step up from bottle conditioned beers

[krenshaw]

i've read a bunch of procedures for multiplying yeast from commercial brews though many of them differ slightly.. i am making a two hearted ale clone this weekend and have 3 bottles of oarsman ale to propagate the yeast from.. tonight i plan on starting and just wanted to see if my methodology is sound..

- i'll pour most of the 3 beers into a large glass, leaving the bottom half inch or so (being careful not to pour yeast into the glass) and proceed to drink that glass throughout the rest of the steps
- clean the openings of the 3 bottles with some higher strength alcohol (the cheap vodka i use in airlocks i guess)
- start with at 500 ml starter in my smaller flask and pour the final contents of the 3 bottles into my prepared DME

my question here is should i start right away with my stirplate? i plan on stepping it up 2 more times, probably 1L and 2L for 24 hours each then maybe a little longer on the last, cold crash, and it'll be ready for the weekend..

any help for better methods from the above, or should that workout fine for me? any help is appreciated.. thanks..

 

[pabloj13]

I doubt you'll have enough yeast by this weekend for one thing. I would start smaller, maybe 100mL or so of 1.020 wort. Let it ferment out. This step takes the longest. Then step up from there. It took me two weeks to get enough Bell's yeast for a batch.

 

[maffewl]

I've bottle harvested many different strains (including Sierra Nevada, Three Floyds, New Belgium, Chimay, etc.) with great success using the following method.

- Sanitize a bottle cap and capper. (I use a spray bottle of StarSan).
- Open bottle and pour a beer, pour until you start to see yeast.
- Sanitize the mouth of the bottle and re-cap the bottle with the sanitized cap.
- Place back in fridge until you get 4-6 bottles.
- Make a 1 quart starter. (I use 3.7 ounces of light DME and yeast nutrient).
- Open all the bottles and add to starter. (I use a stir plate).
- Place sanitized aluminum foil over the starter.
- Once you start to see active fermentation (usually takes 2-3 days), make another starter. (I have 2 stir plates, it helps).
- Draw out 3.5 ounces of wort/beer from the first starter. (I use a sanitized meat injector type syringe).
- Squirt the 3.5 ounces into the second starter and place sanitized foil on top.
- Give it a couple days for fermentation to finish and place both starters in the fridge.
- Decant and pour both starters into a sanitized mason jar, and you have a solid amount of bottle harvested yeast.

 

[PoppinCaps]

Method looks good, though I would start with a smaller amount of wort on the first step, maybe 250ml plus the bottle dregs volume (could use a higher OG starter here since you'll be diluting with beer), on the stir plate. Yeast like to have a nice density to get going.

 

[krenshaw]

i started with 200ml yesterday.. will probably wait until tomorrow morning and add 400-500.. then make it probably like 1500 on thursday evening.. is there any harm in just adding cooled wort to the current flask, or do i "need" to decant before stepping it up?

 

[rhamilton]

I've bottle harvested many different strains (including Sierra Nevada, Three Floyds, New Belgium, Chimay, etc.) with great success using the following method.

What yeasts were you going after for NB?

 

[maffewl]

What yeasts were you going after for NB?

I make a Fat Tire clone and wanted their actual yeast. You can get it from the cans, not the bottles.

 

[pabloj13]

i started with 200ml yesterday.. will probably wait until tomorrow morning and add 400-500.. then make it probably like 1500 on thursday evening.. is there any harm in just adding cooled wort to the current flask, or do i "need" to decant before stepping it up?

Did you see any activity yet?

 

[krenshaw]

there were some slight bubbles this morning when i left for work.. hopefully more than that when i get home after another 10 hours or so

 

[rhamilton]

I make a Fat Tire clone and wanted their actual yeast. You can get it from the cans, not the bottles.

Yea I want their damn Belgo and Trippel yeasts :-/

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

any help for better methods from the above, or should that workout fine for me? any help is appreciated.. thanks..

there's tons of threads here on HBT about the subject. i did this write up on how i harvest yeast from bottled beer.