What To Do With My Jolly Pumkin Dregs

I made a 1.020 starter and pitched the dregs from 2 bottles of JP which were about 8 months old. I used 200 mL of starter wort, the volume is 300 mL now with the bottle dregs.

This was a couple of weeks ago, and it has been sitting in a mason jar since. It smells good, pretty much like Oro. The yeast has grown and is settled on the bottom, I'm thinking it's time to step it up to 1 liter. I really have no plans for the yeast, but I know I should use it soon after stepping up.

Am I on the right track here, first time trying a sour? I will probably make a JP clone of some sort, what volume of yeast would be good? Primary strain or secondary?

Also, has anyone gotten yeast from Jackie O's sours? Thanks for any advice.

Jolly Pumpkin dregs are awesome! I've personally only used once, but you'll find lots of folks here with similar, great success. I made a 1L starter and pitched mine into primary, and it took off like rocket (~6 hour lag!) tart and funky in a few months...have been waiting on it ~8 months so far to increase in sourness/funkiness, but could bottle any time.

Should I add Cuvee Rene dregs or just keep it JP?

If anybody cares...

I added Supplication dregs and stepped it up to 1L. The yeast layer is pretty substantial now, very heavy DMS aroma that I hope will be cleaned up. I will probably use this on its own to ferment a Flanders Red.

I have kind of a similar situation - I have a bottle of Jolly Pumkin's "La Roja" (quite possibly my favorite beer in the world) that I want to use the dregs of for a Flanders Red. The only problem is, I want to drink it now, but won't be using the dregs for at least a few weeks. If I make a starter with the dregs, how long will it be good for and how should I handle the starter to make it last as long as possible?

I just pitched some dregs from Bam Biere in 300ml of 1.020 wort. Nothing has happened, and that was yesterday. What should I do to get it going?

Keep it warm if you can, 80 degrees or so. Just give it a swirl every few hours, you'll see some yeast in a couple days.

AdamWiz said:

I have kind of a similar situation - I have a bottle of Jolly Pumkin's "La Roja" (quite possibly my favorite beer in the world) that I want to use the dregs of for a Flanders Red. The only problem is, I want to drink it now, but won't be using the dregs for at least a few weeks. If I make a starter with the dregs, how long will it be good for and how should I handle the starter to make it last as long as possible?

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Check out mad fermentationist for some info on keeping wild cultures going longer term. Basically it's just start it off small and keep decanting and feeding every month or so.

To be completely honest I feel a little dirty every time I drink some JP and don't make a starter...

Still nothing.. hope I didn't waste these dregs.

pohldogg said:

To be completely honest I feel a little dirty every time I drink some JP and don't make a starter...

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I know exactly what you're talking about. I drank a bottle last week, but was too lazy to make a starter. I have been kicking myself ever since. Those dregs are valuable!

Hey, elproducto - I would try to add a little more wort and step up your starter, then check on it very frequently to make sure you don't miss any action. Sometimes a starter goes so fast, that by the time you check on it most of the activity is already done.

You guys can always sanitize a mason jar or even used white labs tube and just pour the bottle sediment in there. Then you can just make some wort up when you have time. The other thing I do is simply toss some finished beer in the jar that is left over from bottling. I know it's not the "pure" way to do it but I don't really care. It keeps things alive. I have 10 jars/tubes worth of bottle microbes in my fridge. I'm slowly getting around to feeding them. They've already been in a low nutrient environment of a finished beer for however long. They can live a LONG time like that.

I think I'll just keep the starter as is, and add the dregs from the other bottle of Bam Biere. I suppose even if the starter doesn't go, I can just toss the whole thing in the batch of beer when I'm ready.

Ok, so just an update. I poured a tiny bit of the wort off of the starter, and tasted it and it was really strange. not sweet by any means, had a peppery taste to it. There is a 1/2 inch layer of sediment at the bottom, but it's not white like normal yeast. I decanted, and poured some fresh 1.020 wort on top. Funny thing is, I never saw any evidence of fermentation?