So i finally started my starter from 2 Heady Topper cans last week. I started with 200 mL @ 1.02 and fermentation was nice and healthy around the third day with intermittent shaking whenever I walked into the room. There was a nice krausen on the third day and due to life, I wasn't able to step it up again from there until this past Saturday. For the second step, I did approximately a 250 mL @ 1.025. This time, I have it on a stir plate. For this second step, I did not decant. I added the initial 200 mL and whatever volume from the two cans that I accumulated. If memory serves me well, it was approximately 400 mL with beer and starter. I would like to make a 10 gallon batch of either a Heady Topper clone or the Averagely Perfect NorthEast IPA. I thought of making my next step a 500-750ish mL @ 1.04 and then 1500mL @ 1.04 for a 5 gallon 1.065-1.075 OG beer. Since i'm going through the troubles of stepping up this yeast I figured I would attempt a 10 gallon batch instead. Would it be a better idea to make a somewhat similar but smaller scale (2-3 gallons) batch and then use the yeast cake for the 10 gallon batch? I am not worried or concerned with the yeast possibly or definitely mutating, as long as I can keep a clean yeast.
I've read statements from the brewery where they recommend against culturing from the can, and it makes sense to me. It is a very low flocculating strain. If you culture out of the can, you are selecting for the yeast that couldn't flocc through the multi-week brewing process, and probably didn't flocc until it was in the can for a few weeks as well. Basically, you are picking the yeast that they would never re-use in the brewery.
Yea I've see an interview where John Kimmich was saying what you just said. However, I believe it can work. I plan on top crop harvesting once I can get it going pretty healthy to keep the newest and most fresh yeast. It's been relatively cheap to try and step up so I'm not out much at all.
FWIW, @1beerbaron (and/or John Kimmich apparently) aren't recommending against it because the yeast are old, un-fresh, or unhealthy. They're recommending against it because the yeast apparently left in Heady cans are the cells genetically predisposed to not flocculate. Barring mutation, their offspring will have the same genes, even if you top crop them at maximum freshness (which is irrelevant to their point). If it's true that the yeast in Heady cans is just the mostly non-floccers, and you wanted to build a culture of stronger floccers, you'd actually want to go through many generations, selecting the ones that flocculate the fastest, from the bottom. Harvesting from the top at high krausen probably won't select one way or the other for flocculation. All that said, I have no experience with the Conan strain, and have no direct knowledge about the flocculation characteristics of the stuff in the cans.
