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Yeasts

I've been using a variety of different yeasts for my last few batches. I'm basically interested in british style ordinary bitter (gravity 1035-1042, although I'm tending slightly higher) as the American brewers seem incapable of managing anything under 1048 (4.8%) or so.

Anyway, back on track - I've noticed that one yeast I've had excellent brew results with follows a very strange pattern. This used the yeast sediment from the bottom of Yards' (Philadelphia) Bottle Conditioned IPA (this adds a step to the brew process where I have to drink 3-4 bottles of the stuff during the boil and preparation, but I don't really mind the extra work...) When I use this (just swill out the bottles into the cooled wort with a little water), it takes a long time for the fermentation to visibly start (maybe a whole week or so), then it bubbles furiously for a day or two, then nothing again.

This latest batch I'm running now instead uses the yeast from 2 bottles of Schoefferhoefer wheat beer (a fabulous genuine German one from Frankfurt), it started bubbling after about 1 day and is going nicely.

Any idea why the "start time for these yeasts has been so different? Other searches have suggested making a "starter" with some sugar solution for the Yeast to grow in first, but I've always gained the impression that it's just a means of getting the total amount of yeast up beforehand - and I figured by using multiple bottle loads, I was almost certainly getting a decent quantity. I did try a brief period one time with no tangibly different results.

Reply to
Simon Cooper
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Bottle conditioned beers have used yeast that has devoured all available sugars (yeast food) and have gone dormant. Wake up times vary quite a bit. You could make a starter from these by making a one liter mini batch a few days ahead of brew day. That would wake them up and decrease your lag time on getting your beer fermenting.

Reply to
BierNewbie

And further to the good advice, if you make a wort starter, don't use sugar - make a mini wort that's made of malt as the deprived yeast need to rebuild and adapt to a new environment, which explains the lag between pitching and fermentation. Dry yeast can be brought to life by simply re-hydrating in water since most dry yeast sachets have sufficient nutrients and compounds including trehalose to give the yeast a kick in the pants when hydrated. Re the bottled yeast, you may find that some yeast strains in commercially available beer bottles are in fact only used to carbonate the beer and may not necessarily be the actual strain that was used during primary fermentation - you could always have a go at asking the brewery that made the IPA if the bottled yeast is a carbonation strain or the original fermentation strain...

Reply to
Rowan

I went and visited the brewery a week ago, the brewer was surprised at the lag, it's the same yeast, they filter most of it out, but there's still a tangible quantity. They do use the same yeast for all their beer except for a Belgian Witbier style they have a seperate yeast for.

I think I'll just live with the delay.

Reply to
Simon Cooper

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