FINAL GRAVITY PODCAST

So here is the situation, I want to brew a Chimay Blue clone but I don't have any Wyeast 1214.  Sure, I could buy yeast from the LHBS but that would be the easy way out.  So I pulled a bottle of Chimay Blue (Grand Reserve) from the kegerator and popped the top!  Poor me, I need to drink the whole thing to get to the dregs at the bottom.

So I began the arduous task, a piece of sanitized foil, tulip glass & spray bottle of sanitizer to start things off.  I popped the cork and poured my first glass.  Then I spritzed the neck/mouth of the bottle with Star San and capped it with the sanitized foil. 

Next I made around 3/4 of a pint of 1.020 starter to step the yeast up slowly and delicately.  3/4oz of DME and 3/4 pint of water will give you approximately 1.020 wort so I put this all in to a saucepan with a pinch of yeast nutrient and boiled for 15 minutes.  Once finished I put the covered pot of wort in a water bath and sanitized a pint mason jar to prepare it for the yeast starter.  Oh, and had another glass of Chimay. 

After the wort was cool I added it to the sanitized mason jar and had another glass of Chimay, to get down to the bottle dregs.  After sanitizing the bottle mouth one more time I poured it in to the mason jar and set it down in the basement on the kegerator to (hopefully) ferment and create a nice fresh culture of Chimay Yeast. 

Once I get some activity in this small starter (it can take 4-5 days when stepping up from bottle dregs) I'll let it ferment out and put it in to a 1 quart starter @ 1.030 to grow more, and then yet again with a 2 quart starter @ 1.030 to grow again.  This will give me enough yeast to build up to a proper starter based on the gravity of my beer.  It's a little bit of work, but well worth the results!