I took the dregs from a couple of Rogue imperial 750ml’s and tried to build them in a quart of wort :o
It doesn’t seem to have worked. It’s been about 36hrs on the stirplate with no signs of life. I plan to let it spin for another 24-36hrs just to see what happens.
If it doesn’t work - no worries, but could I still use the starter wort for another, more viable yeast? I can’t imagine the wort went bad but it must be terribly oxidized.
Well… the good news is that you can always p/u a fresh packet from Wyeast if it doesn’t culture. 
Well that’s no fun 
I was hoping to harvest my own for a future barleywine…
Their Chocolate Stout has always been a winner for harvesting Pacman. (for me)
If you don’t get anything from this one, it may have been that imperial part that makes it not harvestable.
I look for lower abv and lower ibu for beer to harvest from.
I thought that might be an issue. My luck with the yeasties and starters has been so impressive lately that I thought I couldn’t fail. I was trying to harvest from a Younger’s Imperial Special Bitter and an Imperial Porter that I received as gifts.
I bet it will get going eventually. A quart is a BIG starter for just the dregs from a couple bottles. I start with just 100 mL or so.
I agree, a quart would be fairly overwhelming to the wee beasties especially sitting in an imperial beer. I also agree that a lower abv beer would give a much better chance.
Try a lower abv Rogue as fresh as you can find and just squirt a wee bit o’ weak (1.020?) wort into the bottle with the dregs, maybe 10 ml. Wait a day or so and then step it up to 50 ml… keep stepping it up.
Why is a quart too much? I would have thought it would give them lots of room to feed and expand without competing for resources. Just asking.
I’m trying to culture the dregs from a couple bottles of Delirium Tremens (again in a quart of wort ~1.04). Its a lot slower than expected, but seems to be picking up momentum.
The yeast amount in the dregs is small. They have been stressed from who knows what storage conditions plus they are sitting in their own waste (alcohol and CO2) so they are not feeling too well. Then depending on how sanitary or not you were, other bugs and critters if they got in, are not as stressed and they are in this all you can eat buffet, they will get chowing before the yeast get to feeling up to speed.
By trying to gently rouse the yeast slowly with a little snack to revive them, they will have a better chance of populating faster than the competition. I am sure someone can explain it better/more technically than me but there ya go.
FWIW, I believe John Maier recommended Shakespeare (now called Shakespeare Oatmeal Stout) as a reculture candidate.
but I’d just buy the Wyeast pack.
I don’t know if John recommends it, but I do! That’s the beer I’ve had the best luck with.
maybe it was you - but I thought I recall someone posting a few years back that they asked him directly and he said that was best.
my bad if that is incorrect.
Didn’t mean to suggest that he doesn’t…I just don’t know.
So should I toss it? Wait a bit and see what the starter tastes like (I expect it will taste like monkey butt, though if it doesn’t taste like sour monkey butt the little yeasties are ok)? I can’t find DT around here anymore, so when it was de-listed at my local store, I snapped them up so I could culture the yeast.