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Yeast harvesting questions

brendanc

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Hi all

I am trying to harvest yeast from a Westmalle Dubbel and have some questions.

The yeast / dregs of the bottle that I swirled out into a 1.040 DME starter was a dark brown colour.
My starter is sitting at 21C in my fermentation fridge
I am getting what looks like soft goop yeast settling on the bottom of the starter BUT it is a very dark colour. Not the usual creamy yeast colour I am used to. If i swirl up the starter the starter clears up if let undisturbed and the dark sediment settles back to the bottom.

I am getting slow growth of the yeast / sludge after the third step up of my starter so don't feel confident that it is year rhat is growing.

My questions:
1- do you get dark coloured yeasts?
2- will a DME starter clear and settle without fermentation happening?

Thanks in advance
 
Did you completely empty the chilled unpitched starter volume into whatever your starter vessel is?  I've noticed some brands of DME have a lot more sediment in the bottom after chilling than others. Was it light DME?  I've also seen dark clumps in the bottom of Belgian bottles before in general, but haven't had that brand yet.  Not sure what yeast they use for secondary.
 
Hi

I am using light DME for my starters. Each time I step up I drain the majority of the clear liquid off the too and then add the new wort.
 
If you post a pic that may say a lot.  It wont to me, since I haven't cultured Belgians yet, but someone likely will know.
 
Hi

Here is a pic taken in from second step stage



Edit: and the picture is clearly upside down....
 
Ok so answered my own question. SG still at the 1.040 of the starter which means no fermentation and hence the 'yeast' looking stuff on the bottom is obviously sediment settling out the starter.
 
Looks fine.

Boil water for 10 mins and let cool to temp of the yeast.  Pour off all the spent beer from the yeast and add water. Whirl around and put back in the fridge to wash the yeast. The water will turn darker removing the darker color from the yeast. Do this a few times pouring off the dirty water and replacing with clean and you’ll have cleaned yeast. Then make a starter with what you have and pitch at will.

Remember to leave the darkest thin layer on the bottom. That’s trube you don’t want. The creamy whitish layer is the yeast you do want. 

Good luck and keep it clean
 
'Forced' myself to drink another Westmalle to try again for a successful harvest.

Failed to take off once more! I think the shipping time down to South Africa is leaving me with old bottles with sluggish or dead yeast  :mad:
 
The Westmalle yeast is tough to culture.

I'd recommend a weak, hop free wort of 1.030 and pour 50 to 80 ml directly into the bottle right after decanting 75% of the beer. The yeast is tired, but probably not dead. Plus, the bottle is going be a perfect place for it to grow. Just air lock it with some foil or cling film.

Leave it alone for a long while. It may smell "off," but don't throw it out. Continue to culture it to about 250 ml of slurry and acid wash it to get rid of accumulated bacteria. At that point, the next culture should smell perfect.

I don't know what liquid yeasts you have available in SA, but the Wyeast 3787 and White Labs WLP530 are the Westmalle strain.
 
Thanks for feedback. Had a bash with a second  Westmalle and it also failed to take.

Local HBS was out of WLP530 but managed to get a freshly UPS'd vial of WLP570 which I picked up and tossed into the Dubbel today. Looking good...

Harvesting the yeast is more for the fun / challenge so will browse for newer bottles in the shops and try again soon
 
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