Educate Me On This Harvested Yeast

Yeast & Fermentation
1

This was pulled from my primary about a week ago. I want to make a starter and pitch this yeast when it’s ready. I usually just boil about a quart of wort that I saved on brew day before going into the primary, add it to the harvested yeast w/o washing, put an air trap on it, and let it come alive. This time I shook the bottle up and was thinking about trying to wash it and I get this after leaving it for about an hour:

Is that top layer the yeast cake? Do I try to save it and dump the rest?

Thanks,

Mike

2

Looks to me like the froth you would get by shaking milk.

If using the yeast in the next week or so, just dump 1/3-1/2 in.

Beyond that, make a 3qt starter and add 1/4 of the yeast. Allow to ferment for 4-5 days. Chill for 24 hours. Decant and pitch.

3

Must have been a good harvest. I made a starter with 1/2 of the harvest as you suggested and a new Activator pack with about 2-qts. of wort. I pitched it into a double IPA I brewed on Sunday (OG=1.087) and fermentation was almost immediate and when I checked it 6 hours later the wort had the volcanic look. The air lock was bubbling violently for at least 24 hours (enough activity to get the dogs barking at it) and it has settled down a bit. Now I have a ton of krausen:

May have to put her in a tub in case it blows.

4

I’m curious why you made a starter with old yeast, and added a new pack?

A starter with one or the other would have been fine.

5

[quote=“Nighthawk”]I’m curious why you made a starter with old yeast, and added a new pack?

A starter with one or the other would have been fine.[/quote]

I’m sure your more an expert than I but I used my BeerSmith software and for this high OG wort it recommended between 300-400B cells and a smack pack is 100B max… Just heard high gravity beers need lot of yeast.

6

[quote=“mbg”][quote=“Nighthawk”]I’m curious why you made a starter with old yeast, and added a new pack?

A starter with one or the other would have been fine.[/quote]

I’m sure your more an expert than I but I used my BeerSmith software and for this high OG wort it recommended between 300-400B cells and a smack pack is 100B max… Just heard high gravity beers need lot of yeast.[/quote]
You’re right, they do. If you use a yeast calculator, you can figure out how much yeast you have or how big of a starter to get what you need. Generally, though, half of a full cake of yeast will get you well into the 1.100 OG range. A starter with 2L and a smack pack got you in the 250B cell range. Try these sites to help calculate yeast.

http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

This one’s really helpful when stepping up: http://www.yeastcalc.com/index.html

7

[quote=“mvsawyer”][quote=“mbg”][quote=“Nighthawk”]I’m curious why you made a starter with old yeast, and added a new pack?

A starter with one or the other would have been fine.[/quote]

I’m sure your more an expert than I but I used my BeerSmith software and for this high OG wort it recommended between 300-400B cells and a smack pack is 100B max… Just heard high gravity beers need lot of yeast.[/quote]
You’re right, they do. If you use a yeast calculator, you can figure out how much yeast you have or how big of a starter to get what you need. Generally, though, half of a full cake of yeast will get you well into the 1.100 OG range. A starter with 2L and a smack pack got you in the 250B cell range. Try these sites to help calculate yeast.

http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

This one’s really helpful when stepping up: http://www.yeastcalc.com/index.html[/quote]

Thanks for the great info.!

Mike

8

You betcha!
:cheers: