Presently, we have a Belgian strong blonde that’s about 36 hours into primary, with a nice, strong krausen going. Our recipe calls for 2# of dextrose to be added during high krausen, which I’m planning to do tonight.
Is it okay to top-crop the yeast, even though I’m also adding additional fermentables?
I ask not only because of the dextrose addition, but also because we’d like the beer to finish very dry (1.060 OG before the dextrose addition, and we’re aiming for 1.007 FG). I understand that one of the main benefits of top-cropping is getting the most attenuative yeast, but I worry that taking that yeast out of primary while adding a bunch of sugar will prevent the beer from fully attenuating.
[quote=“Houndstooth”]Presently, we have a Belgian strong blonde that’s about 36 hours into primary, with a nice, strong krausen going. Our recipe calls for 2# of dextrose to be added during high krausen, which I’m planning to do tonight.
Is it okay to top-crop the yeast, even though I’m also adding additional fermentables?
I ask not only because of the dextrose addition, but also because we’d like the beer to finish very dry (1.060 OG before the dextrose addition, and we’re aiming for 1.007 FG). I understand that one of the main benefits of top-cropping is getting the most attenuative yeast, but I worry that taking that yeast out of primary while adding a bunch of sugar will prevent the beer from fully attenuating.[/quote]
Its a really good question, because I am also a top cropper, and also a during-primary-fermentation-simple-sugarer.
I don’t think top-cropping steals the most attenuative yeast, but it steals the healthiest yeast that are free of other stuff (proteins, trub, etc.). Attenuation is a function of the yeast strain itself, not individual cells within the population.
Somebody will probably come by with a better answer, but if you think about it, the yeast cells that are actually working on the saccharides are dissolved within the solution, not chilling on top in the ‘head’. I think @ high krausen, your cell count is so high, stealing a few billion cells from the top is not going to hurt your attenuation at all…but i would be curious on opinions too as I’m doing this on a biere de mars in a few days!
Thanks, Pietro. The attenuation vs. health distinction is a good thing to know. I’ll harvest tonight and see how it goes. Perhaps I’ll also boil a bit of yeast nutrient in with the dextrose just in case.
Mind sharing your biere de mars recipe? I’ve got an extra pack of Belgian yeast burning a hole in my fridge, and I’ve been wanting to try that style (tis the season).
Going to add the meadowfoam honey probably thursday or friday. If you haven’t had it, find it on the web and order it ASAP! Great stuff, though you could probably sub any honey or some simple sugar.
Recipe is based on %ages in Farmhouse Ales, just brewed it last night.
Just to follow up, we top-cropped when we did the dextrose addition, and got quite a bit of good looking yeast. After two weeks of primary, we still hit 1.007 FG on the nose, and it smells and tastes amazing. It’s racked to an empty keg for cold conditioning for the next month. Can’t wait to try it.
