-Ryan Blankenship-
Have you ever had that perfect bottle-conditioned beer and thought to yourself, “I sure would love to be able to harvest this yeast for my next brew”? Well now there is a much easier way to do that without having to brew a batch of beer for the wort, or make a yeast starter using DME (dried malt extract). Omega Yeast went ahead and brewed a condensed wort for you and put it in a convenient 16oz can. Introducing Omega’s Propper Starter Canned Wort! We went ahead and put this product to the test, and we discuss our results in this blog.
We were looking to harvest a traditional Oktoberfest / Marzen yeast to get us ready for the upcoming season. We went with a darker Rauch Marzen from Aecht Schlenkerla from Germany, one of the oldest operating breweries out there. I like the smoked flavor along with maltiness that the Marzen helps create.
Step one was pouring the Marzen into a glass, slightly tilted to keep as much of the yeast in the bottle as possible. Once we accomplished this, I sanitized the bottle and top of the Propper Starter can with Star San, opened the can of wort, and poured a few ounces into the Aecht bottle. I did this to try to collect as much of the yeast as possible, swirling it as I poured it into a sanitized 2000ml Erlenmeyer flask.
Once I collected all of the yeast from the Marzen, I poured the rest of the Propper Starter into the flask. After completing this task, I put a sanitized rubber stopper with an airlock onto the top of the flask to keep any extra oxygen out and to release the built-up CO2.
After a mere 24 hours, the yeast began its fermentation and started to develop a nice krausen inside the Erlenmeyer flask. It took roughly 5 days for the krausen to fall back into the beer, and for the fermentation to stop. I now have close to 10 times the amount of yeast that I had originally started with, and more than enough to brew a 5 gallon batch of Marzen using yeast from a bottle-conditioned beer from Germany.
In my opinion, the Propper Starter had a faster fermentation start than just using some DME. The canned wort also made producing the yeast starter markedly easier, which I find increases the likelihood that I’ll do it. . This product is hands-down the simplest way to harvest or grow any type of yeast, whether it is for harvesting bottle-conditioned yeast or for simply multiplying the cell count in a liquid or dry yeast pack. Going with a Propper Starter is easier than making your own and cheaper than buying a second pack of yeast!
Want to take your yeast starter to the next level?! Consider adding a Stir Plate with a magnetic stir bar! Stir plates considerably increase the growth rate of your yeast starter by providing them with a continuous supply of oxygen!
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