culturing yeast from a bottle condition beer

[Alucard1983]

i have a hefe that i like in a store. the beer is bottle conditioned. there is what looks like yeast cake in the bottom of the beer, they seem to carb it up in the bottle with yeast. if i get 6 beer and drink the beer, can i take the cake and put it in a start to multiply the yeast then wash and use that to make my own hefe. i was thinking about adding the cake to a 1.5L start then spin it on my stir plate then after decant add some more water then wash it. then i would split that yeast into 6 glass vile and store in the fridge. supposedly the yeast they use to carb is the same yeast they use in the fermenting step. is this plausable? it would be cheaper then getting a smack pack for this strain and how many time can use the strain?

 

[CBMbrewer]

Sure. Seems like a bit of work to me but people do it. As far as reusing it I would treat it like store bought yeast.

 

[mysteryshrimp]

I built up a Brett brux starter in three stages from one bottle of Duvel. You don't need 6 bottles, 2 would be plenty. And in some cases, cheaper than liquid yeast.

 

[Alucard1983]

well i was gonna buy 6 bottle and since it only comes in 6 bottle packs i was gonna make a slant or a wash so then i can use them for a long time. a buddy of mine is gonna give me a 5 standard test tubes and a stand for 20 dollar. what i was gonna do is a starter with all 6 and let it finish the sugar then put it in the fridge to let it settle hard. then decant all of it then use boiled cooled water to add it back and mix it all up then wash it. then later on get a crap load of viles then start slanting them.

 

[BlackGoat]

yeah, I cultured from a bottle of Widmer forever ago, but some brewers add a different strain for bottling. If I remember correctly, I found out later that Widmer adds a lager strain (don't hold me to this!). So, you might want to make sure you know what is sitting in the bottom of that bottle. That said, plenty of people culture from bottles. You can get ultra nerdy and get petri dishes to isolate individual healthy colonies, or you can just try to build up a tiny starter with the sediment then step it up to the volume you need but with this method you will really not know how healthy the yeast is. Let us know how it works!

 

[tgmartin000]

You want to start small, from what I understand. Pitch into a 1-200 mL starter first, then a 500 mL, then a 1.5 L.

 

[JuanMoore]

You want to start small, from what I understand. Pitch into a 1-200 mL starter first, then a 500 mL, then a 1.5 L.

This. There are so few yeast cells to start with that it needs to be stepped up in several steps, rather than just one big starter.

 

[Alucard1983]

I've been looking at several sites. One said to use a mix of water and corn syrup. It's a basic sugar and easier to wake up the yeast. I would start with a basic mixture of 1.010 then when it goes down decant and then 1.020 of corn syrup and water then again 1.030. Doubling the amount every time. After I would do it 3-4 time to get a lot of yeast them start washing and inserting into test tube then after slant some into viles. How do this sound?

 

[mysteryshrimp]

That would work, but it's better to get the yeast used to a maltose diet. Getting DME in bulk is cheap, and you should get better results overall, it just might take 36 hours rather than 24.

 

[manhattanksbrewer]

Just a thought but some breweries use different yeast for brewing and carbing

 

[Alucard1983]

It's Schneider weissen they use same yeast for both stages

 

[manhattanksbrewer]

Ahh then its all good lol

 

[Alucard1983]

So guy started a starter at 1.025 at 500 ml then I added the drags of 3 bottles and it is on a stir plate with a nice cyclone. Wish me luck hopfully I don't get any infection instead of yeast. Should I try adding some yeast energizer or nutrients?

 

[troglodytes]

I just did the same with a bottle of Ommegang Witte. Its currently on the stir plate, and I have high hopes for my Wit I'm going to brew next week.

However, how would I know whether I got an infection v. viable yeast. Is it easy to tell with that small of an amount of cells in the starter?

 

[highgravitybacon]

I just did the same with a bottle of Ommegang Witte. Its currently on the stir plate, and I have high hopes for my Wit I'm going to brew next week.

However, how would I know whether I got an infection v. viable yeast. Is it easy to tell with that small of an amount of cells in the starter?

Build it up and taste or smell it. Look for flocculation. Bacteria do flocculate but more slowly than yeast.

 

[RmikeVT]

I harvested PacMan from the bottom of a Rogue Shakespeare Stout. I jumped dumped the dregs into a 500ml 1.040 starter and stepped up twice. I had no problems harvesting the yeast from the bottom.

 

[sweetcell]

I built up a Brett brux starter in three stages from one bottle of Duvel.

there is no brett in duvel - i assume you meant orval?

 

[MMJfan]

OK, I was going to start a thread similar to this one so I will just piggy back onto this thread. I have some Bells Oberon I bought to compare my last batch of an Oberon clone I made. I was going to harvest the yeast from the bottles to get some fresh Bells yeast. I've done this before by making a small starter and stepping it up several times. However, in the past, I've used it right away.

This time I don't have any plans to brew any beers in the near future using Bells yeast so would it be OK to just wash the yeast and storing it once I'm done stepping it up enough times like I do when I wash yeast from my fermentor at the end of my brew process?

 

[Alucard1983]

So guys let you guys know. The starter smells like beer. Looks like there is foam on the top. When I smelled it I got that burning smell from the co2. I think I may have it. Guess tonight ill check the gravity and if it is low ill step it up to 750ml and mix the pure starter so it lowered a the gravity a bit. Then when I get to 1 l ill chill and decant and do a pure starter then when that is done ill chil decant and split the load and hopfully get a nice bit of yeast

 

[kappclark]

Had a Pranqster for Saturday, and saw yeast at bottom..figured I would go for it (I don't think tyou can but Pranqster yeast)

made a 700ml starter with 70g DME ... Right now it is going strong ! I am planning to step this up to a 1.5L starter in a day or so

Looking for good clone recipe for Pranqster ..

 

[el_caro]

This time I don't have any plans to brew any beers in the near future using Bells yeast so would it be OK to just wash the yeast and storing it once I'm done stepping it up enough times like I do when I wash yeast from my fermentor at the end of my brew process?

That is fine but make a starter with the stored yeast when you get around to brewing.

 

[sweetcell]

Had a Pranqster for Saturday, and saw yeast at bottom..figured I would go for it (I don't think tyou can but Pranqster yeast)

made a 700ml starter with 70g DME ... Right now it is going strong ! I am planning to step this up to a 1.5L starter in a day or so

Looking for good clone recipe for Pranqster ..

700 ml is a big first step. i would have started much lower, like 100 ml. there aren't that many cells in a single bottle and they've been through a lot...

 

[kappclark]

I agree...I have much smaller vessels, just grabbed the first flask (1 L) ..

but I can't believe the yield ...

I am doing a 1.5L tonight after decanting ... was thinking that 7L is the next step, but the big step will be the 20L on brew day ..approx 10x the 1.5L ..

I just ordered the ingredients from a Pranqster recipe in Scott Russell's Clone Brews book .. now this makes brewing so much less of a chore ..

Just trying to seek viability, and it looks like the yeast know what to do -- I know they will be ready on brewday !

 

[kappclark]

Going to do this again this week (bought anothe Pranqster ) ... but this time 100ML, then 500ML then 2L ... is this a reasonable stepping schedule ?

 

[gregkeller]

Never step up by more than a factor of 10. So 100 ml to 1L is fine but always err on the side of caution.

 

[sweetcell]

Going to do this again this week (bought anothe Pranqster ) ... but this time 100ML, then 500ML then 2L ... is this a reasonable stepping schedule ?

Yup, sounds like a good plan. Its pretty much what I followed on my last can, worked great.