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temporarily un-flocculating before pitching

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  • temporarily un-flocculating before pitching

    We use WLP002 which is the most flocculent yeast strain I've personally ever seen.

    We're experiencing a problem with re-suspending it before pitching. Regardless of how much we shake the pitch, once it's added to the top of the FV, it sinks straight down to the bottom and sits in the cone where it has no contact with the wort. It requires rousing multiple times over a couple of days before it gets going.

    We've noticed that adding about 1.5% phosphoric acid v/v to the yeast un-flocculates it and we use this method to suspend cells for counting under a microscope. However the amount of acid it takes to do the job drops the PH way below the 2.0-2.2 suggested for yeast washing and my concern is that if we use this method on our pitches, it will irreversibly damage the yeast and affect the beer we're trying to make.

    I understand that EDTA does a similar job by sequestering the calcium ions necessary for flocculation to occur but I don't want to satay adding crazy stuff to our beer.

    We approached White Labs for advice but their response was unfortunately extremely technically unsophisticated (rouse yeast more, use different strain).

    Does anyone have any suggestions? Is the phosphoric acid un-flocculating the yeast because of the low PH or because its somehow interacting with calcium ions? Or are those two things essentially the same?

    It'd be good to get some thoughts from someone with a biochemistry background.

  • #2
    Have you tried shaking it up with some cool wort? I remember using that method as a homeberwer a long time ago with very flocculent strains. Like they understood there was work to do and let go of eachother. I do not know if there is any background data of this method and if i was biased by my own genius idea. But its easy enough to try. I Think I also used a plain table sugar/water mix aswell with the same result. As long as the yeast is in good condition and you oxygenate the main wort well and have nutrients in you main wort I guess impact on the yeast shouldnot be very big. Can´t guarantee this method though but might be worth a try.

    Best/
    J&B

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    • #3
      Originally posted by J&B View Post
      Have you tried shaking it up with some cool wort? I remember using that method as a homeberwer a long time ago with very flocculent strains. Like they understood there was work to do and let go of eachother. I do not know if there is any background data of this method and if i was biased by my own genius idea. But its easy enough to try. I Think I also used a plain table sugar/water mix aswell with the same result. As long as the yeast is in good condition and you oxygenate the main wort well and have nutrients in you main wort I guess impact on the yeast shouldnot be very big. Can´t guarantee this method though but might be worth a try.

      Best/
      J&B
      Is it possible that high magnesium or calcium could be the culprit?

      Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

      Comment


      • #4
        I used 002 pretty extensively at a small brewpub. It is indeed a beast of a flocculator. Try adding the slurry to the fermenter before you knockout into it. The warm temperature, volume, and agitation will help to break everything up.

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