Elshauno

Recipes 

Early last week I took the dregs of a 6 pack of bells amber ale and mixed it with 1/2 cup of DME yeast nutrients and o2 and then threw it on a stirplate. Perhaps I made to big of a starter that it stressed out the yeast or the beer was to old because after taking a small sample of the starter it still tastes strongly of DME Should I go to another store and get a mix of Bells Amber Brown and Pale? I'm at a loss

MikeinAK

Recipes 

Did you add any water to the DME and boil it? If so, how much water?

Elshauno

Recipes 

My bad yes I added 500 ml the only thing I can come up is either the beer I took the dregs from was old or the room temp I tried to make a starter in was in the mid 60's

MikeinAK

Recipes 

Maybe bump the temp up a bit and give it a few more days. Bell's have any code dates on the bottles to give any idea how old the beer was?

Elshauno

Recipes 

I did just move the stirplate from the kitchen which is always in the low 60's to my room which is always much warmer. I dont know about the dates on the bottles I removed the labels right after I was done taking the dregs. I even decanted the bottles for about an hour I will wait a few more days before I throw it back in the fridge and check for flocculation. Thanks for the reply.

smashed4

Recipes 

Culturing yeast from bottles is a hit or miss. In this case, it seems like a miss. Toss it and start with a fresher 6 packs.

After some time, mostly anything will start fermenting unless it is 100% sterile, which is rarely the case.

The amount of viable yeast in a bottle can be quite low. Pitch in a very very small amount of wort, the dregs of 1 bottle into 30 ml or even less, then step it up 10 folds to 300 ml 24 hours after first sign of fermentation. Test to ensure your 300 ml attenuated at least 75% and that there is no off-flavors.

If anything seems odd, don't use it. It is just not worth it.

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Saccharomyces

Recipes 

The stepping method is preferred. At this point the risk of contamination is too high, you want active fermentation in no more than 48 hours, so I would toss it and try again.

It is rumoured that Oberon is the best Bell's beer for harvesting their yeast. I would recommend getting it from a good bottle shop and not a corner gas station or grocery where the beer is probably old.

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