Attempted culturing from bottle, do I have wild yeast instead?

[eddiewould]

Hey guys,

Tried culturing yeast from a bottle (Fullers IPA). There's a small yeast band? At the bottom, and what looks like a mini krausen ring at the top. However the "beer" tastes weird - I'd go as far as to say bad. How do I know I don't just have wild yeast / bacteria / mold?

 

[porterpounder]

It depends on what kind of "bad" taste you get. Some bottle cultured yeast that has traveled far will have maybe only a few viable cells. When those cells are stressed in a new fermentation they may create some unpleasant band-aid or other weird flavors.

Often bacteria will create a thin film on the surface of the fermenting beer and will be either sour or enteric in aroma. Mold in beer in my experience can be colorful, black or reddish, but may be white. Tends to be fuzzy and work its way up the side of the container a bit. Wild yeasts are so variable it's hard to pin point them sometimes.

Give it a week or so. Re-pitch into an new starter culture and see if the badness continues. If so, abandon ship. If you have US liquid yeast cultures available, White Labs WLP 002 and Wyeast 1968 are the Fuller's strain.

 

[kanzimonson]

+1 to using 002 or 1968. I use this strains in all my American and Engliish styles and I'm very familiar with it. It never smells bad in the starter - usually very bready like a loaf of whole grain bread fermenting. Sometimes a little citrus peel tang in the background. I frequently taste the decanted starter liquid and it's very English-ale tasting. Like a hotly fermented ordinary bitter or other basic English session ale.

 

[eddiewould]

The starter "beer" tastes/smells kinda like fruit juice that's gone off by leaving it out of the fridge. Someone on another forum said that might be normal for the English yeasts. It doesn't appear to have a film on top or anything furry.

Thanks for the advice on 002/1968. 50% of the reason I'm doing this to prove that I "can" successfully re-culture.