Harvesting yeast question

[DallasW]

Hey there,
Having some trouble harvesting yeast out of my plastic conicals at the moment. On the bottom of the conicals I have a 2.5" elbow to a 2.5" TC butterfly valve. I can slowly collect about 1L of thick slurry before liquid starts squeaking through and thinning it out. At times the liquid spurts out and sprays everywhere too.

Is there some trick I'm not getting to harvesting? Is it due to the elbow? Is the butterfly valve too large? Is there a different fitting I can add to make it work better?

Thanks!

[Junkyard]

what size conicals are you using?

[jebzter]

Sounds like the yeast is channeling, 2.5" is pretty big, I only have 1.5" on my 10 and 20 bbl tanks. Even that small with a little co2 pressure, I have to go slowly or I will channel and have to harvest in multiple steps. Put a small hose on the end, 3/4" or so, that way it keeps the flow rates down.

[mmussen]

One thing I do that can help with channeling is to only open the valve part of the way. But I agree - adding a smaller tube on the end is the way to go.

[populuxebrewing]

I assume this harvesting is being done after you crash? Some yeast strains are going to channel more readily than others and depending on the volume of the vessel, the pressure on a 2.5" TC would cause that to happen quickly.

As suggested you may need to pull yeast until you hit beer, wait an hour for the cone to fill in again, then pull more yeast. Plastic conicals are a little more "grippy" in my opinion, mainly because of the compression fitting in the bottom.

[BrewinLou]

How long are you waiting before harvesting. Do you dump the early flockers before or during your crash cycle? We use 1.5" tc on 60 bbl fvs you may try reducing to 1.5".

[eskreen]

Dump dead/weak yeast, proteins, and other precipitation out of sanitized valve, sanitize everything, crash tank, add sanitized 1" hose, crack sanitized valve...take your time. Did I mention sanitize everything...?


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[Bainbridge]

I sometimes use a sightglass an another valve. So you go valve -> sightglass -> valve -> hose to brink. That way you can partly open both valves and control the flow speed better, plus the sight glass lets you get a good look at the yeast. Coming from a 2.5" you could use a reducer to get down to say 1.5" TC, then go from there.

[CharlosCarlies]

Does anybody harvest before crashing? Mostly concerned about our lagers that spend a few days at a warm diacetyl rest under pressure, so we've been pulling shortly after final gravity instead. We've been getting enough yeast, but just barely.

Am I just being overly concerned about viability loss during the diacetyl rest?

[Bainbridge]

Pull some at final gravity and do a cell count/viability check. Then pull some after crashing and compare.

[CharlosCarlies]

Duh! Now why didn't I think of that?

Thanks!