When to harvest ale yeast from conical fermenter?

[Smiffy]

Now that I have a conical fermenter and will be able to drain yeast at any time, the question is which yeast to save?

My thinking is that the yeast which settles to the bottom early on is not the yeast which is working well, and that the yeast which is working well (top fermenting ale yeast) won't settle until the fermentation is coming to an end.

So, can anyone tell me which day's yeast is the best stuff to save for the next brew?

[Tim Stewart]

I thought the first settlings was mainly Trub ,I just wash the yeast once fermentation finishes but I only have one fermenter

 

[Nathan Murrell]

I would have thought you would still have to go through some sort of washing process to harvest it and try and get rid of as much rubbish as possible before storing it.

[Smiffy]

What I was doing before: Using extract, and filtering hop residue, fermenting in traditional plastic fermenter. Decanting to a second fermenter before dry hopping, leaving the yeast in the first fermenter. That was just poured into a jar or two and kept in the fridge or put straight into the next brew. So, while no washing might not be ideal, it works and probably has less chances of introducing anything nasty. If yeast is happiest in beer....

So, with the conical, I thought why bother even filtering the hops out. Big mistake. The hop solids formed a plug. It took about 10 psi to shift it. Now that the airlock is bubbling away, hopefully all the healthy yeast is floating, so I will drain off any more sediment which should be the remaining hop solids and any dead or lazy yeast.

[Liam Callaghan]

How did you get on with this Smiffy?  You manage to get a good harvest from it with ease?

What outlet size have you got and did you get any issues with it getting plugged?

[Smiffy]

This was a learning experience. First, the bottom outlet is about 25 mm, but the valve is only 10 mm, so a good point for a blockage which I got with the hop residue. So, over the following days I continued to regret not straining out the hop residue. Strangely, even though I was draining off from the bottom, some of the hops in the drainings would still float, and obviously inside the fermenter, some of the hops were being circulated by the CO2 and prevented from settling. So over the following three days, I was draining a mixture of yeast and hops. By the fourth or fifth day, the airlock had stopped bubbling, and what I drained off was mostly yeast, and I'm guessing this would be the stuff to save. I haven't actually saved any of it because it was already third hand, and because of the hop contamination.

Next brew I will go back to straining out the hop residue.

What I think would be ideal at the bottom would be a short clear plastic 25 mm tube with the same size tap below it. That way I would be able to see the sediment, and release it almost without disturbing it, and release just the right amount, but with the flange fittings its not going to be easy to achieve that.

[Liam Callaghan]

Thanks for that Smiffy, sounds like a good learning curve :)

I was just looking at how the plastic ones will finish and interested in how you found it.  The current design which should be the final has the cone terminate in a short pipe so its a flawless exit for yeast cake.  We can then just run a pipe over this and an outlet valve on the end.  Outlet internal dia is 3/4" so would need about 1" gate valve.  I might give you a call some time today/tomorrow to discuss if your around.

Sounds like it should work well with 1" clear pipe for 3-4" long before the gate valve...

[Chris Banks]

Probably a bit long Smiffy but make one a bit shorter and this would work with the tri clover connections and maybe a 45 or 90deg ?

[Smiffy]

One of those would be great if I had enough space in the fridge. All I need is a could of tri-clover to hose barb fittings. Do you know if Brewers Hardware will ship to NZ? Or a local supplier????

Also I'm confused by their sizing. Look at the"1"/1.5" Tri Clover X 1" Hose Barb" :

http://www.brewershardware.com/1.5-Tri-Clover-X-1-Hose-Barb.html

The flange is clearly twice the size of the barb, making it 2" just like mine. Presumably the size given is the "pipe" size.

[Smiffy]

One thing which is very noticeable about the stainless steel compared to plastic is how easily liquid and sludge run off it. This makes cleaning very easy but will also have an impact on how well the yeast settles in the conical. What I'm thinking is that the surface finish on your plastic conical is going to be crucial.

[Liam Callaghan]

Its smooth as a babies bum mate :)  No concerns over that, just looking at ease of fittings for the end users now.

I have the same thing with the fittings, its all about internal dims and outside dims I gather, very hard to work it out unless you are handling them or talking to the guy over the counter.

[Chris Banks]

With tri clovers the od of the ferrules flange dia is often shared by two or more tube ods (outside diameters)  ie 1"&1.5" both share a 2" diameter flange - blanking cap and clamp the seals and ferrules are unique.

Pipe is based on pretend nominal bore dimensions (id's)so 15mm NB is 1/2" pipe even more confusing when you measure the actual pipe as neither its od or id are 15mm or 1/2"... all of this is part of our half arsed bullshit commitment to the metric system but dont get me started on that..........

I havnt seen triclover/hose barb fittings on the shelf in NZ and  brewers hardware do ship to NZ but I do know someone who makes them locally..... sorry shameless plug....prepares for flaming...

[Liam Callaghan]

So if I was able to put a flange on the bottom of the cone what size dia. and thickness would you recommend Chris?  Internal bore is approx. 3/4" clear.  Seems like a good flexible way to go.

I'll have a run out to Pipe and Tube on my way home one arvo this week and get a clamp to play with.