Bottle Harvesting

Just wanted to stop by to say I officially have my first batch using yeast harvested from commercial bottles fermenting now!

Thanks to the tips found here, I harvested the Bells Strain from their Pale ale, and pitched into an IPA after stepping up the starter a few times.

This is easy enough I am surprised it took me this long to try!

The IPA this went into has finished up fermentation. I am VERY impressed with this yeast! 89% Apparent Attenuation and it has that nice fruity ester smell that so many of the Bell's Beers get. REALLY looking forward to tasting this one (and using the yeast again in the future)

Glad it worked out for you, the Bell's strain is one of my favorites! If it's not fruity enough for you, just give it a little more heat.

wyzazz said:

If it's not fruity enough for you, just give it a little more heat.

Click to expand...

it seemed pretty fruity, and I kept it down to 66-68. I may try to let it go higher next time and see what happens!

How was the flocculation?

I am cold crashing for 48 hours before kegging, but it settled out very well. I think I'll skip gelatin for the first time in a long time.

It does take it's sweet time to flocc. Out, though. It took two weeks to begin clearing out.

Hmmm. I'm trying to see how the Bell's strain compares with 1272/051. That yeast is a pretty nice flocculator... falls to the bottom in a fairly tight puck and makes racking really easy. It's usually done and ready to keg/bottle after 10 days. Sounds like yours was a little more dusty?

My last batch before this used 1272 (first time I've used that strain.... Very nice).

From my experience I would say the Bell's took a few days longer to ferment out (but the ipa was a lot bigger beer... 1.075 vs 1.05 I think)

It has more estery/fruity smells than 1272

It takes longer to flocculate out and does not form as tightly packed yeast cake as 1272 does.

And it attenuates way higher (I got 79% w/1272, 89% at a 5 degree higher mash temp w/ Bells)