Attn. Yeast Harvesters

[redman67]

I brew in 16 gallon plastic barrels with removeable lids and my question is this

Once Ive racked, can i just scoop out some of the dregs to save, and if so am I looking to only skim the top off the layer.

In other words is the yeast on the top or the bottom of the sedement in the primary

Any insight to this would be much appreciated, Thanks

 

[cincydave]

I'm no expert here, but believe you are correct. The trub will settle first and yeast should be on the top. Or you could wash the yeast to be sure you are getting clean yeast with little other stuff. Just take a gallon of boiled and cooled water, add to your fermentor and swirl it all around real good. then let it settle 20 or 30 minutes and siphon the top layer off into mason jars or something similar. Lots of threads on yeast washing.

 

[aubiecat]

I like washing to make sure I get the most viable yeast. I add sterile water swirl and let the trub settle for 20-30 minutes. The healthy yeast will still be in suspension so I decant them into a smaller container. Let that settle once more and decant once more into yet a smaller container and refrigerate.

You could do the same by scooping up some of the trub into a manageable sized container the using the same process.