Harvesting Yeast From a Bottle

[Devon]

Just for a "I wonder if I can do that" experience, I've been building up the yeast in a few bottles of Rochefort Trappist 6. It appears to have worked quite well. Go me.

The idea was to use the yeast to brew a Belgian Single, Dubbel, etc. However I've been reading that the brewers of the original beer may be using one yeast to ferment the beer and a second to bottle condition.

So, if I try to brew a beer from the yeast I've cultured, will it taste anything like the beer I harvested it from?

 

[didinho]

there are so many details influencing taste in a beer, that harvested yeast is just one. You should use same recipe, same fermentation temperatures, same pitching rate.
also dimension of the vessel influences aromas, due to the internal pressure during fementation.
you can have something that reminds a Rochefort or somethin totally different.
anyway, experimenting is the best part of homebrewing, so go for it!

 

[Likefully]

If they do use a different yeast to condition the beer then that is the yeast you will harvest.

So while Didinho makes valid points, you won't be able to create a clone as your yeast is different.

There is a small chance that some of the original yeast will still be in the bottle - but I can't think of a way in which you can seperate the two yeast strains unless there is no overlap in their temperature ranges - which is highly unlikely.