I’ve been enjoying my Chimay Grande Reserves for quite some time now and want to capture the yeast in a few bottles to give it a go on a clone. Can someone provide a good method for doing this? I know I’ve seen some yeast-growing videos, but at $12 per bottle, I don’t want to screw it up. Thanks.
Leave a bit of beer and the yeast in a bottle of Chimay. Prepare 1/2-1 cup of 1.020 wort and put it in a sanitized container. Flame the bottle, swirl up the beer and dregs, and pour into your starter container. Let it ferment out, decant, and add to a qt. of 1.030ish wort. Let that ferment out, decant and step up to your needed size.
Denny will that work on every beer thats has yeast in bottom of bottle? Like a weizen?
If the brewer re-yeasted at bottle time, you would get more of the bottling yeast which is most likely a different strain from the fermenting strain. So it works, but isn’t what you want.
… and I wouldn’t know about sours.
Those are the two caveats I can think of.
For me, I’d rather just get a smack pack or vial.
Thanks, you guys. What about it, Denny? Is the yeast from Chimay different going into the bottle? Any idea?
Also, is there a yeast available that closely resembles the Belgian Trappist strands?
Yes. Very occasionally, a different strain will be used for bottling. That doesn’t happen very often, though, especially on Belgian beers. The breweries have so much of the primary strain around, it doesn’t nake sense for them to have to deal with another yeast.
In respect to hefe yeast, there has been some research showing that repitching it reduces the flavors you want to get from it. I have no personal experience…just thought I’d pass that along.
Chimay uses the primary strain for bottling.
Uh, which Belgian Trappist strains?
There may be one or two 
BELGIAN ALES
1214 - Belgian Abbey™
1388 - Belgian Strong Ale™
1762 - Belgian Abbey II™
3056 - Bavarian Wheat Blend™
3068 - Weihenstephan Weizen™
3278 - Belgian Lambic Blend™
3333 - German Wheat™
3463 - Forbidden Fruit™
3522 - Belgian Ardennes™
3638 - Bavarian Wheat™
3711 - French Saison
3724 - Belgian Saison™
3763 - Roeselare Ale Blend
3787 - Trappist High Gravity™
3942 - Belgian Wheat™
3944 - Belgian Witbier™
Thanks for the list, Dobe. Is it safe to say these are from the same strains as those used by the monks? For example, the Belgian Abbey… would that be one I should use for my Chimay Grand Reserve clone? Or the Strong Ale strain? Denny?
That will take a little more research… or the knowledge of Denny. He may be able to answer your question more directly, but if not, google it. You’ll find the answer eventually.
There may be one or two
BELGIAN ALES
1214 - Belgian Abbey™
1388 - Belgian Strong Ale™
1762 - Belgian Abbey II™
3056 - Bavarian Wheat Blend™
3278 - Belgian Lambic Blend™
3463 - Forbidden Fruit™
3522 - Belgian Ardennes™
3638 - Bavarian Wheat™
3787 - Trappist High Gravity™
3942 - Belgian Wheat™
3944 - Belgian Witbier™[/quote]
List edited to remove non Trappist/Abbey strains…even a couple of the ones that are left may not be.
I always heard that wyeast 1214 was the Chimay strain. Not sure I’d go through the trouble of bottle culturing it when it is widely available in smack packs.
I have used White Labs WLP-530 for 10-gallons, and Wyeast 1762 Belgian Abbey II for 5-gallons to make Chimay Grand Reserve clones with wonderful success.
I agree. After culturing from a bottle a couple times, the novelty wears off quickly if you can buy the yeast.
Excellent article, Dobe. I found something very interesting in there that I have never heard before. Quoting… "Doss goes on to recommend that “splashing and shaking the carboy, a traditional homebrew method, only reached 8 ppm of dissolved oxygen where 15 ppm can be reached with pure oxygen and a stone in 80 seconds.”
How in the world does one go about adding pure oxygen to a fermenter?
