Capturing Belgians (yeast)

[ausdb]

My darling partner has just brought home two belgian beauties for me a Chimay white and a Duvel. She is learning quickly, don't buy canned mega swill, don't buy stubbies of anything with a twist top except coopers and anything form germany or belgium is all right!!!

Does anyone know if the conditioning yeast in these is the fermentation strain?
If so what is the best way of culturing them up?

I was thinking of chilling for a while to settle them, sanitising the exterior of the bottles then pouring and leaving the dregs behind. Then I would add some DME starter wort 1.040 to the original bottle and fit with an airlock or just alfoil. I thought this way would be cleaner than transferring the dregs to another bottle. Once they get going build them up a bit into king browns then settle out the yeast and store it under sterile water in some grolsch bottles.

Any tips or thoughts??

Cheers and Beers
Ausdb

 

[chiller]

Have a look at this link first it may help you before you attempt a relatively hit and miss method of getting a decent yeast.

Pint of Lager kindly sent me this link.


http://www.nada.kth.se/~alun/Beer/Bottle-Yeasts/



Steve.

 

[kook]

To be perfectly honest I would not bother trying to culture these unless its just for fun.

You'll be better off using a fresh WYeast or Whitelabs pack, which have strains obtained from both Chimay and Moortgat (Duvel) brewerys. You're guarenteed good results with the yeast packs, but if you stuff up culturing bottle yeast you may get some unexpected flavours in your batch.

edit: Shit, thats a really good link chiller. Cheers! Interesting to see De Dolle uses Rodenbach yeast....

 

[ausdb]

I guess its mainly for the fun and challenge of it than anything else and to makle a few small experimental batches

 

[warrenlw63]

My darling partner has just brought home two belgian beauties for me a Chimay white and a Duvel. She is learning quickly, don't buy canned mega swill, don't buy stubbies of anything with a twist top except coopers and anything form germany or belgium is all right!!!

Ausdb;

From previous experience you don't always get what you anticipate with Chimay yeast. Far safer to buy a packet of Wyeast instead.

I've used recultured Chimay yeast about 3 times. Twice I got good results the third time not so good. The resultant beer ended up with a smoky type of aroma that I found rather unpleasant. Almost smelled like a Rauchbier. :blink:

Can be done but what I'd do is make a starter and pitch it into a small 2 litre batch or larger starter. Test this first and see what you think before you waste 22 litres of hard-earned efforts.

If you decide to go ahead check the bottling or use by date first. Newer the bottle, the better the chances.

Warren -

 

[neonmeate]

Interesting to see De Dolle uses Rodenbach yeast....

that link is a bit outdated, i don't think de dolle have used rodenbach yeast since the mid 90s, when Rodenbach got bought up they decided not to keep giving the yeast away. they use a brettless belgian ale yeast now (which apparently = wyeast 3942)

 

[Tony M]

Got these and a few others for my birthday. The two in the photo are from Unibroue in Quebec. The Don de Deau is a wit and the Eau Benite a blonde I think. Both are Belgian style. The point is that both have a generous amount of yeast (and stuff) caked on the bottom.
Is it worth attempting to propagate these strains. The link in the earlier post suggests that Unibroue strains could be worthwhile. The Eau Benite is 9% so it might be worthwhile having on hand,a yeast that doesnt die of alchohol poisoning

 

[neonmeate]

i think wyeast do the strain from unibroue:

3864 Canadian/Belgian Style Yeast. From a Canadian brewery which produces many styles of classic Belgian beers. Mild phenolics, which increase with increased fermentation temperatures. Low ester profile with a dry, slightly tart finish. Complex and well-balanced, alcohol tolerant. Flocculation: medium: Apparent attenuation: 75-79% 65-80 F

but i guess you could save the money and culture it up.

 

[Stuster]

I think that yeast is one of the ones being changed to an occasional seasonal by Wyeast, so best you make use of the yeast you have.

 

[goatherder]

View attachment 8162
Got these and a few others for my birthday. The two in the photo are from Unibroue in Quebec. The Don de Deau is a wit and the Eau Benite a blonde I think. Both are Belgian style. The point is that both have a generous amount of yeast (and stuff) caked on the bottom.
Is it worth attempting to propagate these strains. The link in the earlier post suggests that Unibroue strains could be worthwhile. The Eau Benite is 9% so it might be worthwhile having on hand,a yeast that doesnt die of alchohol poisoning

I had both recently and they are most excellent. They are both in the Belgian Tripel/Strong Golden style. I'm not 100% sure but they might not be bottled with the primary yeast strain - it might be worth checking out before you go to the trouble of culturing them. The small amount of reading I've done found some conflicting opinions on this. I have read that Wyeast 3864 was sourced from Unibroue.