Skimming Yeast.

[Road Runner]

I got brew under way yeasterday using Safale S-04 yeast. It was off like a runnaway train as usual. Bubbles through the airlock within 4 hours of pitching.

My question is though, what are the pro's & cons of skimming the yeast crud thrown up?

Also how do you go about skimming it?

I did try skimming off the rubbish once by trying to get it to stick to the back of a sanitized spoon. This wasn't very succesful though. I seem to remember reading somewhere that you don't want to expose the wort surface when skimming & I found this difficult to do. Also I'm kind of worried about introducing any nasties with this process. Once my wort has been boiled, cooled & put into primary, I put as little as possible in contact with it.

So if any of you do skim, how do you do it & why?

[Road Runner]

Do you simply pat the paddle/fish slice on the trub & get it to stick to it, or scrape the whole surface away?

[Chappie519]

I have often wondered about re-using my yeast but never known how. Do you just keep the sludge in the bottom of the fermenter (after syphoning the brew off) in a sanatized bag in the freezer DaaB? How long will it keep for?

[Chappie519]

Cheers for the very detailed description DaaB! Might try this with my next batch!

Chappie