Harvest yeast from SA Oktoberfest?

Was at the beer store earlier and saw a 6 pack of Sam Adams Oktoberfest. Having never tried (or even saw) a commercial Oktoberfest I grabbed it. I really like it!

This has a little film of sediment in the bottom of the bottles, which I thought was strange. I didn't think they bottle conditioned any beers. Would you build it up and save it? Would you think it's actually the fermentation yeast, or a bottling strain?

Anyone have any opinions on this? I don't have any DME and the LHBS is an hour away, so I been swirling the last 5-10ml of each bottle and dumping it into a sanitized vial. I should be able to get some DME this weekend, try and build it up.

Can anyone tell me for sure if what's in the bottom of these bottles is yeast? Everything I can find online says Sam Adams doesn't bottle condition any of their beers.

I wouldn't waste my time with it. I have never heard of them bottle conditioning anything and i rarely hear of a lager being bottle conditioned.

jester5120 said:

I wouldn't waste my time with it. I have never heard of them bottle conditioning anything and i rarely hear of a lager being bottle conditioned.

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Hmmm. What could be lying in those bottles then?

Maybe I'll make a small starter and see what happens out of curiosity. See if it's just trub or really yeast. I think you may be right though. I've never heard of a bottles conditioned lager...

You've never had a commercial Octoberfest before? I'm sorry! SA Octoberfest is decent for what it is, but it's fairly heavy/sweet compared to German example. They release that stuff in August, so chances are the 6 pack you found is rather old.

zachattack said:

You've never had a commercial Octoberfest before? I'm sorry! SA Octoberfest is decent for what it is, but it's fairly heavy/sweet compared to German example. They release that stuff in August, so chances are the 6 pack you found is rather old.

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Yeah it may be old, we don't get much along the lines of good beer around here. The craft beer section basically consists of Rickards white, brown, and dark, hobgoblin, youngs double chocolate stout, and Sapporo lol.

Keep us posted on whether or not you were able to prop up the yeast. I'd love to know.

mtyquinn said:

Keep us posted on whether or not you were able to prop up the yeast. I'd love to know.

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I'll be picking up some DME tomorrow. I'll let you know how she goes!

Just pitched the vial of sediment from 3 of the Oktoberfests into a 1 cup starter. Now it's a waiting game to see what happens!


Was into the city today. Picked up another 3 6-packs of SA Oktoberfest, and a 6-pack of Boston Lager. Not sure what to think of the Boston Lager. It's nice and malty, lots of body and flavor for a lager, but a little too much hop bitterness for me. The 6-pack I have is a little over a month from the best before date, so I'm sure I fresher bottle would be much better. Zero sediment in these. I'll buy again.

I love this beer.... Im not sure where you live, but i am surprised that you can still find it. I usually buy four to six 12ers of this a year. And i usually can't get it anymore around the second to third week of November, gone.....

Anyway, I've been drinking this beer for about 12 years, and have never seen sediment in the bottom of the bottles.

Having said that. I have never been able to buy this beer after November.

I am very curious about your experiment.

HessenHelles said:

I love this beer.... Im not sure where you live, but i am surprised that you can still find it. I usually buy four to six 12ers of this a year. And i usually can't get it anymore around the second to third week of November, gone.....

Anyway, I've been drinking this beer for about 12 years, and have never seen sediment in the bottom of the bottles.

Having said that. I have never been able to buy this beer after November.

I am very curious about your experiment.

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I was very surprised here too. I'd been looking for it from October to the end of November with no luck. I gave up thinking they must not distribute this far east in Canada. Went to the local place and found the last 6-pack. Was in the city yesterday and they had maybe 4-5 dozen!

I started it out in a cup of 1.030 wort last night, but I broke my flask this morning! I'm trying to find something else to use right now but it may have to wait.

Well I stepped it up a few times and definitelygot some live yeast going here. I'm up to a 1g starter, so after this is done I'll cold crash and decant. It smells great, which is making me want to spend money on a lagering fridge, lol

Wow I'm suprised but that's pretty cool

Yeah it's still chewing away in the 1g starter wort. Waiting for everything to drop out before racking off the wort and jarring up some yeast. I'll probably keep a big jar around for a while until I find the time to attempt using it on a batch. I'd be glad to put a vial in the mail if anyone wants to play with it?

IF this isn't merely yeast left over that wasn't filtered or dropped out you are in luck. If it is bottle conditioned they most likely used a second yeast since it is a lager. Hard to say though. Make sure it is yeast you have growing and don't do an expensive batch with it to start off with.

Hermit said:

IF this isn't merely yeast left over that wasn't filtered or dropped out you are in luck. If it is bottle conditioned they most likely used a second yeast since it is a lager. Hard to say though. Make sure it is yeast you have growing and don't do an expensive batch with it to start off with.

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Well it smells like good yeast, and it's definitely fermenting! The other 3 six packs i bought had sediment in them also, and they were from a different batch (different best before dates).


I'm gonna do a small 1g batch to try this out on. Two actually, use the harvested yeast in one and another strain in the other gallon, so I can compare. That being said does anyone have a tried and true SA Oktoberfest clone (lager)? I have searched but can't find any recipes that people have done. Just people guessing grain % or people looking for a clone recipe.

Here she is! All sealed up in a 3oz jar.

Hoping to do two identical 1 gallon batches of a SA Oktoberfest clone In a few weeks one for this yeast and the other ill use wyeast 2633.

Antler said:

Here she is! All sealed up in a 3oz jar.

Hoping to do two identical 1 gallon batches of a SA Oktoberfest clone In a few weeks one for this yeast and the other ill use wyeast 2633.

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It will be interesting to see how this works out. They could have just pushed this through the system too fast and not let the yeast settle like it should. Commercial pressures.