So I visited BridgePort for Zwicklemania and asked the tour guide about their yeast. He said they keep a house strain, which was like a 124th generation something-or-other and that it was basically “super 1056,” and fermented faster and dryer than 1056. He said they only bottle condition BridgePort IPA and Ebenezer (winter warmer). Since the BP IPA is only 5.5% abv, I have considered culturing something from the bottle (which I have never done). Has anyone tried this?
Do you mean has anyone cultured this particular strain, or any strain from a bottle conditioned beer.
If you meant the latter, yes.
There are many ways people go about this. What I have done is the following. Have some sterile wort (cooked in a pressure cooker ideally) ready and a sterilized syringe. Open the bottle and pour the majority into a glass to drink. Flame the mouth of the bottle with a lighter or an alcohol burner. Squirt about 10 ml of wort into the bottle, flame again and cover with aluminum foil. Let it ferment a day or so. Have another small container of about 50 ml of sterile wort ready. I use a baby food jar cooked in the pressure cooker. Swirl the bottle and flame the mouth of the bottle and pour the contents into the jar of sterile wort. Cover with aluminum foil. You can then step it up increasingly to a pitchable amount or culture it for banking.
There is such a variety of yeast now available compared to when I began that I don’t bother to “rustle” from bottles any more
I was curious if anyone had used BP’s house strain for brewing, and if it was worth the PITA of culturing some.