Harvesting Duvel yeast
Harvesting Duvel yeast
I have harvested Duvel yeast from bottle in the past. I have recently started brewing again and wanted to make a small side by side brew using harvested Duvel and chimay yeast. The Duvel didn't seem to work, but the chimay did. I ended up pitching both and I'm pretty sure it's just the chimay that is working. I have tried to harvest from a Duvel bottle again, and it still seems to be lifeless. I will give it a while and if I see any signs of life, I will step it up to a larger starter. Just wondered if anyone else had issues with this, I am suspecting they pasturise the beers that are "bottle conditioned".
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Eric
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Re: Harvesting Duvel yeast
Duvel certainly was bottle conditioned with the primary strain not very long ago. Their process was very simple to replicate, two weeks at between 25 to 30C followed by a period at lower temperature before distribution.
I've contemplated recovering the yeast, but never got round to it, probably because it was said their processes, in particular the repeated interstage filtering that makes their beers difficult to replicate.
It could be that they now pasteurise their beers, but there seemed no reason for that extra stage.
I've contemplated recovering the yeast, but never got round to it, probably because it was said their processes, in particular the repeated interstage filtering that makes their beers difficult to replicate.
It could be that they now pasteurise their beers, but there seemed no reason for that extra stage.
Without patience, life becomes difficult and the sooner it's finished, the better.
Re: Harvesting Duvel yeast
I did exactly this earlier this year and made an attempt at cloning Duvel.
I think I stepped up from the dregs of a single bottle: 50ml --> 500ml --> 2L (sufficient for a 23L batch).
One thing I did note was that the yeast fermented very dry (finishing gravity 1.001 c.f. target 1.007), but the extra alcohol this gave me (9.5% c.f. target 8.5%) lends a significant sweetness. I was worried that they'd swapped the yeast for a bottling strain, but the resulting beer definitely has the "Belgian" character desired.
The beer did well in its' first outing in a competition, taking 1st place on its' table and 3rd in Best of Show at the recent Norwich Amateur Brewers "Brew Like a Monk" competition. So it can't have been too bad!
I think I stepped up from the dregs of a single bottle: 50ml --> 500ml --> 2L (sufficient for a 23L batch).
One thing I did note was that the yeast fermented very dry (finishing gravity 1.001 c.f. target 1.007), but the extra alcohol this gave me (9.5% c.f. target 8.5%) lends a significant sweetness. I was worried that they'd swapped the yeast for a bottling strain, but the resulting beer definitely has the "Belgian" character desired.
The beer did well in its' first outing in a competition, taking 1st place on its' table and 3rd in Best of Show at the recent Norwich Amateur Brewers "Brew Like a Monk" competition. So it can't have been too bad!
Fermenting: nowt
Conditioning: English IPA/Bretted English IPA
Drinking: Sunshine Marmalade, Festbier, Helles Bock, Smokey lagery beer, Irish Export StoutCascade APA (homegrown hops), Orval clone, Impy stout, Duvel clone, Conestoga (American Barley wine)
Planning: Dark Mild, Kozel dark (ish), Simmonds Bitter, Bitter, Citra PA and more!
Conditioning: English IPA/Bretted English IPA
Drinking: Sunshine Marmalade, Festbier, Helles Bock, Smokey lagery beer, Irish Export StoutCascade APA (homegrown hops), Orval clone, Impy stout, Duvel clone, Conestoga (American Barley wine)
Planning: Dark Mild, Kozel dark (ish), Simmonds Bitter, Bitter, Citra PA and more!
Re: Harvesting Duvel yeast
The second Duvel harvest still seems to be dead. In the meantime I harvested yeast from Adnams Tally Ho that says it is bottle conditioned. Unlike Duvel and Chimay there was no yeast sediment but it still worked ok. I did email Adnams and they have told me it is not the primary strain though. So given I have had immediate success with Chimay and Tally Ho, and two failures with Duvel, I suspect that they kill their yeasts now, which is very very sad news because as Eric said, there is no benefit to that.
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Eric
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Re: Harvesting Duvel yeast
Bought a bottle of Duvel earlier this week and will have an attempt at growing the yeast and let you know. If my memory serves me correctly, that yeast was from McEwan's brewery.
Without patience, life becomes difficult and the sooner it's finished, the better.
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Trefoyl
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Re: Harvesting Duvel yeast
https://beerandbrewing.com/giving-the-d ... duvel-way/
This is an interesting article on Duvel, and suggests they use a different yeast for bottle conditioning.
This is an interesting article on Duvel, and suggests they use a different yeast for bottle conditioning.
Sommeliers recommend that you swirl a glass of wine and inhale its bouquet before throwing it in the face of your enemy.
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Eric
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Re: Harvesting Duvel yeast
My information was from what I recalled of......Trefoyl wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2023 11:36 amhttps://beerandbrewing.com/giving-the-d ... duvel-way/
This is an interesting article on Duvel, and suggests they use a different yeast for bottle conditioning.
https://www.crowdcast.io/e/duvel-belgia ... beer-story
Without patience, life becomes difficult and the sooner it's finished, the better.
Re: Harvesting Duvel yeast
I have successfully harvested Duvel's yeast before, it was not different from the primary strain. They seem to pasturise now. Would be great to get a confirmation from someone else's experience. I did a second run with Bornem's yeast. That went off like a rocket. I guess I'll be buying Bornem and Chimay, not Duvel in future.