let the yeast harvesting fun begin...

[charlesmartin]

i just suffered through 4 bottles of bells 2 hearted to begin my first commercial harvest...started with 2...thought 3 might be better...had 4, why not 4? mixed the 4 with 4 cups of water, 1 cup of dme. i will update in a day or 2.

 

[RJSkypala]

I had great luck harvesting yeast from 2H. Made a killer RyePA with citra hops that was one of my favorite brews yet.

I used the dregs from 3 bottles to make a 100ml initial starter then stepped it up with 1000ml the next day. I'm sure yours will be fine too. Do you have a stirplate? I think that helped alot.

 

[charlesmartin]

thanks for the encouragement. my current stirplate is attached to my shoulder, but i give it a whirl whenever i walk by it.

your mention of ryepa reminds me of founders red's rye...an amazing brew. would clone it if i could/can. how many oz of citra in the ryepa?

 

[aplus01]

I also recently harvested some Bell's yeast. Was pretty successful even though I didn't step the starter properly. Dumped 5 bottles worth of yeast in 1L of 1.040 wort. Fermented like a champ in my two hearted clone. Currently dry hopping the result. Was surprised at how well it chewed up those gravity points. I got close to 80% apparent attenuation. I had my temp controller set at 66 for the start and then moved it up as things slowed. Will definitely try that again.

 

[bassbone]

Love that Bell's strain!! CRAZY attenuation (i don't have the specific numbers, but the last thing I used it in was a RYE PA and I got about 90% atten.).

One thing to keep in mind if your two hearted culture doesn't work out: they use the same yeast strain in almost everything. Because of this, it is more likely you can get a good sample of this from something with a lower IBU and ABV (I used their Pale Ale).