Harvesting WLP002 from trub

[RichardMW]

Hi. Making my first attempt at harvesting yeast from my trub, but it doesn't seem to be settling properly. Should it look speckled like this? I'm assuming the white bits are the yeast (White Labs WLP002 English Ale)?
My understanding is that I should be decanting the clearer liquid into another smaller jar, topping that up with sterile water, and discarding what is left behind. Is this still going to work or should I chuck it? Or just pitch in the whole lot, trub and all? Been in the fridge for two days now.
Thanks.

 

[Galena]

I have never harvested yeast but do not feel the need, from my point of view when you first make a starter if you overbuild by 100Bn cells (by Yeast starter calculator) then you just store that after each brew and can keep it going for many generations knowing the approximate cell count to make the next one and so on.

 

[RichardMW]

I have never harvested yeast but do not feel the need, from my point of view when you first make a starter if you overbuild by 100Bn cells (by Yeast starter calculator) then you just store that after each brew and can keep it going for many generations knowing the approximate cell count to make the next one and so on.

Yes all for trying that as well, but just thought I'd try harvesting from trub. Perhaps with WLP002 being super flocculant it's not the best yeast to try it with?

 

[Galena]

Yes all for trying that as well, but just thought I'd try harvesting from trub. Perhaps with WLP002 being super flocculant it's not the best yeast to try it with?

With WLP002 it does tend to resist but you just have to swirl it long enough before pouring some into a jar.

 

[RichardMW]

With WLP002 it does tend to resist but you just have to swirl it long enough before pouring some into a jar.

Do you mean swirling in the fermenter before decanting into jar or swirling before pouring from first jar in another? The jar pictured jar contains all the slurry from the fermenter after swirling, trub, yeast beer and all! Did I do this wrong?

 

[Jim Brewster]

Yeasty trub usually looks uniform and grey, almost like fine clay.

 

[Galena]

Do you mean swirling in the fermenter before decanting into jar or swirling before pouring from first jar in another? The jar pictured jar contains all the slurry from the fermenter after swirling, trub, yeast beer and all! Did I do this wrong?

Yes I meant from the starter to another jar, like this VIDEO

 

[foxy]

Hi. Making my first attempt at harvesting yeast from my trub, but it doesn't seem to be settling properly. Should it look speckled like this? I'm assuming the white bits are the yeast (White Labs WLP002 English Ale)?
My understanding is that I should be decanting the clearer liquid into another smaller jar, topping that up with sterile water, and discarding what is left behind. Is this still going to work or should I chuck it? Or just pitch in the whole lot, trub and all? Been in the fridge for two days now.
Thanks.
View attachment 57353View attachment 57354

No that isn't good, why did you have trub in the fermenter? all you should get is hop debris if you dry hopped, dead yeas cells and live yeast cells. The live yeast cells is a lighter cream colour the dead cells slightly darker. That is all you should have in the stratum.
https://byo.com/article/yeast-ranch...At that point, you can,it into the fresh wort.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

An example of creamier looking yeast sample, first picture from a beer, second from a wine.

 

[RichardMW]

No that isn't good, why did you have trub in the fermenter? all you should get is hop debris if you dry hopped, dead yeas cells and live yeast cells. The live yeast cells is a lighter cream colour the dead cells slightly darker. That is all you should have in the stratum.
https://byo.com/article/yeast-ranch...At that point, you can,it into the fresh wort.

Thanks. So maybe it's not trub. I thought that was a general term for the sediment (either in the kettle or the fermenter). Maybe it is all yeast (some live, some dead), but it certainly isn't stratifying nicely!

 

[foxy]

Thanks. So maybe it's not trub. I thought that was a general term for the sediment (either in the kettle or the fermenter). Maybe it is all yeast (some live, some dead), but it certainly isn't stratifying nicely!

No you have a lot of rubbish in there, I can even see grain husks, the clearer the wort going into the fermenter the clearer the beer coming out. You should just end up with a creamy looking sludge (lees) the dead cells will fall to the bottom the lighter colour is the live yeast cells which you want to harvest.

 

[RichardMW]

Thanks for your help everyone. Chuck this lot and try again I think!

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Guarantee you there's yeast in there, but probably not the best but still a worker for making beer. If you've made beer you must have made yeast ( no wine making pun in there).

 

[RichardMW]

Well I do use Brew In A Bag method and I'm a self-confessed bag squeezer so maybe that's why I have a lot of rubbish going into my fermenter. Any tips on how I can reduce this? Thanks.

 

[Galena]

Filter with a sanitised Aldi veg bag when decanting to fermenter, don't squeeze the bag so much, or at all. Thats what I do and it works for me though I am not bottom harvesting yeast but all the same I get little debris through.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

Make a whirlpool with some vigorous stirring after the boil and let it settle a bit before careful decant to fermenter. Squeezing shouldn't make a lot of difference it's the next stage that moves stuff across.

 

[Duxuk]

I BIAB (sort of) and just scoop the cream coloured yeast and whatever else from the bottom of the FV when I've bottled. I usually take about 4 dessert spoons and keep it in the fridge for a day or 2 until I brew again. I had an infection once in warm weather so won't do this in summer again but other than that it's worked well and gets the new brew going very quickly. I tried separating yeast from debris but had no success.
I confess I'm also a bag squeezer! I no longer dry hop and this has led to much clearer beer and clean looking deposits in the FV. I use all my hops in the boil or at flameout because the hop flavours persist for so much longer and don't miss dry hopped beers.