Oberon Yeast Harvesting – Multiple Bottle Dregs?

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kpr121

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This Saturday morning I brewed up 10 gallons of a Two Hearted Ale clone. I had intentions of splitting the batch between US05 and WLP029, but my wife brought home a case of Oberon around lunchtime. So I got the brilliant idea to harvest the yeast from the dregs of the bottles. I’ve done this before but had a full week to properly step up a starter from a six pack.

I knew that I didn’t want my chilled wort sitting for that long without having any yeast in it, so I decided to try to harvest as much yeast as I could. Had a couple friends over and we killed all but about 4 bottles. Each bottle was carefully poured into a glass until the sediment was just starting to get ready to come out the bottle. I flamed the bottle lip and poured into a 1 liter starter with OG of approx 1.030 (ambient temps were around 68 and I had been swirling the starter enough that my wife was mad at me for loving yeast more than her).

The last bottle dregs probably got poured around 8 PM Saturday. Yesterday morning I didn’t see many signs of fermentation (other than a thin layer dusting of yeast/dregs at the bottom of starter) but decided to made up another 1 liter of 1.040. I then mixed everything together into a gallon jug and went back to the swirling. This morning I still didn’t see any real krausen or many bubbles forming but I got nervous and just pitched the entire starter in my 5.5 gallons of 1.064 Two Hearted clone set at 63F. I also applied pure O2 for about 1 minute 30 seconds.

So my questions:

How much active yeast did I get from 20 bottles of Oberon?

Is there a chance that the yeast was multiplying in the starter even though I saw very little signs of fermentation?

How long should I wait before dumping my backup of US-05 cake in the fermenter?
I want to try to keep the bells strain going for at least a couple generations of brews but I may just have to abandon this batch and start a properly stepped up starter with the four remaining bottles.

I’ll be sure to update this thread with my results as this brew progresses.
 
Well this morning there still was no krausen (just a small ring of bubbles around the perimeter). It did seem like the wort changed color slightly so maybe the yeast is going into log phase.

(fingers crossed)
 
Daily update: this morning there was a nice layer of foamy Krausen, similar to what I've seen before with the Bells strain. I'd imagine I have probably under pitched and may get some off flavors, but it looks like its working at least!
 
100+ views and no comments yet… oh well, I continue my log of info:

The yeasties were really working hard this morning. I was happy to see a nice swirling of gunk/yeast/break material as they caused a nice convection current in the carboy. It seemed like fermentation temps were rising since the thermoprobe temperature was not dropping as quickly in the ferm chamber (located in unheated garage).

Krausen was approaching the neck of carboy so I affixed a blow-off tube (and added 5 drops of Fermcap). It should be worth noting that the other carboy, which received a healthy quart of WLP029 yeast slurry on Saturday night, was already approaching the end of vigorous fermentation (krausen was falling, yeast seemed to be flocc’ing a bit).
 
Wow, cant believe its been three weeks since I brewed this. Life's gotten busy and I havent had as much time to obsess over my beer :mad:

I did take a peek into the ferm chamber last night and it looked like all the krausen had fallen out of suspension and the beer is fairly clear so I am assuming its done fermenting. I'll take a hydro sample tonight to see where it ended up. If all is good I am going to cold crash and try to keg/dry hop it this weekend since my previous IPA (Nugget Nectar clone) just kicked.
 
I harvest dregs from Oberon last year, only a 6'er. Had to step it up several times before I had any real quantity of yeast, then brewed a TH clone with 1/2 the yeast and saved the rest for another batch. Have used it twice since then. Each time I build up a large starter (more than I need) and pitch some and save some. Works great so far!
 
I harvest dregs from Oberon last year, only a 6'er. Had to step it up several times before I had any real quantity of yeast, then brewed a TH clone with 1/2 the yeast and saved the rest for another batch. Have used it twice since then. Each time I build up a large starter (more than I need) and pitch some and save some. Works great so far!

Yea I saved a portion of the yeast starter in an old (sanitized) white labs tube. I also plan to wash the yeast from this batch but I wanted to keep some from the get-go in case I ended up with some sort of infection or otherwise undesired effect.

This is the first time I saw your thread. Looking forward to hearing how it turns out.

I will definitely keep ya updated! Hoping to have this on tap by mother's day. Its one of my wife's (recent new mommy) favorite beers!
 
Nice! I recently brewed an Oberon inspired American wheat using Wyeast 1272 that I fermented warm and dry-hopped with saaz and cascade. It came out great. I would love to get my hands on some Bell's house yeast, but they don't distribute to my neck of the woods. :mad:
 
Nice! I recently brewed an Oberon inspired American wheat using Wyeast 1272 that I fermented warm and dry-hopped with saaz and cascade. It came out great. I would love to get my hands on some Bell's house yeast, but they don't distribute to my neck of the woods. :mad:

PM Sent.... :mug:
 
FG was 1.016 which is a little high (WLP029 that I used on the second 5 gallons got down to 1.011).

But I think the Bells tastes wayyyy better than the kolsch yeast, at least at this time. It has that little bit of residual sweetness that I love about THA. No off flavors that I can detect yet, no phenols, diacetyl, etc. I think with a good dry hop and carbonation over the next couple weeks this is going to turn out fine.
 
I like the Bells yeast too. you are right, a little sweeter but still clean, but seems like it leaves a little fuller mouthfeel. Maybe its my imagination. Who knows.
 
I like the Bells yeast too. you are right, a little sweeter but still clean, but seems like it leaves a little fuller mouthfeel. Maybe its my imagination. Who knows.

Reading through the Two Hearted clone thread, a lot of people share our beliefs.

I threw the two hydro samples in the fridge to cool down a bit for another tasting last night. They were both in white solo cups and I forgot which was which. But I could easily distinguish from smell and taste which was Bells and which was WLP029. The Bells actually reminds me of THA, and the kolcsh yeast just smells and tastes like a regular IPA – good, but not cloned. Maybe it was the attenuation levels, but either way the Bells is more like THA than WLP029. I recall I had similar results on a previous batch of Bells vs. US05.
 
Great work, now keep that Bells yeast around for other brews. In addition to the standard APA and IPA's, I've used it for porters, stouts, RIS (12%!), Irish Reds, and an ESB. I've liked it in all of 'em. You can get quite a bit of fruity esters by fermenting in the upper 60's to 70. Or very clean by fermenting around 62/63. Its has a high alcohol tolerance. And clears readily with a cold crash or racking to secondary.
 
Great work, now keep that Bells yeast around for other brews. In addition to the standard APA and IPA's, I've used it for porters, stouts, RIS (12%!), Irish Reds, and an ESB. I've liked it in all of 'em. You can get quite a bit of fruity esters by fermenting in the upper 60's to 70. Or very clean by fermenting around 62/63. Its has a high alcohol tolerance. And clears readily with a cold crash or racking to secondary.

I am definitely going to be using this yeast for some other styles.

Have you noticed any similar lower attenuation in your beers? What was the OG/FG of that RIS?

Im thinking that my 1.016 may have been from the underpitching and the lack of a proper step-up, and that if I threw half this cake at exactly the same wort it would munch down a few more points.
 
Subscribed to this thread, I'm thinking about mostly killing off an oberon mini keg, then popping it open and pitching it into a Pale Ale kit I'm picking up. Thoughts?
 
Sounds like a good idea, but I would advise you to go with a starter. Even though those 5L mini kegs equal 14 bottles of beer, I doubt there is the same amount of yeast in there as 14 individual beers.

On top of that, I wouldn’t direct pitch dregs from 14 bottles of beer into a 5 gallon batch either if given the chance. Even though my starter didn’t get to high krausen before pitching, I believe there was some activity going on that during those two days that at least ‘woke up’ the yeasties before being introduced to the 5 gallons of wort. And I had yeast dregs from 20 bottles of Oberon (~50% more yeast than from 14 bottles).
 
I am definitely going to be using this yeast for some other styles.

Have you noticed any similar lower attenuation in your beers? What was the OG/FG of that RIS?

OG of RIS was 1.102. FG was all the way down to 1.011. It initially finished aroudn 1.029, but I pitched a strong active starter and it dropped considerably in secondary.

My hydrometer reads a little low if I remember right, so you could adjust these up 2 points. I always pitch plenty of yeast (usually do 2-3 successive brews), aerate by shaking only, and give 1/2 tsp of WYeast yeast nutrient.

Irish Red, OG, 1.050, FG 1.010
Porter, OG 1.050, FG 1.008
APA, OG 1.043, FG 1.007
IPA, OG 1.061, FG 1.010
ESB, OG 1.054, FG 1.009
 
Hmm, the Red I brewed last with the Bells yeast did finish a little high, 1017. I was expecting a little closer to 1011 or so. Looking through my notes though, the brew before this one with the Bells yeast was the TH clone. It finished at 1012 which was lower than I thought. SO, that is not helpful at all LOL :drunk:
 
if you can find it bell's smitten has a ton of sludge at the bottom of the bottle awesome for a yeast harvest
 
Thanks for all the info everyone, I hope this helps out some others who are planning on using the Bell's yeast.

Solbes, thanks for the OG/FG data, good to know that all of those brews had apparent attenuation in the 80s (89 for the RIS :rockin:).
 
So I went ahead and kegged the Bell's version yesterday. There was one problem.... I forgot that I had used up all my Centennial hops during the boil, and didnt have any to dry hop with. So I jumped on Farmhouse Brewing Supply's website and order another lb of pellets (along with a few others that I'd been running low on ---- $75 later :D).

So hopefully I'll be able to dry hop that keg by end of week. I did end up with an extra half gallon which I put in a growler and dry hopped with 1 oz of Simcoe, just for the hell of it.
 
Mmm, bet the Simcoe dry hopped would be good too. I'm trying so damn hard not to crack my first Furious bottle that had 3-4 oz of Simcoe in the boil/dry hop.

Hope your 2 Hearted turns out great. I've made 4 or 5 different IPA's and the 2H is always my favorite.
 
I might be stating the obvious here, but after asking one of the Bell's brewers this winter what beer would be best for yeast harvesting, he said that freshness is far more important that which beer you choose. I used a 6 pack of Oberon purchased on opening day (March 25th) that was bottled 14 days prior based on the label. I had a pitchable quantity of slurry on my second step (1st = 1L @ 1.020, 2nd = 2L @ 1.040), and it only took 6 days to get there. I'm now a big believer that "Oberon Day" might be the best day to get your hands on bottles for culturing, unless you have a proven source where you can get really fresh bottles.

I echo the sentiment on the performance, it's a really solid American Ale strain. Pretty versatile depending on what fermentation temp is used. If the beers I brew with it this summer turn out well, I might make it my house strain over 1056/WLP001/US-05.
 
I like it from the fact that I buy Bells every couple of months anyway. I get 2-4 beers run off in series from a single dreg starter. Pretty much pays for the sixer.

Also agree that fresh beer helps get the starter up and moving quicker. I've used different Bells brews for dregs with no difference detected (Best Brown, Oberon, Porter, 2H).
 
Just want to update and say that I’ve just now tapped the keg of Bells THA clone, and it tastes great! I don’t get any off flavors at all, in fact I think the beer is almost a little too clean. It has that slightly sweet taste and mouthfeel like TH, but there’s something lacking in the finish. Maybe I should add more Centennial dry hops since it has been close to 6 weeks since I kegged it….

The Simcoe growler was polished off quickly a few weekends ago, and it was absolutely delicious.

Update: Crap, I just re-read my post #24 that said I ran out of Centennial dry hops at keg-time…. I’m now questioning whether I even added dry hops at all to this keg. I’ll have to check it when I get home tonight. Eh, I might as well throw a couple ounces of hops in either way since I think it could use more!

I gotta get back into the brewing game, starting to lose my 6th ‘beer’ sense.
 
Just want to update and say that I’ve just now tapped the keg of Bells THA clone, and it tastes great! I don’t get any off flavors at all, in fact I think the beer is almost a little too clean. It has that slightly sweet taste and mouthfeel like TH, but there’s something lacking in the finish. Maybe I should add more Centennial dry hops since it has been close to 6 weeks since I kegged it….

The Simcoe growler was polished off quickly a few weekends ago, and it was absolutely delicious.

Update: Crap, I just re-read my post #24 that said I ran out of Centennial dry hops at keg-time…. I’m now questioning whether I even added dry hops at all to this keg. I’ll have to check it when I get home tonight. Eh, I might as well throw a couple ounces of hops in either way since I think it could use more!

I gotta get back into the brewing game, starting to lose my 6th ‘beer’ sense.

That's just plan funny right there. At least you have a "brew log" here.

I harvested bell's yeast for the first time this year as well. I really like that yeast. Did an oberon clone that called for a decoction and it came out amazing close and the keg kicked really fast for not having any parties or special events. You got me wanting to do a TH clone now....Thanks! :tank:
 
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/harvesting-yeast-bottles-426819/ ...I had 136 views and no replys..lol...well only 2, but they dont count because I replied to myself....but anyway, I just opened a bottle of rye pale ale just last night...wow...good beer...next time i think ill dry hop as well...and yes a bit on the sweet side...wich i like...I will be definetely be doing this again...Tom
 
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