Harvesting yeast from commercial bottles

Share your experiences of using brewing yeast.
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vacant
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Re: Harvesting yeast from commercial bottles

Post by vacant » Tue Aug 22, 2017 10:49 am

alexlark wrote:
Mon Aug 21, 2017 8:16 pm
You can easily use 2 as vacant says but I bought 4, on offer at the moment in Asda, so used them all.
Now I come to think about it, you need to drink two bottles to test if one is slightly off. There is also a possibility the yeast may be dead, therefore it makes sense to drink as many bottles as possible to be sure of some viable dregs. How we suffer for our pastime. :wink:
I brew therefore I ... I .... forget

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alexlark
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Re: Harvesting yeast from commercial bottles

Post by alexlark » Wed Aug 23, 2017 6:23 pm

Lol, quite right! You can never be too careful.

McMullan

Re: Harvesting yeast from commercial bottles

Post by McMullan » Thu Aug 24, 2017 8:34 am

The dregs in one bottle are more than enough. Carefully pour off the beer. Add about 10ml wort to the bottle. Shake. Top up with about 100ml wort next day. Shake. Step up to 0.5-1.0L next day. Stir or shake. Done.

BackO'Th'Shed

Re: Harvesting yeast from commercial bottles

Post by BackO'Th'Shed » Tue Aug 29, 2017 12:12 pm

Just successfully harvested some yeast from Einstok Icelandic White Ale, but messed it up just before pitching into my Lady Grey Witbier. I usually let my starter settle out, decant the fermented starter off the top then add some fresh wort and put back on the stir plate for half an hour to an hour to give the yeast a head start whilst I whirlpool/chill etc. Unfortunately the hose came off my CFC (outside the garage and out of view) and I ended up adding boiling wort to the yeast. 4pm on a bank holiday so nowhere open to source a suitable alternative so added the emergency pack of MJ liberty bell yeast that I had in stock. Won't be the beer I was hoping for, but will be beer nonetheless.

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Re: Harvesting yeast from commercial bottles

Post by Manngold » Tue Aug 29, 2017 6:03 pm

Just noticed that most of Gadds stuff seems to be bottle conditioned!

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alexlark
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Re: Harvesting yeast from commercial bottles

Post by alexlark » Wed Aug 30, 2017 9:52 am

Next I'm going to try Fullers 1845 Strong Ale.

Also noticed that Hopback Crop Circle is bottle conditioned and would be ideal for a Summer Lighting clone.

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Re: Harvesting yeast from commercial bottles

Post by BarnsleyBrewer » Wed Aug 30, 2017 3:39 pm

alexlark wrote:
Wed Aug 30, 2017 9:52 am
Next I'm going to try Fullers 1845 Strong Ale.

Also noticed that Hopback Crop Circle is bottle conditioned and would be ideal for a Summer Lighting clone.
Think I've seen it mentioned somewhere doubting the yeast in Summer Lightning being the main brewing strain??
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Re: Harvesting yeast from commercial bottles

Post by alexlark » Wed Aug 30, 2017 4:03 pm

All the bottled Summer Lighting I've seen has been brewery conditioned too. Not sure if they bottle condition it at all now?

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