Harvesting Heady!

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by InVinoVeritas, Jun 3, 2013.

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  1. skivtjerry

    skivtjerry Pooh-Bah (1,841) Mar 10, 2006 Vermont
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Since the dry ice/solvent won't come in contact with the yeast, you don't need 'clean' solvents for this procedure. Acetone from the hardware store is cheaper than any ethanol and can achieve lower temps than dry ice/ETOH. It's the standard 'ice' bath for making nitroglycerine...

    Josh: Make sure your freezer doesn't have a defrost cycle - not good for stuff you want to keep really cold.
     
  2. barfdiggs

    barfdiggs Initiate (0) Mar 22, 2011 California
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    Wasn't suggesting ethanol because it was 'clean', was suggesting because readily available, but..... Didn't even think of acetone (Ph.D. in Neuro lab, so never have any acetone on hand), good suggestion.
     
  3. InVinoVeritas

    InVinoVeritas Initiate (0) Apr 16, 2012 Wisconsin

    So I've had it on a stir plate since Sat evening and it's still not getting the shift from the brown translucent wort to the creamy color sign of yeast multiplication. Sad, but I think I know the asnwer . . . is it a lost cause at this point? Or should I step up with another fresh wort addition (currently 325ml starter, jump to 750ml). Pretty disapointed at the outlook . . . had this planned for a DIPA or making my own hybrid cross strain yeast. :slight_frown:
     
  4. Summer78

    Summer78 Zealot (592) Jan 18, 2013 Illinois
    Trader

    if this is your original can or two, i would definitely try adding 500more ml. i hardly noticed any action after my first step. then when i stepped up i started getting better action and results. don't give up, don't ever give up.
     
  5. InVinoVeritas

    InVinoVeritas Initiate (0) Apr 16, 2012 Wisconsin

    I collected three cans worth before I started the starter Sat. I don't have any more Heady, so I gotta hope a couple yeast cells start having fun. May be wroth just tossing in more wort . . . it's cheap anyways.
     
  6. PortLargo

    PortLargo Pooh-Bah (1,737) Oct 19, 2012 Florida
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Was it over when the Germans bombed Pear Harbor?




    It ain't over until you decide it's over.
     
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  7. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,043) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    This would be a tall order. First, unless I'm mistaken (bio lab guys please chime in), sexual reproduction is fairly uncommon, and if you did get any hybrid cells produced this way, you'd need to isolate one of them and propagate it.
     
  8. barfdiggs

    barfdiggs Initiate (0) Mar 22, 2011 California
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    Solely from working in a yeast lab on my grad school rotations, yeast crossing is a pain in the ass and takes a fair amount of expertise or training (I had someone watch me do everything and train me). My guess here was that it was a semantics thing, not actually crossing yeast.
     
  9. InVinoVeritas

    InVinoVeritas Initiate (0) Apr 16, 2012 Wisconsin

    Sorry, I meant in my mind mixture rather than the words I wrote as a new strain.
     
  10. dblab33

    dblab33 Initiate (0) Dec 9, 2011 Michigan

    Quick question to those that have done this. I poured dregs from one can into ~250 ml of 1.020 wort and put it on the stir plate for about 48 hours then cold crashed for 24 hours. This is what it looked like before decanting:

    [​IMG]

    So I added ~700 ml of 1.030 wort last night along with more yeast nutrient and put it back on the stir plate. Within less than 10 minutes, I had a thick layer of foam as shown below -

    [​IMG]

    I have never had a starter foam that much that quickly and I'm a bit curious if this is okay. From what I have been reading, it should be a good sign that I have some very active yeast on my hands... but would it really take off that quickly? I checked it again this morning and the foam layer is still thick and pretty dense. Any thoughts? Am I just being paranoid?
     
  11. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,043) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    It's okay. For whatever reason, conditions were optimal for short lag.
     
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  12. dblab33

    dblab33 Initiate (0) Dec 9, 2011 Michigan

    Thanks for the reply, assumed I was just being paranoid in thinking something was awry... I've just never had this happen so quickly before.
     
  13. Summer78

    Summer78 Zealot (592) Jan 18, 2013 Illinois
    Trader

    i didnt have a stirplate and had the same reaction. i didnt cold crash after first step though, just added more wort.
     
  14. dblab33

    dblab33 Initiate (0) Dec 9, 2011 Michigan


    Now approaching 48 hours and it still looks just like it does in the picture above. Should I cold crash and move on to the next step or leave this on the stir plate for a while longer?
     
  15. InVinoVeritas

    InVinoVeritas Initiate (0) Apr 16, 2012 Wisconsin

    Sorry for the poor picture, but it looks like I may have something after all. It's been on the stir plate MUCH longer than anyone has mentioned thus far . . . must have just had a very small cell count at the start.

    [​IMG]

    Just doubled the volume today, adding 325 ml of fresh wort.
     
  16. PortLargo

    PortLargo Pooh-Bah (1,737) Oct 19, 2012 Florida
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Now approaching 48 hours and it still looks just like it does in the picture above. Should I cold crash and move on to the next step or leave this on the stir plate for a while longer?

    If it's still producing gas (foamy head) then it's still producing alcohol which means the yeast are doing their thing. My experience is when it stops . . . it stops. Fairly clear when the party is over. Also, you can take a gravity reading, it should end up below 1.010. I say let it continue, your count will probably bump up and no real danger in giving it another day. My past harvests have taken a lot longer than I ever expected.
     
  17. PortLargo

    PortLargo Pooh-Bah (1,737) Oct 19, 2012 Florida
    Pooh-Bah Society

    It's almost like the yeast are messing with you. At the ballpark they used to show the "Germans bomb Pearl Harbor" clip when the home team trailed going into the bottom of the ninth. So maybe all you needed was to put on your rally cap. Okay, so it took extra innings, but it looks like you have a decent slurry of active Conan yeast . . . in addition to a new son.
     
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  18. InVinoVeritas

    InVinoVeritas Initiate (0) Apr 16, 2012 Wisconsin

    Man, that is one hell of an outlook and sports analogy!
     
  19. InVinoVeritas

    InVinoVeritas Initiate (0) Apr 16, 2012 Wisconsin

    Foaming like others have mentioned . . . man I gotta pull out the regular camera, cell just isn't cutting it.
    [​IMG]
     
  20. dblab33

    dblab33 Initiate (0) Dec 9, 2011 Michigan

    I am in no hurry to use it, so I am going to let it go another 24 hours or so and see what happens. I took it off the stir plate for a little while today and there was a pretty thick layer settling out within a couple hours. I'll probably cold crash tomorrow and then step up to 1 L of 1.040 and go from there. Thinking about pitching the next step into a 2.5 gal batch of ~1.050 APA then washing to get plenty for future DIPA experiments.
     
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