Hi brewers! I haven’t posted in a while, so I thought it was about time that I put another how-to guide up for all to see!

This guide was written by The Homebrew Forum member, ‘Oblivious’. It’s a superbly simple ‘how to’ guide which tells you how to harvest yeast for brewing.
You can find the original thread here.

How to harvest yeast for brewing

This is my method of yeast harvesting, this was done for my last brew a Saison with WLP550

After racking the beer to the keg pour the remaining liquid, trub and yeast into a sterilized container. I find one around 2 liters to be a good size. Place the full container in the fridge for a few hours.

Harvesting yeast

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We’ve all been there – that horrible moment when we suddenly realised we’ve made a big mistake whilst brewing a batch of beer. Whether it’s remembering, after three days of no fermentation activity, that we forgot to add the yeast on brewday, or realising that we forgot to put the lid on our airlock and that our beer’s been sitting exposed to all kinds of airborne beer-ruining bacteria overnight!

What do we do in these situations? Panic.

“Is it ruined?! What if it’s infected? I must tip it all away down the sink because I messed up and ruined my beer! ”

What should we do in these situations?

RDWHAHB!

RDWHAHB!

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Diacetyl is a chemical bi-product produced by yeast during fermentation, it gives the beer a strong buttery aroma and taste which is almost always detrimental to the quality of the beer. For this reason, homebrewers try to ensure that their finished beer contains as little diacetyl as possible.

It is important to note that Diacetyl can also be produced by bacterial infection of the wort during fermentation, so the first step in reducing diacetyl levels in your beer is good sanitation.

Diacetyl Molecular Structure

Fortunately, diacetyl is reabsorbed by the yeast during the end of primary fermentation. This can only happen however at regular fermentation temperatures – If you are largering a beer, you will need to raise the temperature of the fermenting beer to room temperature for a few days after primary fermentation; this is called a diacetyl rest. If you are brewing an ale, your beer should be fermenting at the correct temperatures already; to reduce diacetyl levels simply leave the beer in primary fermentation until the buttery taste and aroma has subsided.

For more information about Diacetyl and how to get rid of it, check out these useful links:

http://beerme.com/diacetyl.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacetyl
Thanks for reading,
Brewing Tips Staff.