Ideal Belgian yeast for bottle harvesting

[hasenman]

I live in the sticks and don't have access to any liquid yeast. I love Belgian beers (especially Rochefort) and would like to get a great yeast out of bottles.

I've read that Rochefort uses a different yeast for bottling though. From what I've been able to gather, Westmalle is one of the only ones that use primary yeast for bottling.

So, I'm thinking of going with Westmalle, but that Rochefort profile would be ideal.

I have access to many great Belgian beers--Rochefort, Westmalle, Duvel, etc.--so trying to decide which one would be best.

Any opinions on this?

 

[jessup]

BLAM says rochefort does use the same yeast for bottling. I've cultured a number of times & it seems legit! Also had good success with de Dolle Oerbier & saison d'erpe mere. If u want brett go with Fantome or Orval.

 

[BrewSavage]

I just picked up some rochefort, 2 each of the 6,8, and 10.

Maybe I should be harvesting the yeast.

 

[beergolf]

Chimay uses the same yeast for bottling.

Here is a very old thread but it is a good start to finding brews with harvestable yeast.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=262713

 

[hasenman]

BLAM says rochefort does use the same yeast for bottling. I've cultured a number of times & it seems legit! Also had good success with de Dolle Oerbier & saison d'erpe mere. If u want brett go with Fantome or Orval.

That's music to my ears, and sweet R10 to my taste buds!

Have you found 6 to be better than 10 in terms of viability? I'm guessing 6 would be the way to go considering the ABV.

@beergolf I do enjoy a good Chimay White as well! That'll be #2..

Cheers for the responses gents!

 

[specharka]

I am a huge fan of Allagash, not sure if they distribute in your area, but they are a 100% bottle conditioning brewery. Great selection of Belgian yeast, including a few Brett strains if you're down to funk.

 

[hasenman]

No, haven't seen Allagash around here (Kunming, Yunnan, China). Guess 'the sticks' isn't a great way to explain where I am, haha--the sticks of China!

But, there's a surprising amount of Belgian beers here. Belgium and Germany were the first to enter the market here so (good) beer drinkers tend to go that direction. Since the meteoric rise of craft beer here though, the past year has seen a 1000% increase in variety. American micros are starting to hit the market hard--plus a great selection of Belgian beers.

Any other American (big, being distributed by macros) micros with great yeast strains I should look out for? We generally get filtered American brews, but I know some distributors in town that might be able to find what I want. (I can only think of Boulevard but read they just use T-58, which I can get)

I'd like to get my hands on a Conan strain or similar to Hill Farmstead's (read the Antwerp strain is quite different than other Belgian)--been reading a thread about their mouthfeel and most argue yeast plays a significant part.

 

[jessup]

Hill Farmstead "might" be using wyeast 1318 London iii, Alchemist uses Conan. You're not getting either in China if 99.9% of us can't get them in the US lol. I've had surprisingly good luck with all rochefort, though common sense says the 6 is your best bet. I think you'll have no problem if saving the dregs from all of them to increase your odds.

 

[BrewSavage]

How many bottles do you need save the dregs from?

 

[hasenman]

How many bottles do you need save the dregs from?

I recently read a post on another thread that all you need is 1. Apparently, the yeast multiply so quickly that you get the equivalence of 6 bottles in 4 hours. I'm thinking of doing 2-4 bottles in case one is a dud, there is at least one more bottle's yeast that might do the trick.

 

[hasenman]

Hill Farmstead "might" be using wyeast 1318 London iii, Alchemist uses Conan. You're not getting either in China if 99.9% of us can't get them in the US lol. I've had surprisingly good luck with all rochefort, though common sense says the 6 is your best bet. I think you'll have no problem if saving the dregs from all of them to increase your odds.

Yeah, I'm sure I won't be getting Hill Farmstead or Heady here but perhaps there's another micro that distributes here that has similar strains in their beers.

I'm going to pick up some Rochefort or Westmalle tomorrow. Maybe a little Belgian yeast mixer. Though, if the Rochefort is younger, I'll just go straight Roche. :rockin: