Harvesting yeast from commercial brews?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

emr454

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 20, 2009
Messages
171
Reaction score
2
Can I harvest yeast from any bottle conditioned beer to re-use? Is there a list of common brews people normally harvest yeast from? I know dry beer yeast isnt real expensive, but if I can save myself a dollar and a 30 minute drive to the LHBS then I'm willing to try it. Thanks.

Eric
 
unfiltered beer , that is bottle conditioned , or naturally carbonated is what your looking for.

look for beer bottles with sediment on the bottom then read the labels ...
on exception, wheat beer sediment isn't necessarily yeast.

rogue is one but it costs as much as buying the stuff and can take weeks to grow , good beer though.

run more of a search on here you should be able to dig up more.
 
I just brewed a batch with some Bell's ale yeast that another HBT member gave me. There are lots of them... Rogue, Bell's, Stone, Fuller's, etc. etc.
 
Can I harvest yeast from any bottle conditioned beer to re-use? Is there a list of common brews people normally harvest yeast from? I know dry beer yeast isnt real expensive, but if I can save myself a dollar and a 30 minute drive to the LHBS then I'm willing to try it. Thanks.

Eric

This hasn't been updated in a while, but it might give you a few ideas.

Yeasts from Bottle Conditioned Beers

It will give you an idea of what beers may allow you to grow up some yeast versus ones that don't bottle condition or use a different strain for bottling.
 
If you're just looking to replace dry yeast as a money-saver, don't bother...you'll spend more $$/time culturing the commercial yeast.

Generally, when people try to culture a commercial yeast it's to get a specific flavor profile from a yeast that isn't available to homebrewers. The two examples that come to mind immediately are Rogue's Pacman yeast, and Unibroue's belgian strain (both of which, BTW, are seasonal/special offerings from Wyeast...there's also some debate as to whether the Unibroue bottle-conditioning yeast is the one they use for primary fermentation).

Make one trip to your LHBS (or order online), and stock up on several varieties of dry yeast (Nottingham, S-05, S-04). Pitch on cakes and/or harvest/wash the yeast to stretch your $$. Buy liquid yeast when there's no acceptable dry option (hefeweizens, most lagers, belgians, etc.). Wash and reuse those. And only culture the commercial stuff if (a) you can't get it any other way, or (b) you just like to tinker with things like that.
 
Yeasts from Bottle Conditioned Beers

It will give you an idea of what beers may allow you to grow up some yeast versus ones that don't bottle condition or use a different strain for bottling.


The linked page is a great concept, but so incomplete and so outdated (Last updated May 29 1998) as to be almost useless. I think our own wiki page might be a better place to start.
 
If you're just looking to replace dry yeast as a money-saver, don't bother...you'll spend more $$/time culturing the commercial yeast.

He's right.

I've used over a pound of DME culturing yeast from a Duvel bottle.

For the same amount of money I could have gone out and bought WLP570 or Wyeast 1388. Same thing.
 
Make one trip to your LHBS (or order online), and stock up on several varieties of dry yeast (Nottingham, S-05, S-04). Pitch on cakes and/or harvest/wash the yeast to stretch your $$.

I wasnt aware the you could wash dry yeast. I know its cheap enough to just buy more but if I can save a dollar here and there I'll try it.

Eric
 
You have to do a little research before using yeast from bottle-conditioned brews. Unibroue, for example, uses a different strain for bottling which is basically neutral (why they do this, I don't know), so don't expect a Belgian from it.
 
You have to do a little research before using yeast from bottle-conditioned brews. Unibroue, for example, uses a different strain for bottling which is basically neutral (why they do this, I don't know), so don't expect a Belgian from it.

Im sure they do it so that people can't get thier strain.

But I know alot of the trappist and abbey stuff is conditioned with the same yeast they brew with.
 
Back
Top