St Peters yeast harvested from bottle

[Fuggley Duckling]

Hi good people of Jim's Beer Kit.

I'm in the process of harvesting yeast from a couple of poorly filtered bottles of ST Peters IPA. I've stepped it up a few times with 1.040 wort made with light DME and now have a nice 1cm(ish) thick layer of yeast cake in the bottom a 1L vessel. I'm going to pitch this into 4L of wort to hopefully get enough yeast for a full 21L batch, using hops this time so I can drink it and make sure it tastes ok.

My searches found a thread from 2012 where someone on here harvested St Peters yeast too, but the poster never reported back with any results. Has anyone else on the forum tried harvesting yeast from St Peters bottles? If so, how did it turn out for you?

Cheers
Ben

[mozza]

I'm gonna keep my eye on this one good luck with it! Does anyone know what strain it is?

[seymour]

I've tried and failed. I want their yeast, but haven't yet stumbled across any of those poorly filtered bottles. I'm pretty sure it's just yet another "proprietary" strain derived from Whitbread-B/Whitbread-dry, though, like so many other closely related English brewery strains.

But don't let me discourage you. Good work capturing it, and please do report back on your resulting brew!

[Fuggley Duckling]

Not sure what strain it is, their website only has this info which doesn't give anything away:

'The yeast used at St. Peter’s and which creates this miracle, was hand-picked from a collection of over 350 different strains held by the National Collection of Yeast Cultures based at the Institute of Food Research in Norwich. Our chosen strain gives all St. Peter’s beers their unique character while the combination of yeast, malt, hops and water all help to create beers of the highest standard, full of English character.'

I like the bready flavour in St Peters beers, which I'm certain is from the yeast as it was present in the first 2 mini extract brews I did.

The 4L extract brew has a thick layer of krausen and the airlock is glugging away healthily

[seymour]

I like the bready flavour in St Peters beers, which I'm certain is from the yeast as it was present in the first 2 mini extract brews I did.

The 4L extract brew has a thick layer of krausen and the airlock is glugging away healthily

Oh, I love it too, which is why I too have been hunting their yeast strain for years. But I truly believe as much of St. Peter's finished character comes from their high-quality organic locally-grown-and-malted early barley + organic First Gold hops + uniquely carbonate well water. Their recipes are so simple yet their beers taste so complex, making them near-impossible to clone without access to the same raw materials, y'know? The sum is greater than its parts.

All the best of luck, though. I applaud you for setting your sights high. I'm quite jealous. Armed with their yeast, you are well on your way and despite its minor differences, your beer will taste great too. One tip: the St. Peter's brewer told me they ferment at 22-23°C.

Cheers!

[Fuggley Duckling]

Shame I can't get my hands on any first gold hops over here. Thanks for the fermenting temp tip

[Fuggley Duckling]

Quick update: 4L batch has been in primary for 2 weeks, krausen is long gone, some yeast rafts floating on top, still some airlock action though. I'll leave it another week, see what happens then hopefully put somewhere cool to help the yeast drop.

[DeGarre]

... uniquely carbonate well water....

Seymour, if you have some further info on this would be great. Cheers!

[seymour]

BUMP. How's your St. Peter's yeast project going?

Shame I can't get my hands on any first gold hops over here...

You could always consider growing your own. For some reason, the nursery plant is sold as "Prima Donna" but it's the exact same thing. There are lots of members here who grow it, perhaps you could trade some yeast for rhizomes.

... uniquely carbonate well water....

Seymour, if you have some further info on this would be great. Cheers!

I wish I could be more specific. I just know St Peter's always emphasize the importance of their unique well water on their website, labels, correspondence, etc. They are located in St. Peter South Elmham, Bungay, Suffolk so I'll defer to any of you Englishmen who know more about the chemistry of your East Anglian water-table than I. Surely Calcium carbonate (chalk) is a major component. Here are some of their own comments:

http://www.stpetersbrewery.co.uk/brewer ... g-process/

Most of St. Peter’s beers start their lives 100 metres below the brewery itself with pure water from the brewery’s own deep well. This water, or liquor as brewers prefer to call it, is ideal for brewing and is naturally filtered through a deep chalk layer. It has an excellent balance of minerals but virtually no nitrates – qualities which are very important throughout the beer-making process and which contribute to the full taste and pure character of all St. Peter’s beers.

http://www.stpetersbrewery.co.uk/about-us/

St. Peter’s Brewery is based at St. Peter South Elmham, near Bungay in Suffolk. The brewery itself was built in 1996 and is housed in an attractive range of traditional former agricultural buildings adjacent to St. Peter’s Hall. Siting the brewery at St. Peter’s was ideal because of the excellent water quality from our own deep bore-hole…

http://www.stpetersbrewery.co.uk/our-be ... led-beers/
Their description of Organic Ale:

Water is extracted from our own 300ft deep borehole and combined with Soil Association accredited light malted barley from Norfolk. Organic hops provide the distinctive palate. The yeast used is St. Peter’s own single strand variety. The result is a delicate, clean, crisp, lightly carbonated, traditional English Ale with a full ‘citrus hop’ aftertaste. This lovely beer won the Soil Association’s top prize in 2002 and a silver medal in 2006.

I'm as curious as you all, so please share if anyone gathers more clues. Cheers!

[Fuggley Duckling]

BUMP. How's your St. Peter's yeast project going?

Shame I can't get my hands on any first gold hops over here...

You could always consider growing your own. For some reason, the nursery plant is sold as "Prima Donna" but it's the exact same thing. There are lots of members here who grow it, perhaps you could trade some yeast for rhizomes.

After 3 weeks fermentation seems to have run its course, this 4L step started within 48 hours and kept glugging away for 2 weeks. It's sat in a cold room at the moment to help the yeast drop, will check the gravity and have a taste later in the week, then either syphon the beer into a mini keg and transfer the yeast cake to a smaller vessel in the fridge ready for my next brew, or pour it down the sink depending on gravity/taste...fingers crossed.

The rules in New Zealand are extremely strict regarding bringing any kind of plant into the country, so growing my own is out of the question. Even getting vacuum packed pellets sent over is more hassle than it's worth at a consumer level. Plenty of other UK hops are available here though and of course I have access to all the great hop varieties grown here in NZ.

[Fuggley Duckling]

Quick update

Took a gravity reading, tasted and mini-kegged this morning.

Tastes great. Subtle fruitiness from the small Nelson Sauvin addition and has a good dose of that St Peters breadiness.

I'm a bit concerned about the attenuation. OG = 1.036, FG = 1.013. Using 100% pale DME, I thought it would have finished up a bit lower than that. I'm now wondering if the yeast isn't all that healthy, or if a higher FG just a characteristic of the strain.

[Fuggley Duckling]

Update.

My concerns about the attenuation appear to have been with good reason. After a few weeks conditioning in the mini keg, I tapped it and poured a glass. Now the hop bitterness has rounded off somewhat it tastes very sweet, and a little bit banana-ry. Don't think I'll bother using this in a full 23L brew.

Oh well, it was fun trying