What exactly am I looking for in an attempt to bottle culture Saison Dupont yeast?

I tried to culture Saison Dupont for the first time last week and tossed it after four days with no activity I could see. I started another attempt the day before yesterday and all I can see is a little murky sediment at the bottom of the flask if I stop the stir bar for a while. It does not look 'yeasty' to me, just murky. When I start the stir plate again I can see it swirl around and go back into suspension. No krausen and a couple small bubbles cling to the wall of the flask at the top. About to give up on it. I saw 2011 on the cork so I assume it is 6-12 months in the bottle. I know it takes a while sometimes so I just wondered if this particular yeast looked any different or behaved in a different manner than others I have done? Grasping at straws I guess.

How large are you starting your starter with, it's possible you are starting too big and stressing out the little bit of yeast.

When I've tried and successfully bottle harvested I've started with a 250ml then stepped up to 350, then 500 and so on. I tried to keep the gravity low as well for the first two steps like at 1.020, 1.030

In addition the first couple reps go pretty quick so you may not even see kraeusen or anything but a little hit more yeast when it settles at the bottom, if you go slow enough it could take several steps and take a week to get enough cells to really be something.

duboman said:

How large are you starting your starter with, it's possible you are starting too big and stressing out the little bit of yeast.

When I've tried and successfully bottle harvested I've started with a 250ml then stepped up to 350, then 500 and so on. I tried to keep the gravity low as well for the first two steps like at 1.020, 1.030

In addition the first couple reps go pretty quick so you may not even see kraeusen or anything but a little hit more yeast when it settles at the bottom, if you go slow enough it could take several steps and take a week to get enough cells to really be something.

Click to expand...

Well I might have rushed it some. I started with 350ml at 1.020 and even though I saw little but the murkiness at the bottom I stepped it up to 500ml at 1.040 yesterday. After 24 hours I have more sediment which could be from the DME, but that is it. I guess I'll let it go another 15 hours or so and try one more step with my fingers crossed. Pretty annoyed right now as I read post after post referring to culturing this yeast and I sit here with ground grains just waiting to mold.................

I started with dregs from four 330ml bottles in a quart of 1.020, finished up in @ 3days so it's definitely do-able if you have viable yeast in the bottle.

Brewed a few times with it so far.....very tasty. Keep in mind that it likes if hot (I ferment at 85-90F) so it's a great yeast for summer brewing. Good luck!

---Todd

You have to start small and light when culturing bottle dregs. There's not a lot to work with, so take it slow. Like others have said, it's not uncommon to start with 250mL of weak wort. Also, don't give up- it's really worthwhile IMO to culture the dupont strain(s).