La Trappe Wit yeast cloning

[nexy_sm]

hi all guys,

I have just acquired one bottle of La Trappe Witte beer. It is written on the back that the beer is bottle conditioned and that contains fresh yeast. What do you think, is that yest from the primary or some other strain added at priming and is it worth of cloning?

Best

 

[ColoHox]

I don't know if it is the same as the primary strain, but comparable Belgian brews (Duvel, Chimay, Rochefort) are bottled with the primary strain IIRC.

And it's not cloning, per se, but harvesting and upscaling. If you start with small wort volumes and careful sanitation, it is worth it.

 

[nexy_sm]

Well, that's the phrase I was looking for in back of my head, harvesting. How many itterations (roughly) will I need in order to have enough yeast for a 3 gal batch? Does small wort means like one cup or so?

 

[ColoHox]

You should start with about 10ml then after a day upscale to 50-100ml, then after about two days, 500-1000ml. The amount of yeast you need will depend on your batch size and gravity. Use the calculator at Mr.Malty to calculate the amount.

 

[nexy_sm]

When u say upscale, I suppose that means just adding a new wort into previous?

 

[ColoHox]

When u say upscale, I suppose that means just adding a new wort into previous?

You can just add new wort to the first upscale. But from the 100ml to 1000ml upscale, I recommend that you cold crash the yeast, pour off the spent wort, then add fresh.

It is a long process.

 

[RobMT]

I actually cultured the yeast from La Trappe's Tripel a little over 2 years ago. In that case, it certainly was the primary strain and have since brewed many belgian beers modeled after dubbels and tripels. Follow the procedure ColoHox laid out for you and you should have yourself a nice colony of yeast to use in a Wit.

Good luck!

 

[nexy_sm]

Hi all guys,

well, I pitched sediment yesterday in a small wort, but stil no signs of fermentation . Are the even visible with such small amount of yeast?

Best

 

[serum]

I've only just got into doing this but have managed to get 4 different ones going.

The first bit of activity won't be particularly dramatic. Give the bottle a quick swirl every hour or so to resuspend the yeast and when you've got a little bit of foam you're OK. I tend to buy a few bottles and decant all the dregs into a single bottle so I have a little more to work with.

Once it builds in size you'll start to see more happening and, if you're not got a stir plate make sure to agitate it quite often to make sure the yeast doesn't settle and it'll get going a lot better.

A stir plate is a good investment if you've not already got one plus a flask with a flat bottom to use with it.

 

[nexy_sm]

Nah, might be, but i didn't see any foam, though I had only one glass. What I basically didi is, i poured beer in a glass and poured sediment into a jar with a little wort. I will add more fresh wort and see what will happen.

 

[serum]

The initial bit can take a little time. You might not notice it at all until you upsize.

 

[nexy_sm]

Well, after I have added fresh wort first time, a tiny fine foam appeared Since I will not be able to see any sediment still, should i put the jar in the fridge and pour off half of the wort or to scale up more?

 

[nexy_sm]

Ok, the kreusen is here, it works in about 300 ml. Next upscaling is to 1L

 

[nexy_sm]

Hi all guys,

this is the result of the third addition of wort (i spilled out second wort actually):


How can I know if the yeast is contaminated or not?

Cheers

 

[nexy_sm]

An yes, when I was spilling off the second wort it was acidic and not like the beer, and the foam didn't wanish, so how long should I keep the second wort?