How to culture up yeast from bottle conditioned beers

[MyQul]

Was planning on trying to harvest some yeast from a few bottles of proper job I have sat in the fridge but I already have the next couple of brews sorted so i was planning on culturing it up and then storing. Has anyone done this straight from culture? Should I just get to step 5, let the starter ferment out, plonk it all in some mason jars and then put it in the fridge and build another starter when it's brew time?

Also is it wise to put yeast from multiple bottles into the same initial starter or keep them seperate? Finally has anyone kept the bottles for a length of time before putting them into the initial starter? Some mice attacked the remnants of my DME and I won't be able to get any until tomorrow, could I recap the bottles once I've poured them and then start it off tomorrow? If this doesn't sound sane I'll try and resist and keep a bottle back for tomorrow :)
Thanks in advance for any advice!

1. What do you mean by this? "Has anyone done this straight from culture?"

"Should I just get to step 5, let the starter ferment out, plonk it all in some mason jars and then put it in the fridge and build another starter when it's brew time?

Yes you can let the starter ferment out and just leave it for about two weeks in the fridge before you need to put it in the some more starter to replace the cells that have died off. If your going to use it before two weeks you can just bring it up to pitching temp and chuck it in your wort

2. Yes it's fine to use mulitple bottles. In fact it's better - more yeast cells

3. You can recap them and put them back in the fridge but what I have done when using more then one bottle but wanted to keep the cells for a few days before starting to build up to pitchable amount. Is to get a sanised jar and tip the beer dregs into the jar from multiple bottles the just put into the fridge until I want to pour everything into a starter.

Just make sure you sanitise the bottle mouth when pouring out the beer dregs. I use star san but you can just flame the bottle mouth with a lighter or turn the gas on your cooker (if you use gas) and pass the bottle mouth through the flame before pouring.

I've also recently started turning on the gas ring and doing any yeast related stuff next to the cooker as the flames create an updraft and help prevent things/microbes going into your starter/dreg jar/etc

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Was planning on trying to harvest some yeast from a few bottles of proper job I have sat in the fridge but I already have the next couple of brews sorted so i was planning on culturing it up and then storing. Has anyone done this straight from culture? Should I just get to step 5, let the starter ferment out, plonk it all in some mason jars and then put it in the fridge and build another starter when it's brew time?

Also is it wise to put yeast from multiple bottles into the same initial starter or keep them seperate? Finally has anyone kept the bottles for a length of time before putting them into the initial starter? Some mice attacked the remnants of my DME and I won't be able to get any until tomorrow, could I recap the bottles once I've poured them and then start it off tomorrow? If this doesn't sound sane I'll try and resist and keep a bottle back for tomorrow :)
Thanks in advance for any advice!

Where are you based? Ive got a fridge full of Proper Job yeast

 

[Gazmond]

Great thanks for the help, nice tip about turning on the gas ring as well I'll make sure I remember that.

The straight from culture thing was my lack of understanding about how to actually store yeast, most of the posts in this thread relate to pitching the starter into wort whereas I wanted to keep it for a bit, either way appreciate the replies.

 

[Gazmond]

Where are you based? Ive got a fridge full of Proper Job yeast

thanks for the offer bud - it reminded me I hadn't filled in the location bit of my profile which as you can now hopefully see shows I'm a fair bit away from you.

 

[Hoddy]

Vermont. Goes off like a rocket each time.

Your right. You do have to hold it back with <18 oC for a few days.

I've got some slurry I harvested today and I'm going to dump it straight into my next brew on Sunday.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Ajhutch]

This all takes about 3 weeks to 'grow' enough yeast for an average (1.040ish OG) beer.

Thank you very much for this great guide. I have a question about the above quote in respect of volumes. Do you assume the size of starter you built in the original post is good for a 19L batch at 1.040? So if I'm planning on pitching into a higher OG but a smaller volume, I assume I could follow your process and be ok?

 

[MyQul]

Thank you very much for this great guide. I have a question about the above quote in respect of volumes. Do you assume the size of starter you built in the original post is good for a 19L batch at 1.040? So if I'm planning on pitching into a higher OG but a smaller volume, I assume I could follow your process and be ok?

It's enough for a 23L brewlength at 1.040, and yes pitching into a higher OG but lower volume is fine

 

[Leon103]

I have some Vermont yeast in a 5l keg that I want to step up and use.

Do you think there is enough yeast just to do one step? Pitching into a 2l starter?

And if I put the starter on tonight, will it be ready to pitch on Thursday, or possible Friday morning?

 

[MyQul]

I have some Vermont yeast in a 5l keg that I want to step up and use.

Do you think there is enough yeast just to do one step? Pitching into a 2l starter?

And if I put the starter on tonight, will it be ready to pitch on Thursday, or possible Friday morning?

Yeah, there should be LOADS of yeast in a EK for a one step starter into 2L. Should easy be ready for thursday/friday if you start today. In fact it should be ready by wed eve if you start it off this eve

 

[Leon103]

Yeah, there should be LOADS of yeast in a EK for a one step starter into 2L. Should easy be ready for thursday/friday if you start today. In fact it should be ready by wed eve if you start it off this eve

Excellent. Thanks for the prompt reply

 

[MyQul]

Excellent. Thanks for the prompt reply

I've never harveste from a EK myself but I'm sure you've noticed all that yeast that comes out when you wash/rinse out the EK after use. There's loads

 

[Leon103]

Most of kegs have been dark beers so can't really tell. In theory there should be 10x more yeast

 

[MyQul]

Most of kegs have been dark beers so can't really tell. In theory there should be 10x more yeast

Exactly. I saw a you tube vid once where the guy drank a six pack of (330ml) bottle conditioned beer and harvested the dregs. He then put the dregs into 600ml of starter and pitched it. The beer fermented out fine. So all the yeast from a EK in a 2L starter should be loads more than you actually need

 

[Gerryjo]

I must say @MyQul this is a very intriguing thread.I'm in the process of sorting a stir plate as my bits and pieces arrive and hope to cultivate some yeast as well though my question is as follows.
I've recently had issues with my lucky 7 brew which went from 1.048 to 1.024 using CML Belgian yeast and repitched another packet with no effect then pitched a packet of their US Pale Ale and again with no effect.I spoke to another experienced brewer who kindly gave me a third generation reclaimed yeast from which I started using some beer from the brew and made up some wort with H&B Malt extract then pitched which was around a litre but still no activity and haven't even bothered to check gravity but will today, so I'm wondering when I harvest the trunk there is going to be several yeast types present and curious as to how it would turn out in a beer.
I know the only way to find out is use it but I would like to hear thoughts on this as I'm not so hot on yeasts.

 

[MyQul]

I must say @MyQul this is a very intriguing thread.I'm in the process of sorting a stir plate as my bits and pieces arrive and hope to cultivate some yeast as well though my question is as follows.
I've recently had issues with my lucky 7 brew which went from 1.048 to 1.024 using CML Belgian yeast and repitched another packet with no effect then pitched a packet of their US Pale Ale and again with no effect.I spoke to another experienced brewer who kindly gave me a third generation reclaimed yeast from which I started using some beer from the brew and made up some wort with H&B Malt extract then pitched which was around a litre but still no activity and haven't even bothered to check gravity but will today, so I'm wondering when I harvest the trunk there is going to be several yeast types present and curious as to how it would turn out in a beer.
I know the only way to find out is use it but I would like to hear thoughts on this as I'm not so hot on yeasts.

I'm not an expert on belgian yeasts by any stretch of the imagination as I dont make that style.However going by my reading you will probably get different characteristics present from all three yeasts. To give you an example Nottingham yeast is a good mix with Windsor yeast. You get the high attenuation from the notty but the esters from the Windsor both present in the beer.
If you then continue to repitch your mix, into several beers, initially you'll get the same balance of characteristics as you did the first time but eventually one or more of the strains become more dominant than the other(s) as the different strains dont all grow at exactly the same rate during re-pitching and other things like mutations will happen at different rates for the different strains. So eventualy you'll probably get a completely different beer on the say 6th repitch to the one you did on the first

 

[Gerryjo]

I'm not an expert on belgian yeasts by any stretch of the imagination as I dont make that style.However going by my reading you will probably get different characteristics present from all three yeasts. To give you an example Nottingham yeast is a good mix with Windsor yeast. You get the high attenuation from the notty but the esters from the Windsor both present in the beer.
If you then continue to repitch your mix, into several beers, initially you'll get the same balance of characteristics as you did the first time but eventually one or more of the strains become more dominant than the other(s) as the different strains dont all grow at exactly the same rate during re-pitching and other things like mutations will happen at different rates for the different strains. So eventualy you'll probably get a completely different beer on the say 6th repitch to the one you did on the first

Interesting.What I may do is split it and try one on dark stouts/ales and one on light beers/ales etc to check comparison.
I currently have a cascade SMaSH ready for secondary fermenter at the weekend so I'm going to harvest this as well.

Sent from my ALE-L21 using Tapatalk

 

[MyQul]

Interesting.What I may do is split it and try one on dark stouts/ales and one on light beers/ales etc to check comparison.
I currently have a cascade SMaSH ready for secondary fermenter at the weekend so I'm going to harvest this as well.

Sent from my ALE-L21 using Tapatalk

So you've got three different yeasts in this yeast cake?

 

[Gerryjo]

So you've got three different yeasts in this yeast cake?

That's correct.


Sent from my ALE-L21 using Tapatalk

 

[MyQul]

That's correct.


Sent from my ALE-L21 using Tapatalk

At a guess, your going to get the flavours/esters and possibly the type of mouthfeel from the belgian yeast. If the belgian yeasts are low attenuating (I'm not familiar with belgian yeasts so dont know what sort of attenuation you get) you'll get a higher attenuation coming from the CML pale ale yeast as that's quite high attenuating. If the belgians also have high attenuation as well as the esters they bring, the CML PA wort really be bringing anything to the party

 

[Gerryjo]

At a guess, your going to get the flavours/esters and possibly the type of mouthfeel from the belgian yeast. If the belgian yeasts are low attenuating (I'm not familiar with belgian yeasts so dont know what sort of attenuation you get) you'll get a higher attenuation coming from the CML pale ale yeast as that's quite high attenuating. If the belgians also have high attenuation as well as the esters they bring, the CML PA wort really be bringing anything to the party

The third yeast type was a third generation notty yeast kindly donated by a fellow brewer from our club.
I was checking it using a refractometer on Brix scale not realising I was using it incorrectly so chances are it had originally fermented out with the Belgian but will never know.
Anyway onwards and upwards 👍

Sent from my ALE-L21 using Tapatalk