Scottish Ale Yeast

Tom McLean

New Member
Trial Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2013
Messages
49
Reaction score
0
Points
0
I would appreciate anyones comments on what I am doing here:

I am in the process of brewing a 1.060 sg Scottish ale. While I was at it, I though I would see if my yeast skills are any good, and try to top crop and repitch some yeast. I have been using Wyeast 1728 Scottish ale yeast, but for this batch, I switched to Whites 028 Edinburgh yeast. This will be the 3 th bath of Scottish we have made and have fermented all of them at 55 F. White Labs has a note on their website that indicates the 028 does not ferment
well below 62 F. Part of what I was trying to do, was to see to what extent this caution was true. I made a starter with two veils of 028 and 3.5 l of .042 wort. Both the starter and the 25 l batch began fermenting in 5 – 6 hours, had a yeast / fruit smell, and a vigorous fermentation. They were pitch at 52 F and fermented at 55 F. I have not tasted the beer from the White yeast yet, but everything about the behavior of the two strains seem to be the same. I will come back and report any differences in the beer if any develop.

I have collected about 300 ml of slurry from the surface of the fermenting wort. I started collecting 24 hour after pitching and two more times after that at 6 hour intervals. I used a cooks skimming ladle and collected the yeast into two 1 qt jars with about ½ cup of the wort in each. The three skimming procedures have netted me about 300 ml of unsettled slurry in total. My estimation is this will yield about 100 ml of settled slurry, or about 3 veils worth. I plan to leave it with the wort for three days at 37 F then wash it with sterilized distilled water and store it in the refrigerator for a week or until I need some. When the time comes, I will use about 100 ml of this to make a starter for my next batch of Scottish Ale.

More later:

Tom
 
I am about to try the wyeast for the first time but used the white labs before. With 1 vial I just saved, washed and reused the cake 8 times(yes I know)and it got tastier every time. Finally chickened out and filed it :cry: . Fermented @60-65. Wonderful yeast.
 
Thanks for the comments Head First.

When you say you washed the yeast do you mean with water or with a mild acid solution?

Also, how long do you keep it before you use it, e.g. repitch it?

Thanks:

Tom
 
you wash yeast with boiled or stylized but cool to at least 70 water
 
FWIW,
Proper "yeast washing" is done with an acid solution and is best left to the professionals.

What we do as home brewers should technically be called "yeast rinsing" as boiled and cooled water is used to separate healthy viable yeast cells from dead cells, trub, proteins and hop bits.
 
Chesking is correct with the yeast rinsing. Washing with acid is for trained chemists in brewery labs. I use the same rules as the manufactures. Save for 3 months tops. I sanitize canning jars and lids for storage in the frig. They're pretty handy and you can write on the lids for identification. After racking from primary I sanitize the bucket lip and pour into jar, let settle overnight, pour off the beer, add water, shake lightly, set overnight, pour off water, add enough water to form pourable slurry and forget about it til time for next beer. Always sanitize edge of jar every time it gets open. If the yeast is going to be used for the same beer time after time no need to wash.
 
Thanks for the information. Very helpful. You must be going something right if you get 8 repitches. I top cropped and needed to decant once to remove the beer and another time when i rinsed. I did not sanitize the lips of the fruit jars when I opened them after I had collected the yeast. I believe I should have, and will next time. My half pint canning jars were wet sterlized in the oven.

Great fun, and the beer is not bad either.

BTW Whites 028 continued to ferment in the frig @ 37 F for 3 days after I collected it. It did not stop until i rinsed it.

Tom
 
You don't want to know all the nasties that live in your frig! Just as the manufactures recommend sanitizing their yeast containers I always sanitize before I open it.
I use quart jars for yeast cakes. I try to swirl enough to get all but the very bottom of the cake. From just pitching 1 vial(no starter) in a 1.050 beer it will usually give me at least a pint of slurry after rinsing. From 2nd use batches, up to a full quart.
 
the easiest way to sanitize is to have a spray bottle with it mixed up , spray everything and I mean everything even your hands, set something down, spray it again
 
I have now fermented three batches of 1.060 Scottish Ale with top cropped Whites 028. All of the fertmentations have been without problems. I discover that the thermometer I was using with the fermentor was indicating 5 deg low. So the beer was fermented at 60 F and not 55 F. Primary fermentation took 5 to 6 days, depending on how cold the room got during our cold snap. I fermented one batch at 70 F to see what it would do. It finished sooner with no added flavors that I could detect. Both varities of Scottish ale yeast are very good, strong fermentors, few to no added flavors, drops out when finished like a rock, and sticks together and to the glass bottom like tar. I believe that the Wyeast equivalent ferments a little stronger between 55 and 65 F. Both survive lagering at 35 F for 2-3 weeks, and come back to bottle condition the beer.

Top Collecting works and produces more then enough yeast for the next batch. However, there are some things you need to be prepared for. I made two collections by skimming the top foam 24 hours and 36 hours after pitching. I collect into two 1 qt sterile canning jars. Be prepared for a relatively messy collection. The yeast is foamy and full of bubbles, and it will continue to ferment/foam after three days in the fridge at 37 F. Fermentation will stop only after it is rinsed with sterile distilled water and the beer is diluted down to about 1/4 strength. This yeast is also as sticky as tar. I used a roll of paper towels soaked with Star San keeping the jars clean on the outside. The yeast will settle down with a distilled water cover after a couple of days. I leave it with a beer cover for three days at 37 F thinking that the yeast will use these conditions to build their reserves. It is then transferred to 8 oz canning jars that I fill with about 100 ml of thick slurry and another 100 ml of distilled water cover, for storage. Another point, the metal rings rust, buy some of the reusable plastic tops. These tend to leak, but are the best option that I have found. Store with the tops about 1/4 turn loose. I have broken jars with bread yeast and a tight lid.

BTW, Check the White Lab web site. They have conducted taste tests on cider where 6 or so different yeast used to make the same cider. There were three panel of tasters. The 028 yeast was first with two of the panels and second with the third. It is a good choice for a lot of things.

I am relativity new at this and would value your comments.
 
on the storing of yeast I have found that the same containers that white labs uses works great, make sure you sterilize all water before adding to yeast and sprinkling some yeast nutrient on top shaking then putting the cap on will make it last longer during storage, without i can only store healthy alive yeast for 6 months then they die

keep in mind that yeast floats around in the air at all times, they are part of what we call mother nature and wild yeast will join any colony of your saved if possible while open to the air.

it is always advisable to have a flame going while working with open containers of yeast to avoid this from happening, it isn't the end of the world for this to happen but wild yeast have wild flavors
 

Back
Top