2016 Oberon - Anyone Harvesting the Yeast?

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HarborTownBrewing

HarborTownBrewing

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Well, Oberon came out this week, and I'll be brewing a clone this Saturday. That said, the wife and I got busy two nights ago and finished off a 6 pack, harvesting the yeast from the bottles and making a small starter. I stepped it up last night, and will do that again at least once more.

We made a clone last year and it came out amazing. It actually was at it's best after 4 months of bottling. Going to do a double batch this year.

Anyone else harvesting this year's Oberon?

Ob.jpg
 
That's hilarious I just did the same thing and am currently looking at it right now. Used the yeast as my house strain all last year, it's a fantastic yeast
 
Jimbodaman said:
Used the yeast as my house strain all last year, it's a fantastic yeast
Click to expand...

It really is. Last year I had a great big starter, and I stupidly pitched the whole thing and didn't want to bother to save any after the fact. This year, I'm definitely going to save some and use it as a house strain for some various PA's and whatnot.
 
I shouldn't have said all year it was just all summer, but still probably about 10 great beers from blonde's to barleywine
 
I do this all the time and it works great! (You all probably know this, but Oberon yeast is the same stuff as in their Amber, porter, Kalamazoo stout, Best Brown, etc. - pretty much everything except the Sparkling Ale, Hell Hath No Fury and some other one I can't remember.)

Anyway, one bottle's dregs into 150 ml of 1.040 wort on the striplate is plenty. After that, I can step it up to as much as 1.5 L.
 
What temp does everyone use for those characteristic Oberon esters? I've heard some do it as high as low 70s.
 
I fermented my oberon clone last summer at 67 F air temp so probably 70F beer temp the yeast character was spot on (although recipe was slightly off)
 
Guy at the LHBS told me Bells adds US05 at bottling time to bottle condition their beers, their "house" strain is filtered out prior to that. He said one of their reps told him that. Not sure how accurate that is, but that was what he told me
 
Yeah, there are a lot of rumors about how Bells does their yeast and all that. Don't get bogged down with outside possibilities, I'd say.

Last year I fermented between 63-65 degrees, and it came out with great crisp flavors. I will say, the recipe I did came out SIMILAR to the real deal, but not exactly the same. Actually, everyone that tried it liked the homebrew version better than the real Oberon.

Speaking of, I obviously tried the real Oberon a few days ago (it was stamped 3/8/16) and I wasn't a huge fan. It's a little different every time, but this one didn't do much for me.
 
A2HB said:
Guy at the LHBS told me Bells adds US05 at bottling time to bottle condition their beers, their "house" strain is filtered out prior to that. He said one of their reps told him that. Not sure how accurate that is, but that was what he told me
Click to expand...

He's completely off base. Bell's own HBS staff will tell you to prop up yeast from Oberon/2-Hearted to get their house yeast.

http://bellshomebrew.tumblr.com/post/66974707212/how-to-culture-bells-house-yeast-from-a-bottle

:tank:

Edit: Woops! See someone already pointed this out... sorry not trying to pile on. :)
 
I've used american wheat liquid yeast and US05 with my oberon recipe. I got really really close with American wheat yeast and haven't tried the US05 yet. Still fermenting. However, this time I changed the bittering hops at 60 minutes to a different one. If I really wanted it to be the same as oberon I would just go buy oberon. However, all the batches I've made and compared directly with oberon I actually found mine to have slightly more character.
 
Well thatll give me a reason to buy some Oberon then I guess. I really want to clone 2 Hearted and using their actual yeast is a great first step.

Or I can use 2 Hearted dregs too apparently
 
Siberian said:
I'm considering doing it, what was your clone recipe?
Click to expand...

I did this one Extract (at my FIL's house, no mash tun) with the following recipe:


-4 lbs Pale DME

-4 lbs Wheat DME

-.5 lbs Crystal 20L

-1.5 oz Hersbrucker hops (60 min)

-1.5 oz Hersbrucker hops (20 min)

-1 oz Saaz hops (5 min)

-1 oz Saaz hops (5 min)

-1oz Saaz (dryhop)
 
Huzzah! Usually it takes a while for Oberon to make its way to Wisconsin, but I was able to grab a sixer today. Chilling a couple bottles in the freezer 'cuz I can't wait.
 
I split my starters into two growlers so I could step them up a bit more. Last night I decanted and tried some and one was definitely sweeter than the other and had more citrus.

Think it just hadn't made its way through all the sugars yet, or maybe there is a slight difference in the yeast?

I originally was going to pitch each growler into a 5 gallon carboy (doing a10 gal batch) but now I'm wondering if I should mix the yeast of the two growlers in case there is a difference in the yeast. I really doubt there is but who knows.
 
Ended up brewing this up and the yeast took off pretty well right away. My OG was high (about 1.065) but oh well. Color looks good so far; now just the waiting game :(
 
JonM said:
I do this all the time and it works great! (You all probably know this, but Oberon yeast is the same stuff as in their Amber, porter, Kalamazoo stout, Best Brown, etc. - pretty much everything except the Sparkling Ale, Hell Hath No Fury and some other one I can't remember.)

Anyway, one bottle's dregs into 150 ml of 1.040 wort on the striplate is plenty. After that, I can step it up to as much as 1.5 L.
Click to expand...

Once you step it up how large a batch can you get out of that? I'm starting my Oberon harvest tonight so I can do a 2-<3'd clone for SWMBO but I want to over build it so I can save enough to use in another starter later this summer/fall to do a Best Brown clone for tailgating. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
 
Harry482 said:
So how did this turn out? I have 12 gallons of apa going from a starter built up from Oberon dregs. Did it floc well?
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Floc'd well and fermented very nicely. I can't remember the OG offhand, but I can post it later once I have my notes handy.

I am going to try this brew this weekend, after 3 weeks in the bottle. I'll be sure to post some notes from the tasting!
 
Tried it after 3 weeks in the bottle, and was a little underwhelmed. It needs more time in the bottle, which should help it dramatically (as it did last year) but it was a little thin in body. Had a fantastic orange flavor, but needed the body to back it up.

I'll try it again in a couple weeks to see how it's tasting.
 
Started a small starter last week - dregs from 2 bottles into 200 ml of 1.02 starter. After 3 days fermentation completed and stepped up to 1000 (including the 250) in 1.03 starter. Moved up to 2000 ml starter on the stir plate last night. Great krausen and quick fermentation. Very pleased with the results. Plan to use as house yeast from now on.
 
Hey guys,

So I'd like to brew this coming Sunday using harvested Oberon yeast. My question is, will I have enough time to step up a starter enough to use six days from now? I have a six pack of Oberon so I could harvest the yeast from all of them and get the starter going tonight.

The brew will be 5.5 gallons with a OG of around 1.050.

Thanks guys!
 
jpb2716 said:
Hey guys,

So I'd like to brew this coming Sunday using harvested Oberon yeast. My question is, will I have enough time to step up a starter enough to use six days from now? I have a six pack of Oberon so I could harvest the yeast from all of them and get the starter going tonight.

The brew will be 5.5 gallons with a OG of around 1.050.

Thanks guys!
Click to expand...

The second page of this thread has a link to Bells instruction on how to harvest their yeast from the bottle. Maybe someone else can confirm, but I think after that second step you would need to do a regular starter to get the proper amount of yeast for pitching. Seems like your timeline would be pushing it. I would delay a week if possible to give enough time for building up the yeast.

I just threw 2 bottles of bells into a 100 ml starter and got activity after 2 days. There are still signs of activity after 4 days since pitching. Building up yeast from a bottle takes time, and I would much rather the yeast have time to do their thing than rush it for a brew session. I'm sure our patience will be rewarded. :mug:
 
jpb2716 said:
Hey guys,

So I'd like to brew this coming Sunday using harvested Oberon yeast. My question is, will I have enough time to step up a starter enough to use six days from now? I have a six pack of Oberon so I could harvest the yeast from all of them and get the starter going tonight.

The brew will be 5.5 gallons with a OG of around 1.050.

Thanks guys!
Click to expand...

I think you'll be just fine. I did mine over the course of a week, and started with a 6 pack using each of the bottles to start with.
 
I've gone from a single bottle's dregs to a 1 liter starter full of healthy yeast in 3 or 4 days. 150 ml of 1.040 wort, step up to 1 L after 36 hours or so.

You'll even have a couple days to cold crash the starter.
 
JonM said:
Plenty of time. Got a stir plate?
Click to expand...

JonM said:
I've gone from a single bottle's dregs to a 1 liter starter full of healthy yeast in 3 or 4 days. 150 ml of 1.040 wort, step up to 1 L after 36 hours or so.

You'll even have a couple days to cold crash the starter.
Click to expand...


Yes, I have a stir plate.

This will be my first time harvesting yeast so I want to make sure I do it right. I'll probably have the dregs of four bottles tonight. How big of a starter should I start with? I'm assuming I'll still shoot for 1.040?

Thanks!
 
I harvested the dregs of 3 bottles last night to do a 2 hearted clone. I hope 6 month old bottles of Oberon will do the job. They have been in the fridge for about 4+ months. I started with 250mL of 1.030 for 2 days on the stir plate. Will then step up to 2L of 1.040 for a 18+ hours. Fingers crossed!!
 
I still have dregs from my batch from March or whatever. I'll be using them in my next batch. Let us know how yours works out Oldskewl
 

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