Beer Forum

Jamilz talked about Nalgene bottles for yeast harvesting on the last show and mentioned http://www.cynmar.com but i cant find them on the site. does any one have a straight link?
thanks
jason

Check out U.S. Plastics:

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/catego ... rm=nalgene

Be careful to get the polypropylene bottles (like mentioned on the show), as the polyethylene (ex. LDPE, HDPE) ones are not autoclavable.

Nalgene is more a brand name than a type of bottle. They make all kinds of plastic bottles, flasks, beakers, etc., namely made of polyethylene or polypropylene.


- joe

trans wrote:...not autoclavable.

Damn, I knew I forgot to buy something at the homebrew store!

Okay, who has an autoclave and thus why is it so important to buy an autoclavable bottle if no one does?

Danno wrote:Okay, who has an autoclave and thus why is it so important to buy an autoclavable bottle if no one does?

Well, I'm sure hardly any homebrewers have a lab-grade autoclave lying around seeing as they are insanely expensive, but a lot of homebrewers do have pressure cookers. Essentially a pressure cooker acts as an autoclave, but isn't quite as sophisticated as the lab-grade ones.

Now, I was only pointing out to get the autoclavable kind because if JAWSFREE was planning on repitching by following Jamil's directions exactly, he would have to put the bottles in a pressure cooker and hit them with about 250 degrees. If one were to do this with something like an HDPE (high density polyethylene) bottle, it'd be right around its melting threshold of 260 degrees (if memory serves correctly). As such, the plastic would probably be all deformed and would be fairly weak.

The polypropylene bottle on the other hand can handle the 250 degrees and still keep its structural integrity intact.

If one was planning on sanitizing a bottle or hitting it with something like 212 degrees, then the HDPE bottle would work just fine. (To be honest, I don't even trust HDPE at 212 degrees due to the deformation to causes)., Just keep in mind that under both cases, you are only sanitizing, not sterilizing. But if you want to sterilize instead of sanitize, you have to have at least 250 degrees, because 212 actually only kills most, but not all of the bacteria present.

I hope this response made some sense, and maybe Jamil can chime in and give his input.

I don't think sterilization is critical here because the recovered yeast comes from equipment (buckets, carboys, etc) that was sanitized, not sterilized so there is already going to be some small level of contamination. My recommendation is to just sanitize the container. If Jamil is saying to autoclave or pressure cook it, I think that's overkill. Now, if this was a starter that was grown under sterile conditions, I'd be more inclined to continue with sterility wherever possible. Starting with 'sanitary' and then going 'sterile' isn't necessary IMHO.

Yes, I use a pressure cooker for wort starters but I have never sterilized the mason jars that I use to store yeast from a previous batch of beer.

I disagree. Are you saying that there is already some contamination, so you might as well just add to it?

I think that every step of the way you do everything you can to minimize contamination. If you can have sterile items, that is what you should use.

i have heard hundreds and hundreds of times, I dont sterilize, i dontdo this, do that, bla bla bla, and they all say i have never had an infection, well every time ive tasted a brewers beer that say they dont have infections, actually do....the problem is they have become accustomed to it and cant taste it.

if you want to See how easy a yeast can go funky try this

take 2 agar plates, sterilise 1 and just add hot agar to the other, streak them and seal them air tight........see the funk grow.

The fact that you are taking yeast from a previously sterile environment means nothing, I dont know of any brewery that has any means of keeping a fermenter sterile, but at the stage of end of ferment its not so bad, but if you contine to put the yeast into a unsterile environment your asking for trouble