marshman

Recipes 

So, I bought a 750 of beer last weekend and drank it last night. It was quite sweet and pretty big, over 10% ABV. Thinking it might be a useful yeast, I saved a bit of the beer in the bottle. Since it is a bottle conditioned brew, I am guessing that the yeast is pretty tough (surviving at the high ABV), and still alive and kicking. Is it plausible to think that I could make a small (quart-ish) starter, add the last 3 oz of the beer and let it rip and have a stash of that yeast for use in my concoctions?

I suppose it's possible that the brewers use one type of yeast for their ferment and then use something different for their bottle, perhaps to keep mooks like me from stealing their prized yeasts.

Is this a shady practice on my part? Should I honor the code and finish the bottle?

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42

sirsloop

Recipes 

Who's the brewer? Lots of companies filter the beer then repitch prior to bottling with a seperate yeast. As far as being shady, no. I know there's a list going around on the web with what yeast strains are contained in what bottles. If you got it, why not make a stater? Its free yeast. Even if a brewery gave you their exact recipe for one of their beers I think it would still be hard to duplicate the brew. A lot of how a beer tastes comes from brew technique, sanitation, temperature control, etc etc.

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~___//_ ____________________________~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~_/ [][]| | /```\/```\/```\/```\/```\ |~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~_/_______| |____NOW TRIPLE HOPPED______|~~~~~~~~~~
~~~___/[_]| 00 /| | \,,,/\,,,/\,,,/\,,,/\,,,/ |~~~~~~~~~~
~~|___|___|___/_| |___________________________|~~~~~~~~~~
~~|=(*)[________]==(*)(*)=| \________/=(*)(*)=|~~~~~~~~~~

BierMuncher

Recipes 

You paid for that yeast.

It's yours to do with what you please.

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SuperiorBrew

Recipes 

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Rich

Bitter Creek Homebrew Supply

marshman

Recipes 

I wasn't planning to replicate the brew in question, I was just thinking that I could probably use it for my own evil purposes in the future. For the record, it's Victory V-12.

Mainly an experiment, actually. Just wondering if it were possible.

What does one use for a filter media to remove yeast? Aren't the yeasty beasties pretty tiny? I'm thinking a coffee filter ain't gonna get 'em, but whadda I know???

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42

sirsloop

Recipes 

Yeah, they can pump the brew through paper filters... around .5-1 micron.

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~___//_ ____________________________~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~_/ [][]| | /```\/```\/```\/```\/```\ |~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~_/_______| |____NOW TRIPLE HOPPED______|~~~~~~~~~~
~~~___/[_]| 00 /| | \,,,/\,,,/\,,,/\,,,/\,,,/ |~~~~~~~~~~
~~|___|___|___/_| |___________________________|~~~~~~~~~~
~~|=(*)[________]==(*)(*)=| \________/=(*)(*)=|~~~~~~~~~~

beergears

Recipes 

SuperiorBrew, what did you mean to point to, link above goes to "Sorry no match..."?

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You primates are so predictable.

marshman

Recipes 

I found some useful stuff--I needed the right keyword for the search function ("starter" yields something like 500 matches--"culture" was a big help). I was predominantly concerned with the 'integrity' of the concept--is it frowned upon to 'steal' yeast from another brewer, or are we all basically doing that all the time anyway?

Having sifted through quite a few debates about starters, I got to wondering about ingredients--the concept is to make very small batches of unhopped wort, right? What would happen if instead of wort, I made a different 'wort', like say using honey (what is unfermented mead called...honey water?) instead? The yeast just wants a little sugar, right?

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42

Blender

Recipes 

I wouldn't call it stealing unless you plan to use it commercially. You are going to need to step the starters up in order to get a viable yeast count. Don't use honey or sugar.... use wort.

ohiobrewtus

Recipes 

I say go for it. I've done this a few times with success - especially from Hoegaarden bottles.

I admit that I realize I may not be getting the yeast that actually fermented the beer, but it's still free yeast and only requires a minimal amount of work.

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