Harvesting yeast from Sparkling White

[blasterooni]

While perusing the Cider/Wine section of Berkeley Bowl, I came across some sparkling wine with a nice bed of what I think to be yeast. I know that my wife likes to switch it up from time to time and have wine instead of cider, so I figured this might be a good choice. We both really liked it, so I figured, what the heck, maybe I can harvest and culture the yeast from the bottom of the bottle.
I found some info on doing just that with beer, so I followed the directions to do it with the wine (https://www.jaysbrewing.com/2012/09/05/9-steps-to-culture-yeast-from-a-bottle/). Basically, I made some wort 10:1 water to DME. I sanitized a 12 ounce clear beer bottle and poured the remnants in the wine bottle in to it. Then, I added 3ml of wort, and shook the bottle for a little while to get some oxygen in the wort, put a stopper with airlock on it, and set in a warm place. Fairly soon, I noticed small bubbles forming, and the the water in the airlock had moved as when then pressure starts to build from CO2 production. Could the yeast react to the DME that quickly?

I am doing this mostly for fun, and maybe use the yeast (if any) as an experiment to see what happens with a wild yeast from Italy

 

[RPh_Guy]

Only 3mL?
Yeah, I'd expect activity within a half hour.

FYI: Wine yeast does not generally attenuate wort very well, so it's not the best propogation medium. Some kind of juice or sugar water with nutrient would be better.

 

[couchsending]

Did you do some research on the specific winery and wine itself? Was it a PetNat?

 

[blasterooni]

Did you do some research on the specific winery and wine itself? Was it a PetNat?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...Vaw05sLTiAUsgr5tGtyIr-yVp&cshid=1567581640578

 

[blasterooni]

Only 3mL?
Yeah, I'd expect activity within a half hour.

FYI: Wine yeast does not generally attenuate wort very well, so it's not the best propogation medium. Some kind of juice or sugar water with nutrient would be better.

I have thought of adding a touch of yeast nutrient, but was trying to stick with the recipe/approach from that website, but now that youre mentioning it, it cant hurt to give it a go. I also figured since it was wine, i could add apple juice (since i have a ton of that anyways). Im not familiar at all with the properties of dme, i was just going on the recimmendation from a guy from the lhbs, but he uses dme to harvest yeast from beer, not wine. Its becoming somwhat apparent that a substance close in origin might be a better choice i.e. a juice if its wine or cider, and malt if its beer since thats what the yeast was accustomed to(?). Ill hit it with some juice and nutes in the morning and see what happens. The water in the airlock has moved, but it certainly is not bubbling yet. I give it a swirl a few times per day as well
If this one fails, i have two other bottles of different stuff i could try to harvest from. Im doing this mostly to gain experience, to get the hang if it, and develop a skill for when it might truly matter. Nevertheless, if this one does work out, and i get enough yeast, i might go ahead and pitch it just to see what happens, do 1/2 or full gallon using white grape juice or apple cider with little or no expectations """""

 

[RPh_Guy]

Just ballpark figures off the top of my head, wort is only about a quarter simple sugars and sucrose which is easily fermented by wine yeast. Another quarter is maltose, which the wine yeast may or may not ferment, but would struggle. The third quarter is maltotriose which almost no wine strains can ferment. The last quarter is dextrins, which would be unfermentable to every wine strain.

Compared to a simple sugar or juice it's a terrible medium for wine yeast propogation. It's more expensive and less fermentable. Plus wort oxidizes more easily, making a nasty cardboard flavor.

 

[blasterooni]

Just ballpark figures off the top of my head, wort is only about a quarter simple sugars and sucrose which is easily fermented by wine yeast. Another quarter is maltose, which the wine yeast may or may not ferment, but would struggle. The third quarter is maltotriose which almost no wine strains can ferment. The last quarter is dextrins, which would be unfermentable to every wine strain.

Compared to a simple sugar or juice it's a terrible medium for wine yeast propogation. It's more expensive and less fermentable. Plus wort oxidizes more easily, making a nasty cardboard flavor.

Thanks for the info on malt wort As soon as the caffeine kicks in, I will be adding some useful sugars to my experiment, and won't be making that mistake again. Good thing I purchased only a small amount of DME, I'm sure I will use it for something down the road, who knows, maybe I will make a small batch of beer with it, but then I would have to get more equipment...

 

[blasterooni]

Just ballpark figures off the top of my head, wort is only about a quarter simple sugars and sucrose which is easily fermented by wine yeast. Another quarter is maltose, which the wine yeast may or may not ferment, but would struggle. The third quarter is maltotriose which almost no wine strains can ferment. The last quarter is dextrins, which would be unfermentable to every wine strain.

Compared to a simple sugar or juice it's a terrible medium for wine yeast propogation. It's more expensive and less fermentable. Plus wort oxidizes more easily, making a nasty cardboard flavor.

So, I added sugar water and some yeast nutrient to the bottle, and now, about 4 days later, I am getting activity in the airlock and seeing some fresh sediment on the bottom of the bottle. Now I am wondering what is getting cultivated in the bottle. If the wine was fermented with just the yeast (and probably some bacteria) on the grapes, I wonder whether, if there is bacteria, will that mess things up, or would the bacteria have been beat out by high alcohol volume and/or the yeast? I think i will take some time and research how to isolate yeast...I wonder if I am on the right track

 

[RPh_Guy]

If it's a mixed culture with bacteria, it won't be a problem to use. Bacteria can perform malolactic fermentation, reducing the perceived acidity in a wine, but you can prevent that with sulfite if you don't want it.

If you want a pure culture, isolation is the only way to be sure.

 

[blasterooni]

This weekend, Im going to put it into a half gallon jug with a but of apple juice and sucrose. I think its outgrowing the 750ml bottle