Starter from dregs

[stillbrewin]

I am trying to figure out if I have enough pitchable yeast in a starter that I made from the dregs of a st bernardus pater 6. I pitched the dregs into 100ml on a stir plate and let it go for 24hrs. I then stepped it up to 400ml then to 1000 ml. I never really got a kreusen to form on it because of the vortex from the stir I assume. I took it off the stir plate and cold crashed it. After a day in the fridge I had about 1/2 inch of yeast settled on the bottom of the 1000 ml flask. I left it in the fridge for a couple more days because I needed to pick up some more dme. I just decanted it and put it in a 2 liter flask and started the stir plate up again. I was planning on using this on a 5 gallon batch right around 1.047. How will I know how much yeast is in this starter?

 

[sweetcell]

so did you step it up once more to 2000 ml, or is 1000 ml your last step?

tough thing about stepping up dregs is that you can't be sure of how many cells you have in there unless you have some fancy lab equipment.

based on my estimates (i've recently stepped up dregs, brewing tomorrow), a 2 liter starter should get you in the ball park. one liter probably isn't enough.

 

[donovanneb]

The gravity on this is in the 40's so you might be ok, it will just be a slow starter and could take 2-3 days to get going. Culturing bottle dregs also needs to be a careful process. Not sure if the stir plate in the beginning was too harsh on the yeast. If you want to be safe go another step up, if you want to experiment and see if it is ok, then pitch now.

 

[stillbrewin]

I stepped it up to 2l last night. Hoping to brew tomorrow. Does 1/2 inch of yeast settled out in a 1l flask sound about right? Guess I will feel better with like an inch in the 2l flask.

 

[stillbrewin]

Brewed on tue. no activity on wed. Nice kreusen starting on thur. Tonight giant funky kruesen 3/4 of an inch thick. Funky, smelly, and bringing clumps of czech saaz to the top. It's this brownish, greenish monster : )

I brewed this batch low gravity. I am hoping to step up the gravity, and pitch right on to the the yeast cake next batch.

I am really hoping I got the right belgian yeast for this recipe from these dregs.

If not at least I managed to step up from dregs succesfully.

 

[sweetcell]

what's the recipe, and what are the dregs from?

 

[stillbrewin]

The recipe is based on the NB patersbiere. Not an exact copy of it. 5 gal batch.

9lbs Belgian pilsner
1lb Carafoam

1oz german tradition at 60
1oz czech saaz @ 10

dry hopped 1 oz czech saaz

dregs from St Bernardus Pater 6

 

[Pugalicious]

How is this one going? Finished yet? Interested to hear how it did. I'm looking to do the same with a Abt 12 clone. Thanks!

 

[beerspitnight]

I am brewing a batch with WPL008 while I am home over Christmas. Due to the limited availability of yeast in China, I would like to bring back a couple of bottles of the brew and harvest the yeast from them. I am curious to see how this worked out for you.

 

[stillbrewin]

The brew went well! I am glad I decided to step up two 2 liters. It took about 36 hours for things to really get going. I got a really nice krausen by the third day.

 

[kpr121]

I am brewing a batch with WPL008 while I am home over Christmas. Due to the limited availability of yeast in China, I would like to bring back a couple of bottles of the brew and harvest the yeast from them. I am curious to see how this worked out for you.

Fill up a bottle with yeast cake and make sure to label it?

 

[beerspitnight]

Fill up a bottle with yeast cake and make sure to label it?

What process would I use? Wash it a couple of times with the end result being in the bottle? Not sure if I'll have time to do that - hence pulling from the bottom of the bottle.
I also have some Rye IPA bottles that used San Diego super yeast - 7.2%abv - they have been chilling since August in my father's crawl space. Any ideas on what the viability of the yeast in the bottom of those bottles will be?

 

[kpr121]

Its just a thought. If you were using the yeast rather quickly you could just pour the cake right in the bottle with a funnel or something.

If you are short for luggage space and have a limited number of bottles than I can see the advantage of harvesting the yeast from dregs of a six pack or something, you'll just have a few more step ups when you want to brew the next batch.