Harvested Two Hearted yeast finally took off

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MarkInBuffalo

MarkInBuffalo

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Welp, it's been five days since making a small starter with harvested yeast from a sixer of Two Hearted, and it finally took off. Kind of excited to try and keep this yeast on hand at all times now. ImageUploadedByHome Brew1399028454.923218.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
MarkInBuffalo said:
Welp, it's been five days since making a small starter with harvested yeast from a sixer of Two Hearted, and it finally took off. Kind of excited to try and keep this yeast on hand at all times now. View attachment 196950


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
Click to expand...

Awesome! I would have never guessed there was yeast in the bottle. I have 3 or 4 cases of Two Hearted bottles that I use and I've never noticed any yeast at the bottom of the bottle. I'll have to harvest some from the next case I pick up.
 
The two times I've harvested commercial yeast (once being from Two Hearted) they have both taken 4 to 5 days before showing any signs of life and I have to make sure the temp is around 70F. Next steps always proceed like normal starters.
 
That Bell's yeast is really something. I used it in a couple cream ales and some other recipes, but it was so, so, sooooo good in a rich oatmeal stout. It's good stuff.
 
I'm very excited to use it in my iPas.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
What is a good gravity to start out at when doing a starter for for the dregs off the bottles of this stuff?? And whatever that may be what is the ratio of water to DME to get that???
 
Using it from Two Hearted is fine, but I've actually had better luck from harvesting the yeast from the Amber Ale or Pale Ale. Same yeast, just used on a lower gravity beer which leaves them in a little better condition. Made a Two Hearted clone with it and it was fantastic.
 
Yes thank you. I AM using a 6 pack of Ambers to harvest but once again what is the water to DME ratio accomplish a 1.020-25 ish starter for the 6 dregs I plan on using. Can't wait for this brew day
 
Thanks fellas. It's under way. I did a guesstimate based on info here and other threads. I did a 2 cups water to 1/4 cup DME and boiled that for 10 minutes and pitched the accumulated 6 dregs from the Bells Amber Ales into that after cooling it to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. It in the dark basement on the stir plate and I will keep it like that for 3-4 days. Then turn the plate off and let it settle to see what it get. Regardless I will still decant then step up to a little higher starter. Does that sound about right???
 
copper2hopper said:
Thanks fellas. It's under way. I did a guesstimate based on info here and other threads. I did a 2 cups water to 1/4 cup DME and boiled that for 10 minutes and pitched the accumulated 6 dregs from the Bells Amber Ales into that after cooling it to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. It in the dark basement on the stir plate and I will keep it like that for 3-4 days. Then turn the plate off and let it settle to see what it get. Regardless I will still decant then step up to a little higher starter. Does that sound about right???
Click to expand...

I have a Two Hearted yeast harvest on a stir plate right now. Unfortunately, there wasn't any Amber, Pale, or Brown available locally (only Two Hearted and Winter White), so I went with what was available. I started the process four days ago. Here's what I did:


  • Harvested yeast from all six bottles; however, the yeast wasn't very settled, so I ended up with about 275mL of beer along with the yeast
  • Boiled 300mL of water with 15g of DME (which comes out to 1.020 before evaporation) and added that to the 700mL jar
  • Put the jar on top of the fridge, where it's probably 67-68F this time of year
  • Swirled the jar every few hours when I was around and warmed it slowly from time to time
  • Let it settle out yesterday and could definitely see the yeast laying on the trub
  • Last night, I boiled 700mL of water with 70mL of DME (1.040 before evaporation) and put that in a 2L flask, added the contents of the yeast jar (there was still a ton of yeast in suspension, so I couldn't decant), and put it on the stir plate

I checked it this morning and things seem to be going fine, and I just put a space heater in the laundry room to warm it up. When I did so, I had the heater blow directly onto the flask to bring the temp of the wort up more quickly. I don't know if I'm seeing things or what, but it looks to me like there's already more foam on the top of the starter than there was this morning.

I'm planning on using this for a hoppy brown ale on Sunday, so the idea is to let this step go until tomorrow morning. I'll pop the flask into my fridge before work to let things settle out. When I come home tomorrow, I'll decant as much as I can, then boil up enough 1.040 wort to get about 1.5L and add the yeast to that. I'll then let that go until Sunday morning, put it in the fridge, and decant what I can before pitching on Sunday afternoon.

I've said this in my thread about the brown ale...but this is such a cool experiment. Even if it doesn't end up getting me as much yeast as I'd like for Sunday, I'll continue going and then store the yeast in the fridge when I'm done (I'll just use another yeast for the brown ale). It's an awesome way to learn about how yeast works, and...this may sound weird...but it makes me feel even more connected to the beer I'm going to brew!
 
Here are a couple shots of my Bell's yeast from today.

10:20 am
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1417718256.004331.jpg

1:30 pm
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1417718348.392893.jpg

Even with the condensation inside the flask, you can definitely see the difference in the amount of foam/kräusen on top of the starter in the two pictures. Quite a noticeable change in just three hours. I really think that warming it up a bit has helped move it along, but it could also be that it was just time for this stuff to get going.

Edit: By the way, this is the first time I've ever harvested from a bottle. And it'll only be the third beer I've brewed (second with a starter). I fully admit that I'm geeking out on this!
 
Cool!! So just confirming. should I let the stir plate ride for a few days straight? Or let it sit?
 
Love the stuff. As its not as easy as picking up a dry packet at the store, I've recently tried Nottingham and S-05 on a three brew series each to see how it compares to Bells. I can't shake the fact that I still like the Bells better on most ale styles. Particularly on hoppy beers where I want a little bit of pleasant esters, but don't get near the same pleasant notes with S-05 or Notty, even trying a large range of fermentation temps.

So I will go back to Bells again. Looking at my brew log, I've used it in 18 different batches in a wide variety of styles (APA, IPA, Brown, Amber, Irish Red, Porter, 12% RIS!, CDA, and Winter Warmer). Loved it in all of them.

I should also try a liquid strain or two from WYeast. But I will get a starter going from dregs from 3 bottles sometime later this winter for spring brewing. I step it up twice and its usually ready to pitch in 6-7 days total. I generally get 3-5 brews out of one starter (by washing and storing yeast from batch 1).
 
copper2hopper said:
Cool!! So just confirming. should I let the stir plate ride for a few days straight? Or let it sit?
Click to expand...


Well...I can only speak from my own experience, but I let it sit from Sunday noontime until Wednesday evening. The only thing I did was warm it a little if it seemed cool (putting the jar a pot of warm water and swishing it around for a few minutes) and give it a vigorous swirl before I went to work, when I came home, and before I went to bed. Then I stepped it up and put it on the stir plate last night. After about 16 hours or so it started taking off. Here's how it looks now:

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1417731047.325855.jpg

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1417731058.321330.jpg

Smells quite nice, too.

I'll be chilling it all day tomorrow and then stepping up tomorrow evening. Honestly, though, it might even be raring to go on a 5 gallon batch by tomorrow!
 
I'm calling BS... I'm wrong a lot, but I'm calling BS on them actually storing a house strain. I saw no room for a lab during the tour, and fermenters were in house.
 
Excellent! Looks promising. I stopped the stir plate this Mornin when I woke up and brought the set up up stairs and put it in my laundry room where it's always warm with the dryer runnin. I put it right on top of it. I been periodically giving it a spin all throughout today and letting it sit still for most of the day. I hope I got my starter OG right and added enough yeast nutrient too. Question about "stepping it up" though. Did you decant what you could before moving it to a higher OG new starter? Or just throw it all in
 
watermelon83 said:
I'm calling BS... I'm wrong a lot, but I'm calling BS on them actually storing a house strain. I saw no room for a lab during the tour, and fermenters were in house.
Click to expand...


You can believe whatever you want to believe, but it seems plenty of folks feel they get better results in brewing clones or Bell's-inspired beers when they harvest from the bottle.

Doesn't matter though. It's a fun experiment even if it's not a house-only strain.
 
copper2hopper said:
Excellent! Looks promising. I stopped the stir plate this Mornin when I woke up and brought the set up up stairs and put it in my laundry room where it's always warm with the dryer runnin. I put it right on top of it. I been periodically giving it a spin all throughout today and letting it sit still for most of the day. I hope I got my starter OG right and added enough yeast nutrient too. Question about "stepping it up" though. Did you decant what you could before moving it to a higher OG new starter? Or just throw it all in
Click to expand...


I would have decanted if I could have, but I didn't have enough time to let it fully settle out in the fridge. That meant that there was a lot of yeast still in suspension, so I just poured the whole thing into my flask and then added the DME wort. Doesn't seem to have hurt at all.
 
I've heard it's Wyeast 1272, which is just slightly less attentive and more flocculant than 1056. For me, they are interchangeable though. And was mentioned, it was a fun science experiment. I thought it was cool to say I brewed Two Hearted with Two Hearted yeast :)
 
mtnagel said:
I've heard it's Wyeast 1272, which is just slightly less attentive and more flocculant than 1056. For me, they are interchangeable though. And was mentioned, it was a fun science experiment. I thought it was cool to say I brewed Two Hearted with Two Hearted yeast :)
Click to expand...


Yeah...1056 and 1272 are the yeasts that most seem to think they use. On another site, someone mentioned that they talked Larry Bell years ago about it, and he said it was 1056. However, the yeast by now would have taken on "house" characteristics after so many generations of use.

But I'm with you. It's such a fun thing to do. I'm a bit of a geek like that, and I find the process at least as much fun as the beer that results, so culturing from a bottle and nursing it to health over the course of a week scratches that itch big time!
 
"I find the process at least as much fun as the beer that results, so culturing from a bottle and nursing it to health over the course of a week scratches that itch big time!"

Amen to that man! I'm anxious every day I go home from work just to stare at my fermenters for a few minutes and wanting to do something to the beer in them but just can't. This culturing thing is my major fix for that and keeps me tinkering with something.
 
copper2hopper said:
"I find the process at least as much fun as the beer that results, so culturing from a bottle and nursing it to health over the course of a week scratches that itch big time!"



Amen to that man! I'm anxious every day I go home from work just to stare at my fermenters for a few minutes and wanting to do something to the beer in them but just can't. This culturing thing is my major fix for that and keeps me tinkering with something.
Click to expand...


Good luck, man. I'm loving this whole process.

Came home from work today and there was a beautiful layer of yeast in the bottom of the flask, and I was able to decant about 850 mL of spent wort. I then added close to 1000mL of fresh wort (had a couple spills during transfer), giving me slightly less than 1.5L total.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1417825887.506868.jpg
 
Looks like there's some yeast in there. If it's the first step, then there won't be a ton of growth. Step 1 is only to wake them up and get them ready to eat. Cold crash, decant, step it up with a 1.025-1.030 wort and you should see some growth of you have viable cells.

I just pitched mine into my brown ale - wort was 67F. I also saved a little for my next brew, an APA inspired by Two Hearted.

Here's what I had as of this morning:

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1417990575.612629.jpg

However, I stupidly left a space heater blowing on it for quite a while yesterday, and I undoubtedly killed some of the buggers. The slurry still smelled great, though. I'll see in the next 12 hours whether my experiment paid off.
 
So dumb. This isn't working. I went ahead and made a step batch of wort and pulled everything out of the the flask that was originally in there and Gravity was at 1.030. This **** didn't take off at all in four days now. I just added all that and the new step up batch back into the same flask and we will see what happens tonight I guess. If nothing then should I scrap it all and start over?? WTF. so frustrating.
 
copper2hopper said:
So dumb. This isn't working. I went ahead and made a step batch of wort and pulled everything out of the the flask that was originally in there and Gravity was at 1.030. This **** didn't take off at all in four days now. I just added all that and the new step up batch back into the same flask and we will see what happens tonight I guess. If nothing then should I scrap it all and start over?? WTF. so frustrating.
Click to expand...


You need to be patient. If you read through other threads and/or any of the multiple online discussions about harvesting from bottles, you'll see that it simply takes time and patience. I may have been lucky by having fresh bottles and because I had more initial yeast by using the dregs from a full six pack.

Just because your wort is still 1.030 doesn't meant that no yeast were produced or that you don't have viable yeast. If you have a large volume of 1.030 wort to start, there's a chance that it's far too strong and there's too much for those few bottle yeast to handle. High volume of wort doesn't necessarily equal quick or substantial yeast growth. That's why you need to go through the stepping up process.

Also, you used a stir plate for your first step. That may very well work, but most of what I've read suggests just putting them in a jar with a small amount of wort first so they get used to being outside of an alcoholic, de-oxygenated environment again. You wouldn't want to run a 10K first thing in the morning after a couple weeks of not training, would you?

If you don't have patience and take the time to step things up, then perhaps bottle harvesting isn't for you.
 
Brew_G said:
Looks like there's some yeast in there. If it's the first step, then there won't be a ton of growth. Step 1 is only to wake them up and get them ready to eat. Cold crash, decant, step it up with a 1.025-1.030 wort and you should see some growth of you have viable cells.

I just pitched mine into my brown ale - wort was 67F. I also saved a little for my next brew, an APA inspired by Two Hearted.

Here's what I had as of this morning:

View attachment 240511

However, I stupidly left a space heater blowing on it for quite a while yesterday, and I undoubtedly killed some of the buggers. The slurry still smelled great, though. I'll see in the next 12 hours whether my experiment paid off.
Click to expand...

Thanks for showing the process. I was looking for some Bell's this weekend. Couldn't find any here in my Central Market (Like whole foods here in Texas)
 
My fermentation seems to be going really well at a little over 24 hours post-pitch. Activity in the carboy, bubbling blowoff tube, and kräusen forming.

I e-mailed Bell's a little while ago to ask some basic questions about homebrew fermentation temp range for this yeast and what aromas and flavors one could expect at either end of the range. And I brown nosed a bit by gushing over Two Hearted. ;) I'd love to get a response.
 
Gavin C said:
Thanks for showing the process. I was looking for some Bell's this weekend. Couldn't find any here in my Central Market (Like whole foods here in Texas)
Click to expand...

Bell's isn't available in Texas... yet.... but I always keep hearing we are just a year or two away.... cheers to it being shorter.
 
Well...Bell's responded in less than 24 hours. What awesome customer service! I asked if they were OK with my sharing it, and they gave me the thumbs up.

Dear [Brew_G]:

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. I am glad to hear you enjoyed Two Hearted Ale!

For pitching your yeast, you will want to cool down to about 64 degrees Fahrenheit before aerating and pitching. For fermentation, the temperature range can be pretty variable, but I would recommend you ferment a little warmer than most ales, maybe 70 to 72 degrees.

Aromas during fermentation should be very slight fruit, but clean otherwise. Attenuation of our yeast is pretty high but will depend on pitch rates and fermentation temperatures.

I have also attached a PDF copy of our clone recipe for Two Hearted Ale that was in Zymurgy Magazine for reference.

I hope this information helps. Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any further questions or concerns. Good luck with the brew!!

Sincerely,

Melissa D
Brand Ambassador
Bell's Brewery, Inc.
Click to expand...

This is when I e-mailed Melissa to thank her and ask her if it was OK for me to share the info. Her response was exactly what someone would hope for from a brewery like Bell's.

Dear [Brew_G],

I do not mind at all if you share the information! As a company, our roots are firmly in home brewing. Any help we can ever provide we always will. If you ever have any other questions, feel free to contact me. Even if it something I may not know, I have a few expert homebrewers I can go to if need be.

Good luck with the brew! I hope your wife enjoys it!

Cheers,

Melissa D
Bell's Brewery, Inc.
Brand Ambassador
Click to expand...

Is that great, or what?
 

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