.
If you are going to start a new beer within a month of racking the previous beer off the yeast, this is really simple an low tech.
Just sanitize a jar, pour all the yeast and trub from the bottom of the fermentor into the jar, and store it in the fridge with the cap on but loose enough to allow gas to escape. On brew day, pull out the yeast to warm a bit, then pour it into your cooled wort. If you are brewing a beer of around 1.055 or less, use 1/3 of the contents of the jar. 1.055 - 1.080, use 2/3s, above 1.080 use it all.
[quote=“rebuiltcellars”]If you are going to start a new beer within a month of racking the previous beer off the yeast, this is really simple an low tech.
Just sanitize a jar, pour all the yeast and trub from the bottom of the fermentor into the jar, and store it in the fridge with the cap on but loose enough to allow gas to escape. On brew day, pull out the yeast to warm a bit, then pour it into your cooled wort. If you are brewing a beer of around 1.055 or less, use 1/3 of the contents of the jar. 1.055 - 1.080, use 2/3s, above 1.080 use it all.[/quote]
How long can you keep yeast stored in your fridge and still be viable? Just the month you talk about or longer?
Two weeks ago I pitched WY 1056, generation 3, that was harvest July,13. Normal fermentation. I estimated 1 billion cells per ml.
If it has been longer than a month, I’ll increase the amount I pitch. If it has been more than two months, I’ll make a starter just like I would from a smack pack. As long as the jar smells OK when you open it, you should still be able to use yeast from it. I one time stepped up some yeast that had been sitting in the fridge for a year, but that took a while and I probably wouldn’t do it again.
When doing this, how can you be sure of the cell count without a microscope? Are you just going by volume of slurry?
When doing this, how can you be sure of the cell count without a microscope? Are you just going by volume of slurry?[/quote]
I use the volume I have harvested. I filter out the hop debris during the pour into the fermentor, so the yeast is very clean. I use to always estimate 1 billion cells per ml, but now I also use the yeast data on the Woodland Brewing site. Fresh harvested yeast up to 3 billion cells per ml.
Thanks all my son and son-in-law will be bottling this weekend so I think I am going to go ahead and try to harvest the yeast to use in a few weeks.
When doing this, how can you be sure of the cell count without a microscope? Are you just going by volume of slurry?[/quote]
Yup, volume of slurry. Like flars, I keep hop sludge and hot break out of the fermentor, so there is just cold break and yeast on the bottom. I don’t worry about the cold break; I’ve never experienced any problems from having that in the fermentor. I also don’t worry too much about precise cell counts. There is a very wide range of cell counts that work perfectly fine, and if in doubt it is better to overpitch than underpitch with most beers, so I try to stay on that side of the pitch.
