Yeast from Westvleteren 12 bottle

[HumboldtBrewer]

I am about to start a trip to Belgium, and I have secured myself 2 cases of Westvleteren 12. These will most likely be consumed over here but I plan to take 6 to 8 beers home with me. Is it worth making a starter from these dregs or does White Labs or Wyeast already have this yeast for purchase back home? I am really wanting to clone this beer, and using the actual yeast from the Abbey would be sweet, but if this yeast is already commercially available, then I would save myself the hassle.


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[billl]

It's the westmalle yeast. That is available commercially from both wyeast and whitelabs.

Of course, it may or may not be exactly the same. The cultured it quite a while ago, so the yeast at use in the brewery may have changed over time.

Personally, I'd drink the beer and buy some yeast

 

[HausBrauerei_Harvey]

in brew-like-a-monk they say the monks go pick up several 5-gallon pails of top-cropped westmalle yeast before brewing, and they use it for several generations. So I think the consensus is it's not far removed from Westmalle and you should just buy that.

Cheers and enjoy a great time in an amazing country!

 

[porterpounder]

Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity. White Labs 530 Abbey Ale. This is the Westmalle/Westvleteren current strain by all accounts.

Of course if you like than challenge and I definitely would like the journey, culture from a few bottles.

 

[rmyurick]

What "porterpounder" said. That said, I did culture up from a bottle of Westvleteren 8 long ago. (probably around '95). It worked pretty well, but I did have exploding bottles after a year. Probably the trick to that yeast is make sure it finishes before bottling. You may have to ramp temperature up to about 80F toward the end. Brewed an "in-between" attempt at a Westy clone (OG ~ 1.080) wiht Wyeast 3787 and it came out overcarbed. And it tastes much better after aging 6 months or so, so be patient.

 

[trentm]

I also think there is value in obtaining your own isolate of a yeast strain even if it is commercially available. Consider getting some Westvleteren 6, with an ABV of 5.8 it is a much more friendly environment for yeast survival compared to the bigger brothers and I would guess it's the same yeast. I've tried several times to get the yeast from Westmalle Triple and once from a Westvleteren 12 , without success. Recently (just last week) a friend came up with a W 6 and within 24 hours, success!

 

[HausBrauerei_Harvey]

I also think there is value in obtaining your own isolate of a yeast strain even if it is commercially available. Consider getting some Westvleteren 6, with an ABV of 5.8 it is a much more friendly environment for yeast survival compared to the bigger brothers and I would guess it's the same yeast. I've tried several times to get the yeast from Westmalle Triple and once from a Westvleteren 12 , without success. Recently (just last week) a friend came up with a W 6 and within 24 hours, success!

trent has a good point, if you do want to do this you can buy a 'taster pack' at the brewshop (limit one per customer). I think this is two 6's, two 8's and two 12's, but it's been a few years so i'm not 100% sure on the number of each bottle. Also they have beer ice cream which is amazing.

 

[serum]

I'm very jealous! I'm nearly out of the Westvleteren blond from my last trip so I'm desperate to go back.

There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of point in reculturing from those dregs but if you're bringing some home it's worth a go.

Over here in the UK you can get four bottles on Westmalle Dubbel for the price of a vial and I've managed to grow that up nicely before. It's the same yeast. Not sure if prices are the same in the US though.

 

[dinnerstick]

trent has a good point, if you do want to do this you can buy a 'taster pack' at the brewshop (limit one per customer). I think this is two 6's, two 8's and two 12's, but it's been a few years so i'm not 100% sure on the number of each bottle. Also they have beer ice cream which is amazing.

i think they sell you what they happen to have on the day, but i'm also not sure. i've only ever seen the XII in the shop but others i know have come away with the VI, but not a mixed pack.

 

[HausBrauerei_Harvey]

i think they sell you what they happen to have on the day, but i'm also not sure. i've only ever seen the XII in the shop but others i know have come away with the VI, but not a mixed pack.

I think you are right. It was about 3-4 years ago now but they were out of the 12 at the shop so I got a sixer of the 8 and a 'sampler' which had two 6's an 8 and a 12, and some brew swag I think (a glass?).

 

[trentm]

I'm very jealous! I'm nearly out of the Westvleteren blond from my last trip so I'm desperate to go back.

There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of point in reculturing from those dregs but if you're bringing some home it's worth a go.

Over here in the UK you can get four bottles on Westmalle Dubbel for the price of a vial and I've managed to grow that up nicely before. It's the same yeast. Not sure if prices are the same in the US though.

I'm jealous as well. Here in the US you may pay ~$25 (Bevmo) for 4 bottles of Westmalle. My friend mentioned above paid $135 + shipping for a 6 pack of Westvleteren 6 through an online order from Belgium. While a vial of WL yeast is under $7. However I would like to make some points for developing your own yeast strains without regards to economics. Of course this could be done from a commercial strain or one you isolate from a bottle.

1) If a number of individual colonies are isolated from a culture and a fermentation is performed from each colony, one can often observe differences from one colony to the next. Sometimes they all appear the same.

2) It is commonly accepted that when yeast is reused in a particular brewery it performs better after a few generations in that brewery. This must be due to adaptation to that particular environment (evolution).

3) Since I do not brew often and typically brew bigger beers, I do not reuse yeast. However I do have a home lab and it is easy to isolate and slant from each brew. The next brew with that strain is done from the previous isolation and after 4 to 5 generation I then consider it my strain.

4) In addition, certain traits are easy to select, for example flocculation. In a single generation you can select early or late flocculating yeast to effect the flocculation in the next generation. Because flocculation effects attenuation that trait can also be effected in a single generation.

 

[davejanssen]

As others have said here, if you decide to try to culture it anyway go with the blond for culturing the yeast (I assume that is what folks mean when they say 6, and not the long since discontinued red cap 6). The blond is a great beer, probably my favorite of the westy beers, so even if you don't bring back bottles it is worth trying.

Did someone already pick up the cases for you or do you have them on reserve to pick up on a specific day? If you do go out there but already have the cases then you might still be able to buy some bottles. There are the gift packs that people mentioned which you can buy in the cafe. They also used to sell to 3 packs (1 bottle of each, limit 2 packs per person) to people walking up to the case pickup window and they may still do this.

 

[serum]

As others have said here, if you decide to try to culture it anyway go with the blond for culturing the yeast (I assume that is what folks mean when they say 6, and not the long since discontinued red cap 6). The blond is a great beer, probably my favorite of the westy beers, so even if you don't bring back bottles it is worth trying.

Did someone already pick up the cases for you or do you have them on reserve to pick up on a specific day? If you do go out there but already have the cases then you might still be able to buy some bottles. There are the gift packs that people mentioned which you can buy in the cafe. They also used to sell to 3 packs (1 bottle of each, limit 2 packs per person) to people walking up to the case pickup window and they may still do this.

The blond is one of those beers that might not jump out at you if you didn't know what it was, but every single person I know who has tasted it has liked it. I generally prefer blond beers to dark ones and this is easily one of my favourites.