Is BBNO Canned Conditioned?

[jceg316]

A friend gave me some cans of Brew By Nos as a present and was saying he loves the passion fruit & rooibos saison, the yeast character is great. I was wondering if anyone has had this before and can say if it's can conditioned? Was thinking of culturing up any yeast and making my own saison.

 

[Leon103]

It would say on the can.

 

[strange-steve]

I've never had it so I don't know but their website says this: "Brew By Numbers prefer to brew saison to a milder alcohol level using our house saison yeast (partially derived from a French strain) to best use its potential as a canvas for experimentation".

The French strain is presumably the Thiriez strain, Wy3711, but I wonder what they mean by "partially derived", maybe multiple strains? Could be worth an experiment. The owners were homebrewers so they might tell you if you drop them an email.

 

[jceg316]

It would say on the can.

Not necessarily. I've had beers which are bottle/canned conditioned without any warning. It does say it's unfiltered but that doesn't necessarily mean canned conditioned.

The French strain is presumably the Thiriez strain, Wy3711, but I wonder what they mean by "partially derived", maybe multiple strains? Could be worth an experiment. The owners were homebrewers so they might tell you if you drop them an emai

That would be cool! I guess if I cultured it up it would throw the balance off and I'd get a different mix and different results. Still would be fun though. Good point, I will send an email.

 

[strange-steve]

I guess if I cultured it up it would throw the balance off and I'd get a different mix and different results

Potentially yes, but I remember reading an article by Chris White on this and he said that the ratio shouldn't change much over the first few generations.
Edit. This was the article https://www.whitelabs.com/beer/using-multiple-yeast-strains

 

[JonBrew]

So long as it's unfiltered you should be able to culture up from the dregs of a can or 2. It doesn't need to be can carbonated (or conditioned).

 

[jceg316]

So long as it's unfiltered you should be able to culture up from the dregs of a can or 2. It doesn't need to be can carbonated (or conditioned).

I find that unfiltered often means hazy but there isn't any sediment at the bottom to culture up. Or do you mean I could put some hazy beer into a starter because it has so much yeast in it?

 

[JonBrew]

I find that unfiltered often means hazy but there isn't any sediment at the bottom to culture up. Or do you mean I could put some hazy beer into a starter because it has so much yeast in it?

I'd stick a can or two in fridge and leave if for a week or so. Then very gently pour off the beer leaving 1-2 centimeters worth in the can (appreciate this is hard to judge as you can't see into the can). Pour some of your starter wort into the can and give it a really good swirl about. Flame the opening/top of the can and pour it into the rest of your starter wort (this should be a small amount maybe 100mls). Cover it in a jar with foil and leave it somewhere nice and warm. Obviously the cleaner you can be throughout all of this the better as there's lots of room for contamination. But I'd be surprised if you're not able to culture something up.

 

[jceg316]

I ended up culturing this up and using it in a brew. It's unlike any yeast I've used before. It's fermenting in a clear FV, the krausen doesn't look normal and I thought the batch was infected. I tried some, it's not infected and tasted amazing! Took a gravity reading, OG is 1.050 and current SG is 1.003, which is something like 94% apparent attenuation. I'd be surprised if it ferments any lower.

It's been in the FV 3.5 weeks and there's still a white krausen on top. I'm thinking this is might be a blend of saison and maybe Brett? My sample had strong honey flavour, with some earthy tones and hint of pepper. It wasn't the most saison tasting beer I've had. Malt bill is 5kg Europils malt, added a lot of sorachi ace late in the kettle but it hasn't come through at all, but I think that's more to do with my water profile.

 

[Bowie92]

I ended up culturing this up and using it in a brew. It's unlike any yeast I've used before. It's fermenting in a clear FV, the krausen doesn't look normal and I thought the batch was infected. I tried some, it's not infected and tasted amazing! Took a gravity reading, OG is 1.050 and current SG is 1.003, which is something like 94% apparent attenuation. I'd be surprised if it ferments any lower.

It's been in the FV 3.5 weeks and there's still a white krausen on top. I'm thinking this is might be a blend of saison and maybe Brett? My sample had strong honey flavour, with some earthy tones and hint of pepper. It wasn't the most saison tasting beer I've had. Malt bill is 5kg Europils malt, added a lot of sorachi ace late in the kettle but it hasn't come through at all, but I think that's more to do with my water profile.

Sounds great. Do you mind running through the steps you did to culture the yeast from the can?

 

[jceg316]

Sounds great. Do you mind running through the steps you did to culture the yeast from the can?

Here's my method:

1. I put the can in the fridge for a few days.
2. I then made a small starter, I think it was 10g DME and 200ml water which I boiled for 10 mins on my stove top, then let cool down to room temp.
3. I took the beer out the fridge, sprayed the can with starsan and poured most of it into a glass, leaving behind the slurry which I poured into the starter and put on my stirplate.
4. After a few days, I boiled 25g DME and 250ml of water (I think) and once cool I added to the existing starter.
5. Once fermentation had died down, I topped up with 200g DME and 2l water and waited until fermentation had died down.
6. I made the wort and pitched the whole starter into the wort.

I hope this makes sense but let me know if not and I can try and explain better.