Franziskaner bottle condition yeast

[Kbridgeford]

I bought a bottle of franziskaner hefeweizen and became inspired to brew a bavarian hefewiezen. So i grew the yeast from the bottle on a petri dish and it is now a half gallon starter. But now i am wondering if this yeast is the primary yeast or a secondary bottle condition yeast. Anybody know or know how to find out. I would hate to brew a beer and not be using the same yeast. I know some of you will say just buy some yeast, but the fun of the whole thing has been growing the yeast that is all the way from munich germany where it is true to style. thank you

[BigWilley]

franz yeast

I have always heard that most German Hefe Breweries use a lager yeast for conditioning. You may have a lager yeast, a mix of lager and hefe, or straight hefe yeast. If you have a half gallon starter you should be able to smell and taste the presence of weizen yeast. If it is fruity, clovey, bannana like etc. you have at least a good proportion of weizen yeast.

[zbrew2k]

Buy the yeast!

It's cleaner and you know what you are getting.

Agree w/ Big Willey, taste the culture.

Some of the wheat beer brewers use the hefe yeast to condition with too. Not all of them use the lager yeast.

Good Luck!

[Lager Brewer]

Hefe yeast

I know a few larger Bavarian breweries who simply add a small dose of yeast in line on the way to the packaging hall....without wort or krausen.

These beers are not bottle conditioned. The yeast is there for cosmetic purposes only.

[Kbridgeford]

I was also thinking the same thing, Hefeweizen yeast is deffinatly distinct in taste and smell. I tried it and franken what ever uses lager yeast to condition, to bad i was really hopeful it would be the primary yeast. Another thing i noticed, the yeast never rose to the top. thats what started me to wonder and start researching. I really have fun doing lab work, anyone know any good imports that have the primary yeast in the bottle? thank you and keep on brewin.

[Greenbrewmonkey]

In addition to what largebrewer posted, some of this cosmetic yeast is not even "live", but has been pasteurized for stability.

Nonetheless, a number of years ago the rep from Schneider Weiss (sp?), upon tasting my Weizen, told me they use their primary yeast to bottle condition, and suggested I culture up some for my next batch. (I guess he didn't like mine so much?)

I tried once without great results, and stuck with wyeast or whitelabs ever since. I don't know if Schneider still used live primary yeast, but it might be worth a shot.

Cheers,
Ron