The main purpose of a stir plate is to introduce oxygen and does really make a difference. I use a small amount of nutrients. Check out www.mrmalty.com and you can calculate starters with and with out a stir plate.
Commercial Beer Yeast Harvest List
- Thread starter PurpleJeepXJ
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I'd imagine unless you were harvesting from a large sample that a stir plate would be pretty much required. At least for non bottle conditioned (like Dead Guy) where you're attempting to harvest from yeast that got through filtration, I don't see it being likely to do it without a stir plate.
The last two times I've harvested dead guy I've done it form 2-3 bottles with 1/4 - 1/2" dregs in each bottle. It's taken 3-4 days to take off each time and that's with a stir plate. I've never added yeast nutrient, but it wouldn't be a terrible idea.
jeepinjeepin
Well-Known Member
Sirwood said:
People are all about this Pacman yeast. If I grew some up would people want it?
Edit: scratch that, you can buy it from wyeast.
jeepinjeepin said:
It can be bought from Wyeast, but apparently only goes through certain distributors, and I think may only be available during certain months (or every other month). When I ordered it from my lhbs they said they had to order it from someone other than their normal supplier, it cost 50% more and took a month to get in
I ended up harvesting in the meantime, so now I have a Wyeast smack pack sitting in my fridge... Go figure.
Bradinator
Well-Known Member
Bad News: I was trying to harvest a bottling of the Three Philosophers Ommengang and had it successfully take, but it became infected with some very gross looking hairy mold
Good News: Another successful harvest of Pacman from a bottle of Voodoo Doughnut Maple Bacon Ale using a bottle of Malta.
Good News: Another successful harvest of Pacman from a bottle of Voodoo Doughnut Maple Bacon Ale using a bottle of Malta.
Bradinator said:Bad News: I was trying to harvest a bottling of the Three Philosophers Ommengang and had it successfully take, but it became infected with some very gross looking hairy mold
Same thing happened to me a couple weeks ago with a bottle of Hennepin. Can't imagine what happened. There seemed to be a good amount of yeast on the bottom. Attempted to step to 6 oz of 1.040 wort @ 75 degrees. No luck - infection.
Bradinator
Well-Known Member
I think poor sanitation was at fault for mine. I used a spoon to stir it but did not bother to clean it beforehand. It was some pretty funky looking growth... Kind of like crazy old man ear hair. Maybe I should have tried to grow it out into a wig or something.
Yeah, I think the yeast in my bottle were dead or something - I had no activity for 6 days and then infection set in.
The activity from that first step is minimal if any.... first step, the yeast are really just waking up.
Admittedly, I haven't read this entire thread yet, but I keep noticing talk on how exactly to harvest yeast. I'm sure it's been gone over several times now, but here's a link to a little write up I did on harvesting from several 12 oz bottles. I do this all the time to get Bell's and Pacman yeast.
Sometimes. It's seasonal, I think. Either way, it's more fun to harvest. Plus ya get beer for your $7.
Yeah, I've been successful with bells, orval and a number of others. This is my first fail. There was literally no activity -- if it had fermented the likelihood of an infection would be low.
Oh well, try, try again...
tifosichris
Member
Port Brewing Mongo
It happens. Sucks though. Do you use a really small, low grav. starter to start with?
Stepped to 6 oz 1.040 wort
ShawnNelson
Active Member
Did anyone ever figure out if the yeast in the dregs of Sierra Nevada Kellerweiss is the primary fermenting yeast?
I try not to use more than 1.030 for the first and second stepping. After that though I treat it as normal.
OP
OP
I recently made a hefeweizen with it and it seems to be the primary yeast strain.
ShawnNelson said:
Using a separate "bottling" yeast is an exceedingly rare practice, yet your question is extremely common in this thread. The truth is, it's almost always a safe bet that the yeast in the bottle was used to ferment the beer itself, especially in beers that aren't extreme-ABV beers (like 13+ percent).
In fact, it's so unlikely to be a different strain in any given beer that you're always best off just going for it, unless you've heard otherwise either straight from the horse's mouth, or from so many other people that it's obviously common knowledge. It's so unlikely that if somebody tells you that a certain beer uses a different strain for bottling, there's a high probability that they're wrong, because many homebrewers have the mistaken idea that it's a somewhat common practice. It really isn't. MANY (if not most) brewers who ROUTINELY harvest yeast will *never* encounter such a product.
SnowBird
Active Member
Great list, Thanks!
Was successful getting yeast from Koninshoeven La Trappe Tripel
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/184/658
and currently have the (very active) yeast spinning from Great Lakes Brewing Belgian Saison
http://www.thestar.com/living/article/1244676--great-lakes-25th-anniversary-saison-what-s-brewing
That's the only link I could find with a picture of the bottle. This one might be tough for people outside of the Greater Toronto area to find.
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/184/658
and currently have the (very active) yeast spinning from Great Lakes Brewing Belgian Saison
http://www.thestar.com/living/article/1244676--great-lakes-25th-anniversary-saison-what-s-brewing
That's the only link I could find with a picture of the bottle. This one might be tough for people outside of the Greater Toronto area to find.
TxCoconut
Member
Thank you for your research & others contribution. Sticky this for us yeast newbs!
Bradinator
Well-Known Member
I just got given the Schmaltz holiday gift pack and was thinking of trying to harvest some of the yeasts. Has anyone tried harvesting from Schmaltz beers? Reading online seems to lead me to believe this is an unfiltered beer, but does anyone know for sure?
You can buy "a version" from wyeast
Do you mean its not the same strain?
It's the same strain. Wy maintains Rogue's yeast bank, which is a fancy way of saying that when Rogue needs yeast, they order it from Wy. It may be slightly different, because Wy is lab direct and in the Rogue brewery the yeast may change, but I believe I've read that Rogue reorders once they detect differences in yeast character.
jeepinjeepin
Well-Known Member
NordeastBrewer77 said:
That's the whole point of yeast banking. A brewery always has that set point to go back to.
highgravitybacon
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Awesome to know. I'm on a Belgian yeast binge and this was on the radar.
Boulevard beers: NOT possible to harvest yeast. They use a different yeast for bottle conditioning. One of their employees did a nhc presentation and I believe said they use safbrew S-33 for conditioning.
supermoth
Well-Known Member
I have also had good results with harvesting Pranqster.
Does anyone have any experience with the St. Feuillien saison?
This is from Cambridge Brewing Company's Big Man IPA. Started the culture on Tuesday. Have to split it tomorrow. It looks like wlp005. Cottage cheese.
I'm sure it's been mentioned here before, but I've recently harvested Conan yeast from Heady Topper.
Bradinator
Well-Known Member
I was lucky enough to get a case of Westvleteren XII for Christmas this year. I am in the process of attempting to harvest the yeast from a bottle and so far its looking like its going to take. I will update the final results in a couple days when its done.
If it fails I got another 3 bottles to attempt with!
If it fails I got another 3 bottles to attempt with!
j1laskey said:
So.... I was off just a bit. But conformation from CBC
Bradinator
Well-Known Member
I did not, though I am unsurprised. Still it looks like I am going to harvest it successfully so its a bonus on top of the amazing beer.
Tried twice to harvest Conan from some Heady Topper. First time I used an sterile inoculation loop and tried to plate out from the dregs in the can. After 10 days I had zero growth on the plates. Second attempt I opened a can and poured off 90% into a glass in one clean pour. I then swirled the dregs and added it to 400ml of 1.020 wort and put it on my stir plate. After 72hrs of zero activity I wrapped the flask in a couple of kitchen towels to try and warm it up a bit. Woke up this morning to find the start of a krausen!
Assuming it takes off like a normal starter from this point, I'll plate out from the starter and then grow up and isolate some single colonies to slant.
Assuming it takes off like a normal starter from this point, I'll plate out from the starter and then grow up and isolate some single colonies to slant.
Definitely the best beers for reharvesting are true import Belgians - sure you can buy the WLP or WYeast strains, but they lack the traditional "flare" of their original counterparts...
I just found a blog from a Belgian monk (I didn't think Monks could blog), but it's pretty interesting...
http://forsakenmonk.wordpress.com/
I just found a blog from a Belgian monk (I didn't think Monks could blog), but it's pretty interesting...
http://forsakenmonk.wordpress.com/
