Cultivating yeast

[Liam Callaghan]

I managed to score a couple of bottles of belgian ale (Corked type) with a nice layer of sediment in the bottom and was wondering how easy it would be to cultivate the yeast from it?

I've read up a little bit but nothing better than experience if anyone has done it before and can point me in the right direction.

I was going to disolved soem sugar in water and boil it.

[Liam Callaghan]

No idea whats up with the forum this morning but this is not what I just typed...

I'll try and type it all again in another software and paste it in...

 

[Liam Callaghan]

If anyone has experience of doing this and can point out anything I should avoild it would be appreciated.

 

I was going to make a sugar syrup, boil it to sterilise and bottle it like it was a jam, top with a c02 blanket and cap.  Put it in the fridge with the beer over night.

Open the beer and run a flame over the lip of the bottle.  Pour my beer and then pour some of the syrup into the beer bottle, wash around and pour back into the syrup bottle and either shake the bejesus out of it to the oxygen in or another c02 blanket and cap lightly to allow excess c02 out.

 

A shortened version of the first mail but I hate typing stuff twice, never had that before.

 

Worth the effort if I can get a good culture from it to make my own Belgian ales :p

[Dougal]

Hi Liam,

A couple of things. Firstly, check that the strain in your beers is in fact the strain used by the brewery to ferment, and not just a bottle conditioning strain, which is often as not a lager yeast. Here's a webpage that lists info on what the different breweries do.

Secondly, use wort, not sugar syrup. Preferably with a gravity of about 1.020-1.030. Those yeast will be quite stressed after long term storage, and you want to gently coax them into action with some good food. Use about 100ml of boiled, cooled wort, and flame some foil to cap the bottle. Keep everything as sanitary as possible- you're starting with so little yeast that it's easy to pick up contamination. Once your bottle culture has become active, then step it up slowly with starters to get enough yeast for a batch.   

[Liam Callaghan]

Awsome thanks Dougal - I didn't realise there would be different strains.  Will read up over lunch.  I'll make up a small batch of wort instead of the syrup too, I presume with a taste of this I should get a better idea of the profile of the strain too before i pitch it into my beer...

[Liam Callaghan]

Thats an awesome link thanks Dougal.  Also provides a good list of beers to try and get my hands on if I wanted to try and culture some other yeasts.  Looks like mine should be the primary yeast.

Be a fun thing to try either way, especially if I have to build a laboratory... 

Thanks for the tips on the wort and method too, appreciated mate.

I'll let you know how I get on.

[Dougal]

No worries. Just remember that when it comes to harvesting yeast, fresh is definitely best.

When you start adding up the cost of DME for multiple stepped starters, often those wyeast packs start looking cost effective. This page has a good chart of the strains that different breweries use with their equivalents. Still, bottle culturing is totally worth doing to learn the process.   

[Brendon]

Hi Liam

I have reculitivated La Chouffe. I used malt extract with yeast nutrient. This will be far better than sugar. Sugar is nutrient poor. I flamed lip and poured dregs into an erlenmeyer of 1.025 wort. 

There is an easier way though and that is pour the sterile wort into the bottle. 

When you pour the beer leave sediement with about 1 cm of beer in bottom. Flame bottle. Add the same amount of sterile 1.040 wort on top and put foil cover on top. Then grow in steps of 10 (i.e. 50ml in bottle becomes 500ml of wort in an erlenmeyer).

B

[Liam Callaghan]

Thanks Brendon,

I didn't get time to do it all on the weekend but made up a wort and boiled it last night (2-3 kilo's of pilsner malt and a quick mash, boil etc.  Never tried brewing in the kitchen but it was quite nice being able to chat with Mrs C and brew).  I baked a few 750ml bottles and 1 litre preserving jars and poured the boiling wort into them.

The Belgian beers get opened tonight and do as you fellas suggest, flame and foil all the way! 

I didn't add yeast nutrient into the boil though, can I just add this to the jar with the yeast?

 

Also, I took 8 half bottle samples from the bottom of my fermentors on Friday night, 2 from each yeast type.  The slurry has a little hop still in it from the smell.  Will this be ok for storing in the fridge for a month or so until the next brew or should I take a small sample and add it to fresh wort and nutrient.  Not sure if the vegetable matter will break down and make the yeast go bad...

 

I made quite a bit of wort, how long do you think its safe to store this for?  I could add a c02 cap on it before putting the lids on I guess.  Be good if I could make up say 10 litre of wort and cold store until its needed, or freeze it in sterile pep bottles...  Any ideas on this?

[Ralph]

I do not have much experience cultivating yeast yet... but a couple of things 

If you add the yeast nutrient to the jar with the yeast it may not be sterile and may infect the yeast you are trying to culture? You could probably make a small slurry with the yeast nutrient in and boil for 10 minutes to make sure it was all good to add?

From my experience yeast slurry will probably keep ok in the fridge for a month even with hop bits in it. If keeping for a month I would suggest you would want to make a starter to get it up and running before adding back to a brew.

I would not store ready to go wort for very long if I was trying to culture yeast as it is too likely to start growing something. It might be ok if you pop it into the freezer tho. Maybe a quick boil after freezing to ensure it does not have anything growing in it before popping it in to culture yeast?

I have found the easiest for reasonable cost way to make wort for starters is to grab Maltexo at the supermarket ($7.50 or so for 1.5kg liquid malt extract). 120g LME to a liter of water and the extract keeps fine in the fridge.

[Liam Callaghan]

Both yeast cultures have a nice foam on them this arvo when I got back from work, stoked!

Chimmay Peres Trappistes Grande Reserve (should be a primary strain).

Duvel belgian golden ale (one of two primary strains).

Hopefully they are up and pumping by 28th and I am into brewing some nice belgian style super beers!

Thanks heaps for the help guys, especially the links Dougal