Capturing yeast

[Dronfieldbrewer]

I was rather hoping that the yeast would fail so i would need to go and buy some more of that Bengal lancer stuff. Hey ho, but saying that, I am going to brew on Friday and need a reserve yeast, just in case obviously.... :

For the record the dregs from 4 bottles of Lancer is adequate for 32 litres, if propogated in 1/2 litre of 1030gravity wort for 24 hours. I think if you cultured for 36 hours you could do it with 2 or 3 bottles, with more time perhaps 1

In the future though, it is best to drink the booze, culture up then brew and not the other way around. You run the risk of infections all over the place

 

[Shrek]

Lucozade bottles are a perfect fit for air locks if you use them to capture yeast. 2 for £1 in morrisons too.

 

[shocker]

Nice one Shreks , good tip :thumb:

wish Id kept some of those unigate milk bottles , they are perfect

 

[Springer]

Milko still delivers here everyday and his bottles are fine for a normal bung.
Come on Shocks, you must be able to scrounge a milk bottle from somewhere, even if you stop the milkman in the street and buy a pint it will do you more good than that lucozade, it might make you hypo-active, second thoughts I might try some myself. :hmm: :lol:
S

 

[shocker]

Spring , dont make me hyperactive....you wouldnt like me when Im hyperactive....to paraphrase a quote :shock: :lol: :lol:

The Milkman ? The only way you would get him to stop round where I am living is to shoot his tyres out ....and then chase him as he drove away on the bare rims ! :shock:

 

[Dronfieldbrewer]

Reight Ahh!!

I have now moved the 30 litres of Dronfield Best Bitter, brewed with the Fullers yeast over to secondary fermentation, just racked off from the sludge (saved in the fridge). All I can say is WOW.... :shock:

Nahh den... so the bottled conditioned stuff's yeast is easy to capture. So....

Other half is out tonight dancing round her handbag. Therefore it doesn't matter how much mess I make in the kitchen does it?....

So....

Experiment time....

Dronfield Pale brewed today tucked up with usual yeast, 2 litres of extra wort at 1042...what to do???

Bottle of Sierra Nevada
Bottle of Duvel
Bottle of Castle Rock bottled conditioned
Bottle of Fullers Bengal Lancer IPA

All of these were available from Tesco this afternoon

:whistle:

Jam jars that have been kept, just in case they are needed:---

:whistle:

In the interests of the homebrew brother and sisterhood and purely for reference and research purposes. I have documented the methods of yeast capture, via piccys tonight. I now have 4 jars of the same wort, with the yeast from these botted conditioned beers on my desk and will document their development over the next few days....via piccys

 

[Springer]

Bring it on Rob,
S
With Pics :clap:, did you remember to put film in your camera :? :lol:

 

[Dronfieldbrewer]

Film...Camera...What do you mean, Springer. I hope you are not inferring that I am incapable of checking....No film... Ahhh! but its an electrical jobby... Mystical sprytes in a matchbox yee see...

Seriously though, all four jam jars on the desk are forming a gell on the bottom of the jars as I type this. :clap: This will be an interesting experiment!!

The 30 litres of Dronfield Best Bitter I racked earlier must have had at least 600ml of WLP002 on the bottom of FV01. I have chucked what I can in the fridge to see how it settles, piccys when it sorts itself out.

This is like a new world to me. At the local homebrew shop, safeale S04 (my tried and tested friend) is now £2.50 a pack!!. However, 4 bottles of Fullers Bengal Lancer (WLP002) £5 for 4 plus a dollop of yeast.. Sierra Nevada (with added bonus of WLP001). Duvel (WLP-god knows) and Castle Rock (WLP-who cares).

If you consider that the cost of these beers indevidualy, is less than the cost of a packet of S04 and that the cost of culturing is, nowt really, then you get a much better quality yeast particulally if bottling...

 

[DaveMack]

Hiya Rob i've been following this matey .
Today i racked off a AG Lager into a different FV , all the **** that was left behind
i pured into a Demi John , now tonight when i had a look at it ... its split into three parts ,
The top of the Demi being thick crud ? the middle being clear wort ... and the bottom being like a sand bed , so my question is ... which one is the yeast , i always use Saflager S23 yeast .
I'm guessing the sand at the bottom ?
Thanks in advance Dave .

 

[Dronfieldbrewer]

To be honest... I am not 100% sure. I think that the bit that looks like yeast, is yeast...However there are a number of threads about yeast rinsing on here..

What I did with the Fullers thingy is that I let the dregs of some bottles kick off in some wort, then as soon as some action, just chucked it it straight into 30 litres of Dronfield best bitter.....Bingo, action like you would expect.

 

[DaveMack]

Right thanks for that matey
I'll just play about with it ... its all trail and error me thinks .
With Saflager at £2.99 ago i need to get a few batches out of one 12g packet .

 

[Dronfieldbrewer]

Just got not experience with your yeast strain. With WLP002, S04, WLP001 etc its obvious as to which bit you need to keep

 

[shocker]

You think you got problems Dave ? I just had a Brewferm Lager yeast split into FIVE layers !

 

[Springer]

:rofl:

This is like a new world to me. At the local homebrew shop, safeale S04 (my tried and tested friend) is now £2.50 a pack!!. However, 4 bottles of Fullers Bengal Lancer (WLP002) £5 for 4 plus a dollop of yeast.. Sierra Nevada (with added bonus of WLP001). Duvel (WLP-god knows) and Castle Rock (WLP-who cares).

If you consider that the cost of these beers indevidualy, is less than the cost of a packet of S04 and that the cost of culturing is, nowt really, then you get a much better quality yeast particulally if bottling...

Exactly where I am with it Rob, fun and saving money, you don't get that very often.
The serilisation thing is something to done carefully

S

 

[Dronfieldbrewer]

Reight....

My hangover has subsided to the point that I can now focus with both eyes at the same time.

Last night, in the name of reference and research, I whacked down 2 bottles of Duvel 8.00%, its a nice brew but creaps up on you and tap dances over your power of speach!, 2 Bottles of Sierra Nevada 5.6%, lovely, lovely beer, 1 Bottle of Castle Rock 5.2% and for a benchmark a bottle of the Fullers IPA. 5.6%.

Here starts the lesson, I make no appology if its a bit "Billy and Johnny" but there you go.

What you need:-

1)Bottle of beer (bottled conditioned of course)
2)Gas lighter like what you light BBQs etc
3)Jam Jar
4)Some fresh wort (I used the last of the runnings from last brew) or spraymalt etc, needs to be a light gravity of between 1030- 1040 ish
5)Diluted thin bleach, I used babies steralising fluid but same thing
6)The kitchen oven

STEP 1

Thoroughly wash the jam jar in soapy water and rinse.
wash the donor bottle in the thin bleach solution to kill any bugs and dry
Place the wort onto a saucepan and put on stove to boil

STEP2

Unscrew lid from jam jar and put both into oven at about gas mark 4 180 degrees for about 15 mins. This will kill any bugs in the jars. Take great care when taking out of oven as they get Phookin hot!!

Now the tricky bit

Pour the boiling wort into the jar and put the lid on... Set asside and allow to cool. DONT TRY to crash cool it in cold water, the jar will at best shatter if you do this, the last bit of cooling can be done in water, best to wait until you can hold the jar in a naked hand without your skin being removed.

STEP3

Hold the bottle of beer upright and light the gas lighter, let the flame from the gas lighter lick the cap. This will kill any bugs on the cap itself. Do not let the beer in the bottle get near to this flame by keeping the bottle upright or it will fobb all over when you take the top off.

Now carefully remove the cap from the bottle. If using a bottle opener, try to get the top off without bending the cap too much. Pour the beer slowly into a glass but leaving the last bit in (this has the bit you want). Replace the cap on the bottle, when you press it down it should click back on.

STEP4

Whilst the jam jar, that is now containing boiled wort cools to pitchable temperature, drink the beer in the glass.

Finally give the bottle a good swirl to dislodge any yeasties on the bottom of the bottle, take top off the jar and bottle and pour the contents of the bottle into the jar. Put the jam jar lid back on but do not tighten fully and place in a room temp place away from direct sunlight.


TADAHH!!

 

[Dronfieldbrewer]

Ohh Aye the piccys:-


The gas lighter

The donors

The finished product

We have movement, 6 hours after pitching, the Duvel is starting to foam.

All of the donors are forming some crud on the bottom of the jars but the Duvel is the first out of the traps

 

[Shrek]

Does anyone know what strain hopback use for their summer lightning? I put some in my sterilised lucozade bottle with some water sugar and a bit of yeast nutrient and it is going like the clappers. Hoping to use it on Tuesday for a brew.

 

[Dronfieldbrewer]

Does anyone know what strain hopback use for their summer lightning? I put some in my sterilised lucozade bottle with some water sugar and a bit of yeast nutrient and it is going like the clappers. Hoping to use it on Tuesday for a brew.

No I don't know, is the yeast a top worker do you know Shrek??

 

[Springer]

:rofl:
Dedicated research Rob, I know its a tough job, but someone has to do it.
This is really interesting and worth pursuing to my mind, old technique, but do many people do it. :?
Are you listening Rob, :lol: buy TWO bottles of Lancer or whatever, do a brew then you have 40 or so of your own to harvest from.
Then you can do, say 20 brews from those, (20 times 40 pints equals :?) and you "never" have to buy beer again, except in the name of research. :lol:
S

 

[Dronfieldbrewer]

:rofl:
Dedicated research Rob, I know its a tough job, but someone has to do it.
This is really interesting and worth pursuing to my mind, old technique, but do many people do it. :?
Are you listening Rob, :lol: buy TWO bottles of Lancer or whatever, do a brew then you have 40 or so of your own to harvest from.
Then you can do, say 20 brews from those, (20 times 40 pints equals :?) and you "never" have to buy beer again, except in the name of research. :lol:
S

Good point....I have brewed Dronfield Pale from the recovered yeast from my last bottle of Dronfield Best Bitter using this method. I have just top cropped a bucket full of yeast. I intended to keg the whole of this batch but will now keg about 25 litres and bottle the rest for yeast capture and saving

For the record the Duvel Yeast has nearly finished, the Sierra Nevada just started, The Fullers is trotting on and the Elsie Mo from Castle Rock has a few bubbles