Comercial yeast harvesting, how long before giving up?

Have a starter of approximately 400ml of 1.030 wort that I added the dregs of 2 bottles of rogue dead guy ale to. Approximately .5 - .75" of each bottle. It's been on the stir plate for about 48hrs with no visible indicator of yeast growth. What's the realistic longest I should leave it going before giving up the ghost and figuring theses bottles didn't have any viable yeast (poor handling,storage,old bottles,sun spots or just bad luck)?

I think rogue force carbs. I just looked at my bottle of dead guy and saw no sediment in the bottom. Happily I believe they use pac-man yeast. You can purchase it from Wyeast. Used it for a hazelnut brown nectar clone and its delicious.

They do bottle condition some beers, I am unsure if that is one of them. That said it is correct that their yeast is available through wyeast as stated above.

I am not an expert, but it seems like 48 hours is more than enough time for the yeast to get through 400 ML of starter wort. All of my first step-ups of that size were done in 48 hours. I think it might be the beer selection. I am sure that someone can come along who has managed to harvest Pacman from Dead Guy, but I think the general consensus is that it is much easier to get it out of a bomber of one of the stouts. I got a nice culture out of one 22 oz bottle of the chocolate stout. So looks like poor you has to go to the bottle store and drink another bottle of Rogue. Take a look at the bottom of the bottle before you buy, to ensure that there is a nice deposit of yeast at the bottom. (That is also a good way of meeting other homebrewers- if you see someone else at the bottle store holding the bottles up to the light and squinting at the bottom of the bottle, chances are you have a lot in common.) (Or just by the yeast, but there is something to be said for the adventure of harvesting).

I came home from running errands (read, buying a bottle of Redemption ) intending to dump the starter and figure there wasn't any viable yeast in those two bottles.

Lo and behold I find krausen starting to form. Of course now I'm paranoid that 72hrs without activity what's fermenting might be a wild yeast..

I harvested the yeast out of a bottle of ommegang Hennepin and it took a fees days to see any noticeable activity. I was ready to dump it, but I had just brewed 5 gals of Hennepin clone and had no other options. It was Easter Sunday. So no lhbs, and they are closed Monday.

It started to show a little activity so I pitched it and next day had a. Ice kraeuson......just tasted my hydrometer sample out of secondary and it came out great

Dead guy may be filtered so it might not have as much yeast to harvest as others. I've had good luck with their Northwestern, as well as any of the dark beers, the Bitter IpA and a few others. I usually hold the 22oz bombers up to the light in the beer store and look for ones with a nice settled blanket of yeast....

rawlus said:

Dead guy may be filtered so it might not have as much yeast to harvest as others. I've had good luck with their Northwestern, as well as any of the dark beers, the Bitter IpA and a few others. I usually hold the 22oz bombers up to the light in the beer store and look for ones with a nice settled blanket of yeast....

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Luckyyyyyyyyyy

I've tried Northwestern a couple times (Sig is the man! But where's Eggar? ) to no avail.

Try try again.....

At least the 12 oz bottles of dead guy are not filtered. I had success harvesting from 2 bottles. I did start with a 1.020 wort and stepped up twice to get a good batch, but the initial fermentation did take a long time (something like 72 hours or so). There are threads elsewhere on this forum that talk about harvesting from dead guy and other Rogue brews.

Tell us about your technique. I tend to use bombers very cold, reserve as much as 1" in the bottom, might use two bombers in a 10:1 wort of 500-800ml or so. I use a stir-plate so that might be why I haven't had one not work yet. Usually takes 24-48 hours to begin, only observed by fine bubbles and sometimes a very light run of foam around the vortex from the stir plate.

SInce we know that yeast can lag or be sluggish for up to 72 hours, that's usually how long I'll wait to see if there's a creamy band of yeast on the bottom.

But remember with starters of any type, harvsting or otherwise there's only ONE "visible indicator of yeast growth" and with your stirplate running it's usually impossible to see it.

I explain what it is here.

In my case, it was with about 1/2" of the dregs from two bottles. I don't know how old the bottles were, but they did have a visible layer of sediment. I suppose they were stored at 40F. I opened, decanted, and then let it warm to room temp. Started in a 2 liter starter of 1.020. Was very careful with sanitation, using starsan from a spray bottle and flame sterilizing the lips of the bottles and flask. It was on a stirplate. What I remember is being pretty disappointed after about 48 hours of no activity then walking into the kitchen one time to see a 3-4" krausen. Before I stepped it up, I smelled to make sure it wasn't wild. I mainly did it for the challenge and the fact that Wyeast Pacman is (was?) seasonal. I used it on one batch, then top cropped from that one to build a starter for the next batch. One was a DG clone that tuned out excellent and the other was just something experimental. I will also say that when you use this yeast, (and doing AG), definitely mash a little high, because it is an excellent attenuator.

Revvy said:

SInce we know that yeast can lag or be sluggish for up to 72 hours, that's usually how long I'll wait to see if there's a creamy band of yeast on the bottom.

But remember with starters of any type, harvsting or otherwise there's only ONE "visible indicator of yeast growth" and with your stirplate running it's usually impossible to see it.

I explain what it is here.

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I disagree. When using DME or wort, the body of the starter becomes much lighter in color when the yeast blooms. It looks like when you add cream to coffee. This might not be obvious with a very small starter.

I agree that 72 hrs is not a long time for a starter based on dregs. OTOH, I waited a week for dregs to start once, and was rewarded with something else entirely (that you wouldn't want to make beer with; perhaps cheese).

passedpawn said:

I disagree. When using DME or wort, the body of the starter becomes much lighter in color when the yeast blooms. It looks like when you add cream to coffee. This might not be obvious with a very small starter.

I agree that 72 hrs is not a long time for a starter based on dregs. OTOH, I waited a week for dregs to start once, and was rewarded with something else entirely (that you wouldn't want to make beer with; perhaps cheese).

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I can normally see the bloom too, but you definitely need to turn off the stir plate to see how much is present (settles).

I also had a failed dregs starter before the successful Pacman one. Tried to harvest from a Rochefort 8. My problem there was I put it in the basement where it was about 62F. It never took off after 7 days of waiting. I have a pretty strong stomach, but when I smelled it I nearly gagged. The Pacman starter I did was probably pretty warm too because I did it in the summer and we usually let the house get up to 75 then.

Funny I just go on to post my tecnique for how I just harvested and found this thread right below. Hope it helps.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/how-i-harvested-pacman-yeast-322590/

I harvested from a 6 pack of Dead Guy, it went nuts in my yeast flask. I always harvest from at least 6 - 12oz bottles with good success.