Top Cropping Yeast

In my last brew I used Wyeast 1318. The description of this yeast is that it is a "true top cropper." Well yes sir it is. I had my daughter/brewing assistant help take pictures of the process. I cropped the yeast from the top about 48 hours after the initial pitch.

Here, I was preparing to measure the amount of slurry/yeast collected


Picture of the yeast in full "top cropping" mode


And the collection


Now here is an interesting thing.... Last night I measured out 2 ounces of hop pellets to dry hop with. I opened the fermenter and noticed that the yeast looked even more dense than when I top cropped. Not thinking much about it, I poured in the pellets. The yeast was so dense that it held all the pellets up above the beer! I don't know if the krausen will fall, or if eventually the pellets will saturate and sink into the beer. But, that is amazing. I have top cropped WLP001 (california ale yeast) before and it behaved totally different.

The cal ale yeast was sort of loose and foamy when I top cropped. The Wyeast 1318 was much more concentrated, more dense, and slurry like. Very interesting contrast. I'll post pictures of the pint and a review when it is ready, next week.