Confirmation on Bell's Beer Yeast?

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Mencken

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Has it been confirmed that Bell's Beer uses the same yeast for all its beers? I'm looking to do an Oberon clone, and due to some odd timing, I'd prefer to do it asap. I want to use the same yeast, but Oberon won't be available to me until probably late next week, maybe into the second week of April. As I'm having guests later on, I'd really like to get this one going in time.

So can anyone confirm that it's teh same yeast? Thanks
 
Their ale yeast is all the same. I have been to the brewery twice and talked to several of the employees that work in the cellar and they all said that their ales all use the same proprietary strain. They say they don't filter so I would think it's a safe assumption to think what is in the bottle is the same as what is in the fermenter.
 
I believe that is true as well. I can't imagine them using the same yeast for the Oberon, but the ales have been the same. I've successfully harvested some from the Winter White.
 
Somewhere I have a pic that we took that was below their ferm temp control board that show the temps that they ferment at. The temps were as follows:

Hell Hath No Fury 78
Two Hearted 76
Winter White 74
Ales 72
Lagers 48-50

But like I said, all the ale yeast are the same exact strain...they just use the different temps to get the flavor profiles they want.
 
So, harvesting.... I am attempting to harvest for a Two Heart. This is my first time harvesting.

I made a starter (500ml), and put the dregs of 3 yummy bottles of TwoHeart in there, set it on the stirplate for the night. I have a reasonable amount of yeast looking sediment on the bottom.

How will I know if this is good to go? Will I get krausen ?
 
Maybe maybe not...sometimes it krausens so fast, someitmes it doesn;t appear to happen, what you want is the evidence of sediment and you won't get that until after you turn off the stir plate...I ussually let mine run for 24 hours and shut it off.

It'll kinda look something like this....

Starter_Settling_10hour_thumb.jpg
 
Somewhere I have a pic that we took that was below their ferm temp control board that show the temps that they ferment at. The temps were as follows:

Hell Hath No Fury 78
Two Hearted 76
Winter White 74
Ales 72
Lagers 48-50

But like I said, all the ale yeast are the same exact strain...they just use the different temps to get the flavor profiles they want.

Wow, now there is some interesting information.

Thanks for that.
 
Bump ... according to this post, the yeast for Oberon should be the same as the yeast for all other ales.

Heading to Michigan next week - gonna bring some Bell's back home and harvest!
 
I've heard it both ways... but back in June I called Bells and asked them and I was told that the yeast they use in Oberon is their house strain. The person I spoke with said that they use third party yeasts for certain specialty beers, but that most of the beers are made with their house strain.

Let us know how this turns out. I have a 6 pack of Oberon in my fridge that I plan on using to culture. I used Wyeast 1010 in my last Oberon clone and it was pretty close, but I'd like to experiment with Bell's strain and see if I can taste the difference.
 
Just to poke my nose into this thread.
I've been using Bell's ale yeast for my last few batches with HUGE success.
I harvested from Two-Hearted last time and I've used it for 5 batches now. Recently, I harvested from Oberon for a summer wheat and I've got it fermenting at the same temp as the two hearted this time around.
We'll see what, if any the difference is. It may be difficult to tell due to the style differences though.
Just a few notes on this yeast though. I love it. It's fast and strong. It took my 2 hearted clone from 1.08 down to 1.012 in one week.
 
bump on this. wondering if any of you who have harvested from bells. would be willing to sell some of it?
 
bump on this. wondering if any of you who have harvested from bells. would be willing to sell some of it?

It'll honestly be cheaper to do it yourself. All you need is a mason jar (or other similar container), some DME, a way to cover said container, and good sanitation practices. Then to step it up all you need is a bigger container and some more DME. A stir plate helps, but isn't necessary.
 
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