Pitching question???

[froggi]

Hi guys
I'm waiting for the latest batch to cool before pitching teast and saw a bottle of bottle-conditioned beer sat there winking at me.... I purposely bought the bottled beer as it had a decent amount of sediment in the bottle for potential cropping..... And I got to thinking... How about just pitching the whole bottle into the wort??? Apart from "wasting" a whole bottle of beer, would this work or am I on a hiding to nothing???

[greenxpaddy]

You will not have sufficient yeast in the bottle. It will need stepping up with starters first

[froggi]

Cheers paddy.... I'd sort of guessed that but was wanting confirmation on that line of thought

[Rick_UK]

I usually find adding about 50g of dme disolved in 250ml of water to the sediment and leaving for 48hrs is fine for 23l of wort.

You could do this and save the yeast for the next batch in the fridge.

Rick

[vacant]

Don't forget to carefully pour the beer and drink it, you need only shake the dregs out into your fresh starter wort.

[Normski]

Hi froggi
What was the bottle conditioned beer? Not all are suitable.
It does sound promising having plenty of yeast tho.

[seymour]

You will not have sufficient yeast in the bottle. It will need stepping up with starters first

+1

However, if you have multiple bottles and use them all, the results are interchangeable. For instance, I've heard of people buying a 6-pack of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, pouring the beers into their drinking glass, and the dregs of each into the FV. Sorta silly, since the Chico yeast is easily available in so many other forms (including the dried version: US-05), but hell, it sounds like a fun afternoon, doesn't it? Sometimes recycling requires a little sacrifice.

I seem to remember another member posting here about doing this with three bottles of Bengal Lancer, too.

[greenxpaddy]

Yep, sounds a lot more fun than my meticulous calculations

[froggi]

It was a Bluebird Ale as far as I can recall.... Label is now in the bin and the bottle in the recycling pile for filling with more beer to present to friends etc

[seymour]

It was a Bluebird Ale as far as I can recall...

Coniston Bluebird Bitter is believed to contain their primary strain. Well played, mate.
See also: /viewtopic.php?f=12&t=55818&hilit=+supermarket#p586754

[orlando]

You will not have sufficient yeast in the bottle. It will need stepping up with starters first

+1

However, if you have multiple bottles and use them all, the results are interchangeable. For instance, I've heard of people buying a 6-pack of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, pouring the beers into their drinking glass, and the dregs of each into the FV. Sorta silly, since the Chico yeast is easily available in so many other forms (including the dried version: US-05), but hell, it sounds like a fun afternoon, doesn't it? Sometimes recycling requires a little sacrifice.

I seem to remember another member posting here about doing this with three bottles of Bengal Lancer, too.

I did it with 4 bottles of recovered Bengal Lancer, fermented a Porter with it, turned out beautifully. I didn't drink all 4 at once though, I just collected the dregs each time I drank one and once I had all 4 stepped up in the usual manner.

[Belter]

Having s sufficient amount of yeast for a 23l batch from one bottle would require stepping up in multiple steps. Doing one step would be underpitching. massively

[froggi]

Correct Seymour, that's the kiddie!!! I ended up pouring the whole lot into a glass after reading the responses and vowed to try next time I get something similar and when I can afford some decent glassware for propagation.... Thanks again all for the interest

[seymour]

...I seem to remember another member posting here about doing this with three bottles of Bengal Lancer, too.

I did it with 4 bottles of recovered Bengal Lancer, fermented a Porter with it, turned out beautifully. I didn't drink all 4 at once though, I just collected the dregs each time I drank one and once I had all 4 stepped up in the usual manner.

That's right, it was you, Orlando! Yes, well, I'm gonna go one remembering that you threw back all four at one sitting. It just jives better with the way I like to think of you, see?

[orlando]

...I seem to remember another member posting here about doing this with three bottles of Bengal Lancer, too.

I did it with 4 bottles of recovered Bengal Lancer, fermented a Porter with it, turned out beautifully. I didn't drink all 4 at once though, I just collected the dregs each time I drank one and once I had all 4 stepped up in the usual manner.

That's right, it was you, Orlando! Yes, well, I'm gonna go one remembering that you threw back all four at one sitting. It just jives better with the way I like to think of you, see?

Well it has been known but requires me to really like it. The problem here is Target, I really don't like this bittering hop and the Bengal Lancer features it (as do a number of Fuller's beers), consequently I took to them a little more sedately. In the end I took one (4) for the me team because I wanted the yeast. Have to say it was worth it.