Starter with Roselare?

jhimstedt · Jul 23, 2012

Just to reiterate what has been stated above, if reusing the cake without adding more bugs or sacc gets even better results than the first use, then making a starter doesn't seem like it can hurt at all. Am I missing something?

bottlebomber · Jul 23, 2012

I don't think it's necessary. I recently brewed a split batch 10 gallons total. I was having a rare moment of cheapskate-ness and only bought one (very fresh) pack. I had a large starter of Belgian yeast ready to go, but I split the pack of Roeselare between the two buckets a day before I pitched the big yeast. I had krausen overnight. Now, 3 months later, both the buckets look like this.

moti_mo · Jul 24, 2012

jhimstedt said:
Just to reiterate what has been stated above, if reusing the cake without adding more bugs or sacc gets even better results than the first use, then making a started doesn't seem like it can hurt at all. Am I missing something?

I'm on gen 3 of my Roeselare yeast. Gen 1 produced a fantastic oud bruin that is in month 9 right now. Gen 2 produced a berlinerweisse that took only 1 month to taste nice and sour. Gen 3 went into a pilsner malt based sour that was very sour after only 1 month, and I plan on giving it another 5 months on the cake before adding some fruit to age for another few months.

So the bugs get more and more effective with each pitch. All depends on what you're going for.

CadillacAndy · Jul 24, 2012

moti_mo said:
I'm on gen 3 of my Roeselare yeast. Gen 1 produced a fantastic oud bruin that is in month 9 right now. Gen 2 produced a berlinerweisse that took only 1 month to taste nice and sour. Gen 3 went into a pilsner malt based sour that was very sour after only 1 month, and I plan on giving it another 5 months on the cake before adding some fruit to age for another few months.

So the bugs get more and more effective with each pitch. All depends on what you're going for.

How long has each generation been working for? The full aging time, or are you racking to secondary and reusing it after a month or two? I'm trying to get a handle on how quickly the bugs and Brett dominate.

moti_mo · Jul 24, 2012

cadillacandy said:
How long has each generation been working for? The full aging time, or are you racking to secondary and reusing it after a month or two? I'm trying to get a handle on how quickly the bugs and Brett dominate.

The oud bruin was aged in primary on the yeast/bacteria cake for 6 months before transferring to secondary. I then put the berlinerweisse onto the oud bruin cake immediately, and this aged for one month before bottling. I then put the most recent sour onto this yeast cake, and its been going for about two months. I plan to let it go to six months before transferring to secondary with fruit. Not sure if I'm going to push it one more generation, I'll probably wait and see if this third batch has gotten ridiculously sour by six months.

CadillacAndy · Jul 24, 2012

moti_mo said:
The oud bruin was aged in primary on the yeast/bacteria cake for 6 months before transferring to secondary. I then put the berlinerweisse onto the oud bruin cake immediately, and this aged for one month before bottling. I then put the most recent sour onto this yeast cake, and its been going for about two months. I plan to let it go to six months before transferring to secondary with fruit. Not sure if I'm going to push it one more generation, I'll probably wait and see if this third batch has gotten ridiculously sour by six months.

Thanks! Much appreciated.