Yeast harvesting from a blow-off bottle

[FedoraDave]

My current batch of FD's American Ale is going great guns, and I figured it would, so I remembered Inkleg's suggestion and boiled some water, let it cool, and used that in the blow-off bottle, figuring I'd be collecting some healthy, viable yeast.

Sure enough, even though it's only a little more than 24 hours in, I've definitely got some yeast in there.

Now I'm wondering what the best way to proceed would be. After primary fermentation slows enough for me to replace the blow-off tube with a standard airlock, what would you recommend I do to get the best out of what I've collected?

Here's what I'm figuring: Boil more water, let it cool, and pour the blow-off contents into it; let that settle out, and then siphon the healthy middle layer into sanitized containers (I should have a couple of empty White Labs vials, which is all I'll probably need). I use a sanitized turkey baster to withdraw the yeast, and that's all it's used for, so it's not tainted with anything that might muck up the yeast.

[GOF]

Not a clue how to answer your question. But I have just started researching the whole yeast washing thing and I like the Turkey Baster idea. Thanks.

[haerbob3]

Dave that is what I would do. I have been toying with the idea of canning water and wort just to have ready whenever needed.

[Inkleg]

Uhm, that was me? Maybe, I honestly don't remember. Heck even a blind squirrel find an acorn every now and then.

Another thing you might try, since it might be all good yeast. You might just be able to stir/shake/suspend the yeast in the water you have it in now and pour that into the vials. Then use a vile to make a starter for your brew day. Depending how much yeast is in a vial after it settles. Sometimes I've used two vials do to the amount of yeast in each.

[FedoraDave]

I opted not to use the blow-off yeast after all. It looked chunky and gray, and I just felt there wouldn't be enough viable yeast to make it worthwhile. I racked this batch to a secondary yesterday (2/16), and harvested a fifth generation from it. I still have vials from G-3 and G-4 that I should probably use first, though. I'm interested in seeing how long I can keep using this stuff. It doesn't seem to get tired.

[Inkleg]

If you do this again Dave (or if I do)(or any other borg member), go ahead and save it and just try making a starter from it. Not necessarily to make a beer with, but to see if it's a viable option for any of us to pursue for future use. That way we all learn.

[FedoraDave]

Good idea. I'm actually going to be using this yeast again on Sunday, since I also use it in my Kingpin IPA, which is next on the docket, so I'll probably use a vial of the G-3 or G-4 yeast for my starter, and then I'll do the blow-off yeast thing just to experiment.

I'll report back.

[mashani]

Dave that is what I would do. I have been toying with the idea of canning water and wort just to have ready whenever needed.

That's what Aussie No-Chill beers are for. Put it in an HDPE container/cube while still boiling hot and then ignore it until you feel like fermenting days or weeks or months down the road. (That's all those "Fresh Wort Kits" you can buy are - Commercial Aussie No-Chill in a bag).

Trick is you just have to consider your aroma hop addition to be the flavor addition. And then dry hop for aroma later.

[mashani]

Good idea. I'm actually going to be using this yeast again on Sunday, since I also use it in my Kingpin IPA, which is next on the docket, so I'll probably use a vial of the G-3 or G-4 yeast for my starter, and then I'll do the blow-off yeast thing just to experiment.

I'll report back.

The Elizabethan Brit householders who wrote down their brewing methods used to skim the krausen all the time, and use that as the starter for the next batch of beer. So you are following old world footsteps using modern methods. It should work well I think as long as the blowoff container was sanitized and remains sealed.