Hefeweizen Yeast From Bottle Conditioned Beer

[luckyeatwell]

Hi all,

I've been reading some of the great recipes for Hefeweizens being posted lately and thought that now would be the time to give one a shot, with Summer just around the corner.

However, in trying to keep to a budget, I was hoping to try source a bottle conditioned Hefeweizen that used the same yeast strain in primary as in bottling and re-culture a yeast starter from there.

In my google searches, I've seen some reference to Schfferhofer Hefeweizen as being bottle conditioned from the primary strain but this was the one and only reference I could find.

Would such a yeast still be viable after travelliing half way around the world in a shipping container ?

I thought maybe the Redoak series might be an option too, but haven't read much about them anywhere.

Has anyone tried or heard of a Hefeweizen that is bottle conditioned with the primary fermentation yeast strain ?

Cheers,

Lucky.

 

[beersom]

Has anyone tried or heard of a Hefeweizen that is bottle conditioned with the primary fermentation yeast strain ?

Lucky.[/size]

Maisels reportedly contains the primary strain and it is a very nice beer as well. .... not common in Aus but it is available.
However I believe reculturing from a commercial bottle is a waste of time unless you are just doing it to say that you did it. (something that I did in the past)
Good cultures are available from both wyeast and white labs with the bonus that they aren't likely to be any where near as stressed as something that you pluck from a bottle.
there is also a lot less risk of an infection as you are not going through anywhere near as much transfer work of starter thus minimising the risk greatly.
Another option is always to visit your friendly local brewery (if you have one that produces a weizen) and ask pretty please if they could spare a bit of yeast for you.
Cheers

 

[MartinS]

Has anyone tried or heard of a Hefeweizen that is bottle conditioned with the primary fermentation yeast strain ?

I think you're going to have troubles finding a good hefe yeast in a bottle. The good hefe yeasts are notorious for having piss-poor shelf life, so they generally get filtered out by the brewery, and replaced with a more neutral yeast before packaging.

The local producers might leave the primary yeast in the bottle if they reckon they can move stock quickly, but they will undoubtedly be using Wyeast or White Labs anyway, and you'll get a better result using something fresh than something that's already done the hard yards.

 

[Weizguy]

Schneider weisse, Konig Ludwig and perhaps Moo Brew might be your likely suspects.

I have cultured the Schfferhofer yeast and it's not the primary strain, AFAIK.

Les

 

[reviled]

I cultured an Emersons Dunkel Weiss Yeast before and had a good result out of it, nice banana smell :icon_cheers: Plus I got to enjoy the beer!

 

[bigholty]

I reckon there's a couple of decent dried wit yeasts available nowadays too, probably for less than what a bottle of hefe would cost you. Check with site sponsor or your local brew-shop. :icon_cheers:

 

[piraterum]

Here is a list of bottle conditioned commericial beers and results of reculturing


It's an old list but a good one :beerbang:


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

 

[Swinging Beef]

Shoff would brobably do, but I wouldnt recommend it.
With Wyeast down under $12 a pack these days, it just makes no sense to fart arse around with "unknowns" like bottle yeasts, unless you are doing it just because you want to say you can. There is merit in that