Harvesting Yeast from Beer

[StrayBullet]

I found out a beer I like, Chimay, contains a lot of yeast, ie sediment.  The guys said, "this stuff would last 10 years it has so much yeast in it."

Is there a way to harvest the yeast from the sediment on the bottom on the bottle and if so, how would you use it in a recipe?

Would it be easier just to make a starter, etc with the beer and let it naturally ferment with the leftover yeast?

Thanks!

[norma427]

StrayBullet,

Here is a dough I made with sediment from beer.  I used about 2" of sediment from the bottom of the bottle.  This beer sediment dough was a room temperature ferment.  I am going to try this experiment sometime in the future, but think I will add some IDY to the dough.  This dough did get some bottom bubbles, but really I don’t think there was enough yeast left in the sediment to get the dough to rise enough.  The taste of the crust was good and different.

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,11133.msg103964.html#msg103964

I never made a starter with sediment from beer.  Maybe someone else has tried doing that.

Norma

[niquejim]

I brew my own beer and have cultured yeast from many different beers. Beer yeast has developed over the years to maximize the production of alcohol........then CO2(which is the opposite of bread yeast). In other words it will work, but it's not the best choice for pizza or bread

[buceriasdon]

Some years ago I bought some yeast from a local Mexican seed and cereral store. Cool place. Anyways I misunderstood the sales lady when she asked my for which kind I wanted. Pan or cervesa. The taste was different but not what I wanted. I replied for the wrong yeast. It will work but........................ I threw it out

I brew my own beer and have cultured yeast from many different beers. Beer yeast has developed over the years to maximize the production of alcohol........then CO2(which is the opposite of bread yeast). In other words it will work, but it's not the best choice for pizza or bread

[scott123]

I brew my own beer and have cultured yeast from many different beers. Beer yeast has developed over the years to maximize the production of alcohol........then CO2(which is the opposite of bread yeast). In other words it will work, but it's not the best choice for pizza or bread

It depends on the beer.  Top fermenting ale yeast and bread yeast are one in the same (Saccharomyces cerevisiae).  Lager yeast is a different animal.

Most commercial beer you buy these days is pasteurized. Pasteurization kills yeast.  If you could get your hands on a homebrewed unpasteurized beer, then perhaps it might work, although, it should probably be an ale, rather than a lager.  I don't think lager yeast is ideal for bread because of the lower temps required. If you can get homebrewed ale, ideally, you'd want to collect the yeast from the top and not the sediment.  If the yeast is at the bottom of an unpasteurized bottle of ale, it's not going to be alive anymore.

I guess you could collect the yeast and proof it to make sure it's viable, but it seems like a lot of trouble compared to grabbing the bottle of confirmed viable yeast from the fridge.

I also don't think the alcohol is good for the fermenting dough.  If you combine beer and IDY, the alcohol in the beer will fight the growth of the IDY.  Gliadin, one of the two proteins in flour, is slightly alcohol soluble.  There's nothing you can do regarding the alcohol produced by fermentation, but I don't think it's a good idea to intentionally add alcohol at the start of the process. If you like the flavors in beer (hops, roasted barley, etc.), it's probably a better idea to obtain the core ingredients from a brewer supplier and use that in bread- minus the alcohol.

[StrayBullet]

Thanks for all the feedback y'all, much appreciated!  Looks like my sediment experiment isn't necessary...guess I'll start with something a little more pedestrian.  That is once I have this whole pizza making thing nailed down