I have 2 quick questions on harvesting yeast from the dregs of a commercial beer:
I know you would typically brew a lower gravity beer if you’re planning on pitching on its yeast cake to avoid stressing the yeast. Do you run into this issue with commercial beers? Am I better off using the lowest ABV beer from a brewery if I want to ranch their yeast?
I’m a huge Unibroue fan and I’d like to harvest their yeast. Their website mentions that they add yeast at bottling. Does anyone know if they use their house strain for this? I don’t want to harvest the dregs from some Maudite or Trois Pistoles only to find that it is actually champagne yeast they bottle with (or something of that sort)
I have thought about harvesting yeast from Boulevard Brewing here in KCMO (once I purchase my Erlenmeyer flask that is). I have read on other websites that the yeast used to bottle condition may be a different strain than what the commercial brewer used for primary fermentation. On a recent tour to the Boulevard Brewery I asked one of the brewers about this. He told me the strain Boulevard uses for bottle conditioning is the same as for fermentation, but because a homebrewer would only getting such a small amount from the bottle, the characteristics of the strain may change when trying to harvest it. Just another thing you may want to consider.
Yes, using the lowest gravity beer would be the best bet.
Don’t quote me on this, because I can’t remember the source, but I believe they bottle-condition with a Brett strain. So unless they filter prior to bottling, you’ll have a mix of strains from the dregs.
The only problem is that this strain is seasonal, and it’s not even listed on the wyeast website right now. I really want to get this yeast, but can’t ever find it.
I recall an interview with the brewer of Unibroue and he mentioned that they bottle condition with a different strain than they ferment with. Ive been waiting for Wyeast to release it myself!
For a seasonal release such as this, what would have a better shelf-life for brewing off season (like 6+ months down the line) - brewing a low-gravity Belgian Pale and saving some bombers to culture up the dregs, or just stash away an extra vial and plan on stepping it up a few times?
Of those two options, I’d probably go with an extra smack pack to step up later.
What I’ve found in re-culturing dregs is that the yeast isn’t as flocculant as the original pitch. Not that big of a deal, as you can always use finings, but definitely a different performance. YMMV.
Or just whip up a few slants, streak each of them from the smack pack, and keep 'em in the fridge. Pull one out whenever you want that yeast. I’ve gone as long as two years that way and who knows how much longer I could have gone.
What I would do is just take the yeast from primary, wash it, and put it in the back of the fridge. You should have 2 pint jars or so, and those will last quite a while in your fridge, and then step those up (which would be significantly easier than stepping up dregs or a slant) if its been a couple weeks. You will get some drift, but it shouldn’t be too bad over 4-5 generations.
