[Matthew Parcher]

My plan is to make a Saison this summer and use the yeast I collect from a few bottles of Boulevard's Unfiltered Wheat beer (I will make a starter, of course). That being said, how many bottles will I need to collect the sediment from in order to make a good starter? Also, are there other considerations I need to take into account?

Thanks!

[denny]

You can do it with a single bottle if you start small and step up a few times.

[EnkAMania]

I did it with 5 and began with a really small starter and slowly built it up. 

[erockrph]

Here's the process I use for stepping up yeast from bottle dregs (copied from some old posts):

For the initial step, I like to do it in the bottle instead of pouring the dregs off. Transfers are the times where you run the biggest risk of contamination, so I like to make sure the culture is woken up a bit before transferring out. Sanitize the bottle and bottle opener before opening. Then sanitize the neck/lip of the bottle before pouring the beer. I like to leave about 1/2 inch of beer in the bottle, plus the dregs. this way you get any yeast that is still in suspension and not just the flocced out dregs.

I then use a sanitized funnel to add about 1/2-1 inch of 1.030ish wort. Once diluted with the remaining beer, this gives you a nice low OG of about 1.020. This is less stressful to the yeast than the typical 1.040ish starter wort we typically use. Then I cover with foil (for non-sours) or add a small stopper and airlock (for sours). I usually give the first step about 7-10 days to give the yeast plenty of time to wake up and do their thing.

From there, the general rule for stepping up a starter is a tenfold increase each step. So step two is maybe 200 mL or so of 1.035 wort, and then that can go into a normal 2-liter starter. Use your nose to tell you whether there are any problems, and taste your larger starters to ensure that you didn't pick up any contamination along the way.

[hopfenundmalz]

I've done this many times. Some guidelines for my process are are:

Use beers that aren't too strong, <6% is good.

Fresh bottles are better, as the dregs are more viable.

The more bottles used, the better. I might have a couple, and see if the wife wants to drink one with me.

Be sanitary as possible.

Have some nutrient in the starter. Shake it to aerate.

Make sure the bottling strain is the same as the primary strain.


Others will have their own options on how to do this.

[Matthew Parcher]

Thank you! Good info here 

[BrewBama]

Make sure the bottling strain is the same as the primary strain.

I think that’s a biggie. If the bottling strain is known to be the primary strain you have a field ready to harvest. ....but that’s a big IF.  If I am not mistaken, some breweries use a separate bottling strain specifically chosen for certain attributes they desire in their finished product.


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[denny]

Make sure the bottling strain is the same as the primary strain.

I think that’s a biggie. If the bottling strain is known to be the primary strain you have a field ready to harvest. ....but that’s a big IF.  If I am not mistaken, some breweries use a separate bottling strain specifically chosen for certain attributes they desire in their finished product.


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IIRC, at a HBC seminar I saw a person from Boulevard talked about how they use a bottling strain, not the fermentation strain.  It was awhile ago so I might be misremembering the brewery, but its worth looking into.

[Steve Ruch]

Make sure the bottling strain is the same as the primary strain.

I think that’s a biggie. If the bottling strain is known to be the primary strain you have a field ready to harvest. ....but that’s a big IF.  If I am not mistaken, some breweries use a separate bottling strain specifically chosen for certain attributes they desire in their finished product.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

IIRC, at a HBC seminar I saw a person from Boulevard talked about how they use a bottling strain, not the fermentation strain.  It was awhile ago so I might be misremembering the brewery, but its worth looking into.

Any chance that the bottling strain might be worth using to ferment?

[denny]

Make sure the bottling strain is the same as the primary strain.

I think that’s a biggie. If the bottling strain is known to be the primary strain you have a field ready to harvest. ....but that’s a big IF.  If I am not mistaken, some breweries use a separate bottling strain specifically chosen for certain attributes they desire in their finished product.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

IIRC, at a HBC seminar I saw a person from Boulevard talked about how they use a bottling strain, not the fermentation strain.  It was awhile ago so I might be misremembering the brewery, but its worth looking into.

Any chance that the bottling strain might be worth using to ferment?

I guess you'd have to try it and see what you think.  Pretty sure it was Lallemand CBC-1

[hopfenundmalz]

Make sure the bottling strain is the same as the primary strain.

I think that’s a biggie. If the bottling strain is known to be the primary strain you have a field ready to harvest. ....but that’s a big IF.  If I am not mistaken, some breweries use a separate bottling strain specifically chosen for certain attributes they desire in their finished product.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

IIRC, at a HBC seminar I saw a person from Boulevard talked about how they use a bottling strain, not the fermentation strain.  It was awhile ago so I might be misremembering the brewery, but its worth looking into.

Any chance that the bottling strain might be worth using to ferment?

It depends. Some of the German wheat beers use a lager strain at bottling for shelf stability. Some don't, Weihenstephaner and Gutmann are said to bottle with the primary Weißbier strain.

Bell's uses the house strain to bottle condition.