Harvesting yeast from Young's beer

[Simonh82]

I'm a big fan of Young's beer; their ordinary bitter and Special are both great. They were my local brewery until they merged with Wells and moved to Bedford. I want to harvest the yeast from a couple of bottles of London Special that I've finally found (oddly it is rarely stocked in local shops). Does anyone know if the bottle yeast is their primary strain? Have you had any luck harvesting yeast from them?

I know that when they merged with Wells they took their yeast with them as there was an article somewhere which specifically talked about the yeast adapting well to the different brewing set up but I know some breweries also use s second strain for the bottle conditioning.

I'm sure i'll find out when I brew with it but I'd like to know if anyone has any experience.

Thanks.

 

[terrym]

Best I can do.....
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=58007
You could be cheeky and ask the brewery! :whistle:

 

[Simonh82]

Thanks Terry. I had come across that tread before and hadn't noticed Clibits comments about Young's being good. Hopefully that will be the case.

Re-reading it also sent me down the road of looking at Hopback beers which are always on tap in my old local. I've just found out their only pub in London is not that far from me and I will definitely be visiting soon.:thumb:

 

[MyQul]

Youngs bitter it bottle conditoned too. Whether it's the primary strain I don'y know

"Young’s Bitter is also available as a bottled conditioned beer. This means that the yeast is left in the bottle giving the beer the freshest taste and a natural ‘fizz.’"


http://www.charleswells.co.uk/our-company/our-products/youngs-bitter/


If your after the hogs back strain, the summer lightning contains the primary strain. Another forumite (think it was joeyriles recently went to the brewery and got a load of yeast off of them. He reports that it's quite estery/fruity

 

[Simonh82]

Youngs bitter it bottle conditoned too. Whether it's the primary strain I don'y know

"Young’s Bitter is also available as a bottled conditioned beer. This means that the yeast is left in the bottle giving the beer the freshest taste and a natural ‘fizz.’"


http://www.charleswells.co.uk/our-company/our-products/youngs-bitter/


If your after the hogs back strain, the summer lightning contains the primary strain. Another forumite (think it was joeyriles recently went to the brewery and got a load of yeast off of them. He reports that it's quite estery/fruity

I've never seen Young's bitter in bottles. Only London Gold and London Special.

I've got a couple of bottles in the fridge and I'll harvest them tonight.

I like summer lightning a lot but haven't found anywhere that stocks it nearby.

Going to visit The Sultan, which is Hopback's only pub in London. Hopefully can pick up a few bottles to take home and nab the yeast.

 

[MyQul]

Waitrose stocks summer lightening - coincedently enough I was in the one near work today seeing if I could see any yeast in the bottles. I couldn't but that doesn't necesarily mean anything. I couldn't see any yeast in the bottle brakspear triple I cultured up from

 

[Simonh82]

I popped in to Waitrose earlier too but couldn't see any Summer Lightning. I will keep an eye out though. There was very little by way of bottle conditioned beers but as I had gone in there I felt I had to buy something.

I picked up a couple of bottles of Bengal Lancer and one of 1845. Hopefully I should be able to harvest from these, although Fuller's don't make my favourite beers. Whether it is the influence of the yeast, the malt or the way they brew it, I find a lot of their beers a bit cloying.

Still, I wouldn't pass up a pint of London Pride if it were offered.

Anyway, there will be something pleasing about getting a yeast strain which you will pay £6 for in the shops for a similar price but with 3 pints thrown in for free!

 

[MyQul]

I think the 'cloying' taste might be the yeast as I've read wlp002 (which of course is supposed to be the same strain) really lets the maltiness come through. London pride has loads of crystal in it too which, will add to the cloying sweetnes. I've got a really sweet tooth so LP is one of my favourite beers.

I've cultured up the fullers strain from 1845 in the past, so it has got live yeast in there. Unfortunatley it got infected the first time I used it