Homebrewing Blog and Resource

The hobby of homebrewing beer

Yeast Harvesting

Not to long ago I had a carboy full of Irish Red Ale and I took the opportunity to collect some of the yeast for a future batch or more. I shot some video of the process so you can see how John and I collect yeast from a primary fermentor and save it for pitching into a new beer. This is a straightforward way of collecting yeast. I don’t bother with trying to “wash” yeast when I collect it. I find that diluting it with some water and capturing it in some Mason Jars is all that’s needed. Just remember to pay extra attention to your sanitation and you’ll be repitching great yeast and making great beer as a result.

Enjoy!

Previous

Mead Making Day

Next

Belgian Dubbel Recipe

5 Comments

  1. I really appreciate the simplicity with which you tackle the subject. Too many people like to load up their information with unnecessary technical mumbo jumbo.

  2. brewella deville

    I was thinking about trying to stretch my yeast dollar, either by harvesting as you’ve shown here or making a starter with a fresh vial then dividing that up into two or three smaller portions to be used for starters later on. Do I understand correctly, that you boil all your collection jars to sterilize them instead of sanitizing them with StarSan?

  3. @Gonemild: Thanks for the kind words. I have always appreciated the KISS method to most of what I do. And collecting yeast is certainly on of those things that you can take too far technically.
    @Brewella D: I figure that I need to deoxygenate and sterilize the water, might as well boil the jars in there too and not waste starsan. On top of that a good 15 minutes boil is more effective that starsan. I love starsan though and you can easily use that too, I use it for everything else and juts don’t see the need to waste it if I am sterilizing water at the same time.

  4. Brad

    Starsan wouldn’t hurt it though, do you think?
    Thanks for the helpful video.

  5. @Brad
    Certainly not Star San is totally fine. I might try and invert my jars for a bit first to let as much of it drip out as possible. But the pH change of adding slurry into the jar after pretty much eliminates the worry of the Star San having any real effect on viability.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén