Cultured some yeast - now what?

[hexmonkey]

I was at the Trap Rock Brewery in Berkeley Heights, NJ on Valentine's day and took home a growler of their Emily Rose British Bitter. Tasty beer, but not at all to style - it had a wallop of hops that made it more like a pale ale than a bitter.

When I finished it, I noticed there was a fine layer of dusty sediment at the bottom of the growler. I decided to try to culture it on my stirplate, just for gits and shiggles.

I've now got a bit of this yeast, but I don't really know what it is. I'm not really sure what to do with it, besides brew another bitter with it...? Should I try to contact the restaurant and see if the brewer is willing to share what kind of yeast it is?

 

[ArcaneXor]

A bitter is a type of English Pale Ale.

What I'd do is brew one of your house recipes with this yeast and see how you like it. I'd suggest a fairly balanced beer so that the yeast character isn't masked by excessive hop or malt flavors. By comparing the results to your standard recipe, you can decide if you like the yeast and what styles it may be suitable for.

Chances are that it's a fairly generic strain.

 

[hexmonkey]

A bitter is a type of English Pale Ale.

Well, kind of. A bitter, at least the 'ordinary' kind, is a small English Pale Ale. I think I read "bitter" as "ordinary bitter" even though the ABV was clearly too high for the style; here's the description from the menu, from the brewpub's website:

Emily Rose Ale

This beer celebrates my daughter's sixth birthday, which is February 26th. Done in the style of an English bitter, this is made with crystal malt and English hops. A perfect beer for the hand pump. 5.0% abv

A great beer, I just misread the description. By the style guide, this beer would be called an ESB or English Pale Ale:
BJCP Style Guidelines - Category 08