Stealing yeast.

A buddy of mine mentioned that you can take yeast from the bottom of bottles and revitalise it. For instance, Duvel. I know after I pour one into a bottle, the yeast is still at the bottom. Has anyone ever tried taking the spent yeast from a freshly poured brew and been able to revitalise the yeast? Do you think it would be worth the effort?

Definitely possible. Depends on a couple of factors...
- Beer must be bottle conditioned
- Must be conditioned with the primary strain of yeast, not a secondary bottling strain.

Lots of commercial strains are available to homebrewers through Wyeast/White Labs which is an easier way to get them, but if you want a particular strain or just enjoy the whole process, stealing from a bottle is cool.

Here is a reference for many different beers:
http://www.nada.kth.se/~alun/Beer/Bottle-Yeasts/

Definitely possible. I've done it lots of times. But mostly back before such a variety of yeast was available.

It's worth the effort if it's a unique yeast strain...something you can't already buy from White Labs. If you can buy it, then IMHO, it's best to leave yeast farming to the pros.

As BeeGee said, a lot of the time, Belgians will have a secondary bottling yeast...not the interesting one you want.

You'll find these days that you can buy most of the yeast strains you'd ever want from the W places.

I could be wrong, it happened once before, but my understanding is the yeast that is used to condition that beer is different then the one used to ferment it. Also, the success will depend on how old the bottle is and how it has been handled. That said, I steal yeast often and it is loads of fun!

Brewpastor said:

I could be wrong, it happened once before, but my understanding is the yeast that is used to condition that beer is different then the one used to ferment it.

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This is frequently true, but not always (see above link).

Could you guys give me a general rundown of your process. I saw the link, but I was looking for a simple tutorial. (step by step)
Also, I hear you have to be very sterile with yeast farming. How tedious do you have to be with the sterility of yeast? Would you say it's worth the trouble?

BeeGee said:

This is frequently true, but not always (see above link).

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link above confirms brewpastor's beliefs....about the yeast -- no mention of jesus on that site

Lou said:

link above confirms brewpastor's beliefs....about the yeast -- no mention of jesus on that site

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Link above indicates that some beers contain primary strain while some contain bottling strain.

opreska said:

Could you guys give me a general rundown of your process?

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Here is the info that I used Yeast Culturing from Bottles.

Good luck,
Wild