Wyeast 2565 harvesting from conical fermentor

[nosdunk]

Is there a best way to harvest low flocculating yeast from a conical fermenter? Specifically, the wyeast kolsch? I am fermenting at 62 degrees and on day three, I noticed there isn't much in the bottom of the cone. After nine days in, I crash to 40 degrees as quickly as the cool room will allow.


What process are others using to harvest such a low flocculent yeast? Probably a basic question for some but I am new to this yeast.

[martyl]

Wyeast 2565 harvesting from conical fermentor

Using the same yeast and fermenting at high 50's then over 2 days crash to 34F and 2 days later harvest lotsa yeast and the 3rd day harvest some more from conical. Have not had problems harvesting yeast from 2565 but do let sit in the brite tank for several days to finish clearing up, we don't filter and get a good bright beer. this is in 10 BBL jacketed conicals to brites in our walkin.

[Bainbridge]

We use 2575 - Kolsch II, and a fermentation similar to martyl's there. Pulled 54lbs out of 10bbls last time. It does tend to be a bit thinner than our other strains, and you need to give it more time to settle. A two day drop to 34-35 after it's fully fermented out does a pretty good job.

[SouthHouseBrew]

We use 2575 - Kolsch II, and a fermentation similar to martyl's there. Pulled 54lbs out of 10bbls last time. It does tend to be a bit thinner than our other strains, and you need to give it more time to settle. A two day drop to 34-35 after it's fully fermented out does a pretty good job.

This is a good point - if your slurry is thinner, you're getting less cells for the same volume of slurry harvested, so take that into account. You don't want to risk under pitching in a kolsch.

This yeast is a bit finicky, so I like to treat it like a lager strain: higher pitch rates, lots of O2, and allowing for free rise towards the end of fermentation (a kind-of 'diacetyl rest').

[nosdunk]

Is there a standard time you are leaving it at fermentation temps prior to crashing? I am running around nine days as a rule. It hits FG a bit earlier. It sounds like I also may have been harvesting a bit soon. I didn't let it settle for two days as explained on here.

Thank you for the responses.

[Bainbridge]

We've tried both dropping it 5 degrees a day from 62 down to 35, and also just crashing it straight overnight and harvesting a day or two later. Slow crash should give better viability, but we haven't noticed a difference. Mainly we were having flocculation issues and wanted to see if it changed anything. (Nope.) Typically now we give it about five days, check for diacetyl (at 62 there rarely is any), then if ok, crash it over two days, harvest two or three days later, fine, let lager a bit, filter into the brite.