Bottled Beer Yeasts

Martin the fish · Post by **Martin the fish** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:04 pm

I find it fascinating that you guys culture yeasts from bottles of beer

I wouldn't mind having a go at this myself. What bottled beers have usuable yeast in them? I have friends coming over for my wedding and could ask them to bring a few bottles over for me.

That way they should get here in 24hrs and not be too bad.

What ones would you recommend?

steve_flack · Post by **steve_flack** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:25 pm

Woodfordes bottles have very viable yeast in them and apparently it is the primary strain (which is Charles Wells' yeast originally). I got a fresh bottle of Wherry and it was really easy to plate out and grow up. Clean too.

Daab reckons Hopback (Summer Lightning etc) is the primary strain.

Martin the fish · Post by **Martin the fish** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:44 pm

What is the procedure once i've drank the Beer?

steve_flack · Post by **steve_flack** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 10:52 pm

Depends how rigorous you want to be.

There's basic - make a starter solution. Open beer. Pour beer into glass. Pour dregs into starter. Fit airlock. Drink Beer and wait for starter to start.

Or there's advanced. Prepare Petri dish. Open bottle. Pour out beer. Take out innoculum loop. Flame it. Dunk it in dregs. Streak petri dish. Cover. Allow to Grow. Pick nice looking yeast colony. Store on Slants. Make starters from slants when you want to brew.

Martin the fish · Post by **Martin the fish** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 11:02 pm

Think i'm basic.

Thanks SF, as ever a mine of usefull information

Martin the fish · Post by **Martin the fish** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:48 am

I think i can get some of my friends to bring me over a few bottles of each.

Spitfire used to be bottle conditioned, is it not now? Or is the yeast not a good one?

Post by **Aleman** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:12 pm

And not all botle conditioned beers contain live yeast . . . . . They might very well have been conditioned in the bottle and then the bottles are run through a tunnel pastueriser . . . Dead yeast

yojimbo · Post by **yojimbo** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:11 pm

Does any one know if Fullers 1845 or the vintage ale which is bottle conditioned is any good for brewing with. Went on a brewery tour there and the guide said it was the same yeast through out the brewing process , but I have my doubts about that as he also said it was filtered and re seeded with fresh yeast for the bottle conditoining.

MDE · Post by **MDE** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 8:23 pm

I've used Fullers 1845 quite a bit. I don't know what it is but it seems to make fine beer to me.

Bryggmester · Post by **Bryggmester** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:30 pm

Yes, I have used Fullers 1845 with good results but not for sometime, I suppose I've been too lazy. I think it's time I had another go.

yojimbo · Post by **yojimbo** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 10:00 am

If you give it another go with the 1845 yeast bryggmester let us know how it goes.

Not tried it myself for frementing but drink at least 4 bottles a week of 1845 as love the taste .The vintage ale seems to condition in the bottle very well had a few bottles of the 1999 vintage over x mas and its nice and fuity you get a christmas pudding flavour.

Got a wyeast 1968 london esb yeast coming so going to try that in my esb recipe and compare it to the esb i have just done using safale us 04. Would like to use the fullers yeast as that gives a lot of charecter to the beer.

Bryggmester · Post by **Bryggmester** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:10 pm

Yes Yojimbo I will let you know if I have another go. I don't think I can get 1845 locally anymore so it will have to wait for my next trip to Colchester. Steve F mentioned Woodfordes- I have used Charles Wells yeast fairly recently and found it excellent. Trouble is that bottles of Woodforde are even harder to come by than 1845.

The Mighty Badger · Post by **The Mighty Badger** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 2:46 pm

Slighty off topic as its not about bottles, but a number of micro breweries I have been to recently are producing beer in small barrel-like metal containers (c. 8 to 10 litres) which are in the process of priming themselves when you buy them. You open the top vent to release pressure before drawing your pint.

My thought is that taking some yeast from the container (agitate and draw off some beer then let it settle in the fridge) would give a really good chance at getting fresh, active yeast.

Two breweries I know of doing these containers are the Bowland Brewery (my local and favourite microbrewery in Lancashire) and the North Cotswold Brewery near Shipston on Stour. The chap at North Cotswold also told me that the containers come by the pallet from Germany.

I don't know about whether the yeasts in quesiton are primary but I intend to ask.

There must be others using these containers around the country.

TMB

The Mighty Badger · Post by **The Mighty Badger** » Thu Feb 14, 2008 4:57 pm

I was just wondering if the yeast in the mini-keg would be fresher / more active that that you could potentially get in bottles which might be stored long than the 'live' beer in the kegs. Or am I draining the wrong tankard with this

thesaintv12 · Post by **thesaintv12** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 8:05 pm

What better way to get yeast? Yes you could pay for a sachet, but why not enjoy the best part of a pint for the same price?

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Bottled Beer Yeasts

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