Culturing yeast from bottle of Favorite brew, is it possible with no kraeusen?

[DirtyGerman]

I'm new to brewing and i am now obsessed. I have been brewing for about three years and so far this year is my most productive this will be my 5th batch of the year. I was trying to culture yeast from a bottle of one of my favorite breweries, Middle Ages Brewing co. out of Syracuse NY. The research I did says they naturely condition their beer I got three bottles and did the started batch of wort in a sanitary 2 liter bottle pouring the last 1/8 of a 3 bottles into the starter wort. I have a good amount of sediment at the bottom …..but there is no activity at the top. Is it even possible that the yeast is working?????? I’ve done this exact thing with Sierra Nevada Pale ale, but that had activity at the top. Additionally It’s cold in my house is roughly 62 degrees inside, it’s been 4 days sediment at bottom is about ½ to 1/3 inch no foam at top doesnt seem to be any bubbling in airlock

 

[MalFet]

Krausen doesn't mean much, especially with a starter. If you have increased sediment mass, you have yeast growth. That said, pitching dregs into two liters of starter is much more abrupt than most people would recommend. Typically, you want to step up from as little as 100mL.

 

[DirtyGerman]

I forgot to add i did a batch of wort, then added what i tought was a starter that had been sitting for two days prior now it's 6days later no foam head (kraeusen) and i fear the sediment at the bottom is just the beer clearing up rather than fermenting. either that or this si the slowest acting yeast i have seen.

 

[COLObrewer]

I forgot to add i did a batch of wort, then added what i tought was a starter that had been sitting for two days prior now it's 6days later no foam head (kraeusen) and i fear the sediment at the bottom is just the beer clearing up rather than fermenting. either that or this si the slowest acting yeast i have seen.

I expect you have under pitched, as the gentleman from kathmandu alluded to, you didn't step up your dregs, this probably didn't allow the yeast to build to the proper level for a 2 litre starter. As far as kreusen goes, I would say that your Sierra Nevada starter was the exception, most all the starters I have made show very little if any kreusen.

If this is the starter you pitched into the new batch, it is going to lag (at the least) I believe it will take off eventually if you had yeast in the starter (assuming the wort was treated correctly, oxygenated well, etc), but now they have to build a few billion friends to take on the task at hand.

 

[DirtyGerman]

How do i make sure that it is oxgenated correctly? maybe if i switch another carboy it will stir it up enough ? or should i just try to get more yest from another few bottles and throw it ontop? Or just give up and use a diferent brewery's and hope that works, tempted to just make this another SNPA clone and just dry hopp like crazy.

 

[COLObrewer]

If it's not going yet there is a problem, has the gravity dropped?

 

[DirtyGerman]

actually thank you for the help, I just had to be Patient I got home today and a nice Krausen has formed. smells great cant wait kegging this one I'm sure it will be a good batch

 

[COLObrewer]

I stand corrected, yeasties never cease to amaze.:rockin:

 

[DirtyGerman]

yeah they are resilient little bast@rds. I just took the slury off the SNPA and that was 8 bottles , so i have a good set of yeast starters The crazy part is the yeast bed at the bottom of the one i was worrying about is now double the last so I'll have yeast for the next year or more, however does anyone have suggestions for other brews that are good and have cultivable yeast i can ...borrow. working on Ommegang now too.

 

[OsbornBrewing]

A couple things to point out:

As said before you underpitched your starter wort. For three bottles of dregs, probably want to start with a cup or two of wort, and step it up from there. Let activity go, put your yeast in the fridge overnight, pour off wort and pitch slurry into larger wort.

Do not airlock starters. Use a sponge soaked in starsan and rung out OR cover with tin foil. You want air, mainly oxygen, in your starter. If you don't have a stir
plate, every time you walk by vigorously shake your sediment into suspension.

The main thing you are looking for is sediment growth, NOT krausen. The yeast will duplicate until the oxygen is used up, then it will start fermenting. The more oxygen you get in, the more growth, so the linger lag you can induce here the better.

That said based on reports your yeast is successfully harvested. It maybe stressed and throwing esters, then again maybe that's what you want! Enjoy

CHEERS!

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