# The Yeast Bay strains



## vykuza

We've moved enough of the Yeast Bay yeasts now that I would hope some people have already begun to ferment with them. As they are new in the market, I figured I would start a topic to record impressions, feedback etc.

The Yeast Bay provides a range of "artisinal" yeast for home and craft brewers. From their website: "Our mission is simple: Provide commercially unavailable or rare yeast and bacteria strains to the homebrewing and craft brewing communities in high quality liquid culture. "

That liquid culture is maintained and packaged by White Labs after being identified, isolated, blended, tested and approved by Chief Yeast Wrangler and all-round-nice-guy Nick Impellitteri.

Nick is adding new strains to the Yeast Bay collection regularly, but at the moment the range consists of:

*Vermont Ale:* Remarkably similar to the strain used in the world's highest rated Double IPA "Heady Topper". Complements aggressively hopped beers.

*Northwestern Abbey:* From a Belgian-style brewer in the US. Mild spiciness, earthy flavour, pears and citrus.

*Wallonian Farmhouse:* Super farmhouse yeast for saisons you can get your teeth in to. No brett or bugs, but slight earthy funk and tart character.

*Saison Blend: * A blend of two saison yeasts for a crackingly dry, but balanced beer, with orange and grapefruit aromatics.

*Saison and Brettanomyces Blend:* One of the saison yeasts from the saison blend, plus two Brett. strains for bright fruity esters and mild funk.

*Beersel Brettanomyces Blend:* Brett. strains from the Beersel region of Belgium, fast fermenting (for brett!) and bringing fruitiness and funkiness.

*Brussels Brettanomyces Blend:* More of a classic Brett blend. Big barnyard funk.

*Lochristi Brettanomyces Blend: *Two strains of Brett, once again from Belgium; "One strain provides a moderate funk and light fruitiness, while the other strain adds a more assertive fruitiness dominated by *hints of strawberry."*

*Funktown Pale Ale:* Oh yeah! A blend of the Vermont strain and a unique Brett. strain. Brings citrus, peach, mango and pineapple. 


The Yeast Bay is releasing four new strains as well, Dry Belgian Ale, Melange Sour Blend, Amalgamation Super Brett Blend (with six brett. strains!) and a Farmhouse Sour Ale. We also know that Nick is out yeast hunting next month - so who knows what that might bring!

I have brewed and pitched beers using the Funktown, Beersel Blend and Lochristi Blend (with WLP001 primary) and will be reporting in as they come along.

So please share your experiences, expectations, recipes and pics!




Mods: this is not intended as a sales pitch at all - but for sharing info on these new yeasts by those who have used them, or want to use them.


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## lael

Funktown pale ale sounds amazing


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## Forever Wort

I will try the Saison blend when the weather comes around.


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## lukencode

Keen to give Wallonian Farmhouse a crack, anyone tried it?


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## Mardoo

Lochristi Blend sounds awesome!


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## BilBrewing

I've brewed once with the Vermont strain. To be honest i used a new grain, a new hop and a new yeast so i couldn't really pick the flavour contribution that it's supposedly known for. I can say that i fermented it according to the Yeast Bay guidelines, around 18c to start then after day 4 once the krausen had died down, i upped the temp to 20c for 5 days. In the end i got 76% attenuation. I have a second generation pitch to use in an upcoming beer so will be able to report if i see an increase after that.

I've also brewed with the Wallonian strain. I did a table saison, 85% pils malt, 12% malted wheat and 3% CaraHell, ended up at 3.0% ABV. I only added a bittering charge at 60mins and let the yeast contribute all the flavour. It turned out really nice! Very flavoursome for such a low ABV beer and i did get some flavour along the lines of the "smokey phenolic" that you hear it produces. I pitched it around 50million cells per ml, starting at 20c and ramped to 25 over 5 days. 

Brewing with Northeastern Abbey in 2 weeks and will report back.


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## vykuza

The Vermont strain can be a strange beast, I have heard. Apparently it throws more of the peachy flavours it's known for at the lower end of the temp scale. 

I might steal your table saison recipe too! When it warms up a tad, sounds like a good spring gardening beer.

The Funktown went off in the fermenter at about 36 hours, and I am getting a few tropical whiffs off it (though there's some citra late hopped, so that might be part of it).

I'll take some photos Sunday.


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## Kranky

I'm currently doing a starter for the Vermont I got off you the other day (liked your packaging!). It smells beautiful.

When are you going to get in some Apollo hops so we can do some Heady Topper inspired beers?


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## vykuza

Soon Kranky! I'll send you a PM when it happens but this isn't the thread for it. 


Let us know how you go with the Vermont in the mean time!


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## vykuza

If you're using the Funktown, get a big whiff of the yeast blend from the vial for a hint of what's to come.  I cannot wait to get in to a beer brewed with this!


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## tazman1967

I just ordered 3 strains, using the Saison Blend, Saison n Brett, and the Wallonian Farmhouse.
I using some base recipes out of "Farmhouse Ales" before I have a play with these new yeasts.

Curious to know if you can save and reuse the yeast cakes ? I would like to harvest some of the yeast for further brews.

Cheers


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## tazman1967

I just ordered 3 strains, using the Saison Blend, Saison n Brett, and the Wallonian Farmhouse.
Im using some base recipes out of "Farmhouse Ales" before I have a play with these new yeasts.

Curious to know if you can save and reuse the yeast cakes ? I would like to harvest some of the yeast for further brews.

Cheers


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## vykuza

Well, any blends will change their ratio based on the growth rate of each yeast/bug. Any single strains should be good to go for multiple rounds!


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## BilBrewing

Pitched second gen Vermont into an IPA on Sunday arvo. Was a bit worried as the yeast i washed from the first pale i used Vermont on left a serious hop aroma lingering. Still i stepped it up from a 500ml starter to a 1ltr starter and it's rocketing along now. For reference the STC controlled fridge is sitting on 17.5C with the temp probe insulated on the side of a plastic fermenter. First signs of fermentation after 12 hours and now it's rocketing along. Will update once it's reached FG.

NIck, i've also just noticed to OP has a typo - Northwestern Abbey!


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## vykuza

Oh whoops! Can't edit it now. If a mod sees this and they are able - please change the strain name in the OP to NorthEASTERN Abbey, not Northwestern.

Thanks Bil!

Time for an update on mine:

The Beersel blend is producing a bit of CO2, but the cooler weather has meant it's just tootling along slowly.

While the Funktown has settled down now it's been almost two weeks in the fermenter. Still fermenting slowly - I'll give it another week I think and start testing gravity readings. Smells great!


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## BilBrewing

48hours in and its throwing its fair share of sulfur. Not sure if this is characteristic of Vermont but maybe the 15% wheat in the grist.


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## vykuza

Here's a writeup of three of the Brett. blends from one of the Yeast Bay's beta testers. A good summary I think!

http://riverwards.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/the-yeast-bay-brett-blend-review.html


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## BilBrewing

Weekend update:

Vermont ale produced a lot of sulfur after primary. Down from 1.055 to 1.013 and still bubbling slightly. After some web browsing research quite a few people have had sulfur issues from Vermont and most attribute it to underpitching. It was my first attempt at harvesting and repitching so perhaps my yeast wasn't at the top of its game. 1.013 only means approx att of 76% not the claimed second gen 80+ so that might be a sign that my yeast was not at its peak. Mashed at a solid 67. Still the sulfur is now clearing and i'm feeling better about this batch.

Northeastern Abbey went nuts in the starter. It definitely produces the thick sticky krausen that its description says it does. It's now ripping through a Wit in similar fashion. Tons of orange notes escaping from the fermenter, smells awesome!


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## ricardo

Regarding the Vermont ale yeast I've read a few reviews with people having clarity issues even with gelatin and cold crashing, anybody experience this, mines still fermenting?

I'm also keen to find out the attenuation as i need to get from 1.053 (was supposed to be 1.055) to 1.010. I used 2 vials a month old with a 2.5 liter starter hoping to over pitch slightly for 42 liters. I'm guessing i will need nearly 80% to get there so i followed their recommendations, should know at the weekend after 7 days in the fermenter.


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## BilBrewing

ricardo said:


> Regarding the Vermont ale yeast I've read a few reviews with people having clarity issues even with gelatin and cold crashing, anybody experience this, mines still fermenting?
> 
> I'm also keen to find out the attenuation as i need to get from 1.053 (was supposed to be 1.055) to 1.010. I used 2 vials a month old with a 2.5 liter starter hoping to over pitch slightly for 42 liters. I'm guessing i will need nearly 80% to get there so i followed their recommendations, should know at the weekend after 7 days in the fermenter.


I'm on my second Vermont Ale batch and from my limited experience, it's quite stubborn and definitely hangs around. I have however, cold crashed samples of the second batch, an IPA, and after 48 hours it definitely clears up a fair bit. Maybe you can try this and you'll get a good idea of how it clears too.


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## vykuza

My funkytown brew (vermont ale and a brett strain) is still quite cloudy in the fermenter. I haven't cold crashed it yet. 

The site lists it as medium-low flocculation - and the pics you can google of Heady Topper look pretty murky anyway, though that might be from all the hops!


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## tazman1967

I think my Saison Strain is nearly finished ? Anybody got a rough idea on how long it takes to ferment out ?

On a second note:
Im making this today using the Wallonian Farmhouse Blend.
I think this recipe is perfect for it.

http://byo.com/stories/item/2940-brasserie-a-vapeur-s-saison-de-pipaix-clone


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## vykuza

How low did your saison get?

That recipe looks the goods too. I reckon the Wallonian will suit it right down to the ground. Make sure you have loads of headspace in your fermenter or a blowoff tube!


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## tazman1967

Been in the fermenter for two weeks.
OG 1053, Hydro sample is at 1012.
Your are right about the grapefruit and orange, hydro sample tasted good as well.

I might let it go for another week, then if the same gravity, Ill bottle it


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## vykuza

Can you bump the temp for a bit? Throw a heatbelt around it if you have one?


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## tazman1967

Can do Nick, no heat wave up here in Brissie..

Grain bill was just 90% Pilsner, 10% wheat.


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## vykuza

I've kegged and been drinking my very basic Funktown pale ale - it's come out crystal, crystal clear after (warm) conditioning in the keg for about a week. Surprised me there! Pics to come soon.

I'm getting some lovely overripe pawpaw/papaya and clean "stonefruit" in the nose. It's not quite peachy, not quite nectarine, not quite apricot and very sniffable! Not as strong a tropical whack as a plain Brett Trois fermentation, but has that something extra nevertheless. Next fermentation I'll push the temp a bit higher and see how it changes.


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## fattox

I've got 2 vials of the Conan strain (Vermont) sitting in my fridge, and will be putting out a monster starter with one in the coming week. The other will be used to make another starter but these will be for long-term storage in both the vials I have, and a few more that are coming.

I just ordered the Beersel blend, Saison Brett blend and some lacto through you as well (deferred shipping to Monday to stop them sitting all weekend in a hot warehouse!!) and am pretty keen to get started with these. Basically the plan is to throw the beersel blend into a wild ale of some description (haven't nutted it out 100% yet), and keep adding random dregs of sours and wilds into the fermenter as I go. Currently have a bottle of Rubus Maximus with the dregs sitting and waiting for this to go on, to get some real funk happening. 

I'll keep updated on the Heady clone I do with Conan, but I imagine it will get better up to about the 10th repitch from what I've seen on the AHA interview with the main guy from The Alchemist. He was saying 10 batches and it starts to lose those fruity esters/phenolics that it's known for. It's a fantastic beer, even on US-05.


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## vykuza

Nice work fattox!

My topper clone is churning away behind me as I type. Smells really, really nice. About to do the first dry hop tomorrow. It is a great recipe, and I sell a kit to make it on the site, including the hopshot and yeast etc. Not a cheap beer to clone though!

I've got a beersel getting funky in the back of the warehouse, and I'm going to break out the saison/brett blend this week as well, so it's good and ready for when the weather warms up. 

I must say I've been really impressed with the Yeast Bay yeasts so far.


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## tazman1967

Ive just bottled my Saison using the Saison Blend.
Ended up coming out nice and dry, with grapefruit and orange aromas.
Next up is the Saison Brett blend.
Loving these strains..


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## BilBrewing

Bottled 2 batches of my latest Witbier using Northeastern Abbey.

20ltr batch split 2x10ltrs. Fermented one at ambient room temp, approx 16-17c. The other in my fermentation fridge with the stc set at 19c. Both fermented very similarly, though the ambient temp was definitely throwing more aroma off.

Both fermented fine from 1.048 to 1.010. Bottled the other night. The ambient batch definitely had a tart edge to the flavour and a brighter nose. The other batch definitely had a more Belgian characteristic to it, more orange driven nose and an ever so slight alcohol flavour. Both show promise but they are different beers at this stage. Now to wait 2 weeks while they carb and then compare properly!


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## fattox

Nick R said:


> Nice work fattox!
> 
> My topper clone is churning away behind me as I type. Smells really, really nice. About to do the first dry hop tomorrow. It is a great recipe, and I sell a kit to make it on the site, including the hopshot and yeast etc. Not a cheap beer to clone though!
> 
> I've got a beersel getting funky in the back of the warehouse, and I'm going to break out the saison/brett blend this week as well, so it's good and ready for when the weather warms up.
> 
> I must say I've been really impressed with the Yeast Bay yeasts so far.


Hopshot you say? I'll share my recipe, all hops!
For a 20.8 litre (5.5 gallon) batch:

91.6% TF Pearl
2.3% TF Caramalt
6.1% Turbinado (Demerara) at last 10 mins of boil

All hops are 1 ounce (28.4 grams) unless otherwise noted
Magnum @ 60
Simcoe @ 30
Apollo, Cascade, Centennial, Columbus, Simcoe @ flameout, 30 mins steep/whirlpool
Ferment out to 1.014ish, OG of 1.071
Dry Hop 1 - Chinook, Apollo, Simcoe for 4 days. Rack to new vessel
Dry Hop 2 - Simcoe, Centennial for 4 days. Rack to keg. Let it age for a few days in the keg, so the hops have time to mellow.

Our personal opinions were that it was at its' best after about 3-4 days after being fully carbonated. Absolute cracker of a beer. Whether or not this is the right recipe, it's fantastic regardless!


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## fattox

Also for what it's worth, I've made up a Beersmith file for any interested in using the yeasts, with relevant info gleaned from the yeast bay. If I can work out how to attach files I will


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## fattox

Worked it out. Follow this to add it to your own library

[SIZE=11pt]Opening a BeerSmith 2 File (*.BSMX)[/SIZE]


[SIZE=10pt]o[/SIZE]

Select the Open command from the file menu or toolbar.



[SIZE=10pt]o[/SIZE]

Navigate to the file you wish to open - all BeerSmith 2 files use a proprietary XML format with the extension (.bsmx) such as "Recipes.bsmx"



[SIZE=10pt]o[/SIZE]

Press OK to open the file



[SIZE=10pt]o[/SIZE]

The file you just opened will be displayed in a separate tab with the file name as the title for the tab. When you close this tab you will be asked if you want to save the items in this file.



[SIZE=10pt]o[/SIZE]

To permanently keep items in the open file, you need to copy and paste them into your "My Recipes" folder or one of the Ingredients or Profiles folders for future use. 

View attachment The Yeast Bay yeasts.bsmx


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## davedoran

fattox said:


> Worked it out. Follow this to add it to your own library
> 
> [SIZE=11pt]Opening a BeerSmith 2 File (*.BSMX)[/SIZE]
> [SIZE=10pt]o[/SIZE] Select the Open command from the file menu or toolbar.
> [SIZE=10pt]o[/SIZE] Navigate to the file you wish to open - all BeerSmith 2 files use a proprietary XML format with the extension (.bsmx) such as "Recipes.bsmx"
> [SIZE=10pt]o[/SIZE] Press OK to open the file
> [SIZE=10pt]o[/SIZE] The file you just opened will be displayed in a separate tab with the file name as the title for the tab. When you close this tab you will be asked if you want to save the items in this file.
> [SIZE=10pt]o[/SIZE] To permanently keep items in the open file, you need to copy and paste them into your "My Recipes" folder or one of the Ingredients or Profiles folders for future use.


thanks fattox


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## vykuza

Good stuff! Thanks fattox - do you mind if I chuck that on my site?


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## fattox

Go for it mate. That's what it's there for!! I didn't know whether they had specific WLP numbers as they're done under contract or whatever by WLP, so I just made up product numbers for them but at the end of the day, search The Yeast Bay on Beersmith after installing this and it'll show up with them. I've included some of the newer strains they're working on too, such as Melange


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## vykuza

Thanks very much.

I had a sneaky taste of the beersel blend beer and it's fricken amazing. Fruity, light, slightly souring, no heavy horsey brett impact, but it's definitely there in the background. Really, really nice. I might throw it on the gas after the weekend and get stuck in!


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## Donske

Nick R said:


> Thanks very much.
> 
> I had a sneaky taste of the beersel blend beer and it's fricken amazing. Fruity, light, slightly souring, no heavy horsey brett impact, but it's definitely there in the background. Really, really nice. I might throw it on the gas after the weekend and get stuck in!


What sort of turn around time is that Nick, I'm going to be putting together an order on Wednesday and the Beersel blend is damn tempting, especially if I can get the beer into kegs before oxygen ingress is an issue.


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## vykuza

It's about six weeks. Two weeks primary fermentation, and it's spent the past month in a keg at room temp under pressure from further fermentation. Brett likes a bit of pressure, and no oxygen is getting in there!


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## pike1973

Hey nick are you going to get the amalgamation - brett super blend in stock and if so when?


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## vykuza

Hopefully sooner rather than later. There's a big MOQ on the Yeast Bay strains, so I will need to move the current varieties before I can justify importing another load.


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## fattox

Let me know when you do, i'm thinking the Melange sounds fun


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## tazman1967

I just made a saison with the Saison/Brett Blend
simple grain bill, Crystal and Mt Hood to 36 IBUs.
Pitched yeast and poured in no chill cube, full krausen in 8 hours. 
24hrs later, have yeast coming out of airlock, and is bubbling at 1 bubble a second...
Temps are a ambient 23D.


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## vykuza

Might need a chair and whip tazman!


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## tazman1967

Ive used Brett strains before and have similar results..
They love the heat..
Too scared to do a gravity reading.. 
Smells.. fruity but funky. I get tropical fruits, with a earthy funk.


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## ivars

I'm using the *Wallonian Farmhouse* strain for the first time and I'm flying pretty much blind. On top of that I'm also using new equipment so this is quite a learning experience, if something drinkable comes of it that will be a bonus :unsure: I made a starter assuming a the vial contained 100 billion cells (which seems to be confirmed by Fattox' BeerSmith files) and pitched at 20°C. After 13 hours I had to fit a blow off tube as the brew was going walkies - didn't leave much head space but that's another story). Am now ramping the temp up 1°C per day to reach 23°C. Interesting to see what happens. Any comments / suggestions most welcome. Oh and a huge thanks to Nick for sorting out OZ Post!


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## tazman1967

Looks good Ivars, just chill and let the yeast do its magic..
I've used this strain, its great.. turned out an awsome brew. Even if I did use too much Star anise.


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## fattox

I've just pitched two beers on some of their products. First is a berliner Weisse with some WLP672 lacto brevis, wyeast 1007 and the Brussels Brett blend. I have to actually pitch the Brett yet but I also have a 20% rye saison that was pitched on their saison blend and the beersel Brett blend. 4 days and it's already dropped 40 points and has a super funky note, which is working very well with the rye and accentuating that earthy/spicy character with some over ripe fruit tones. It should be a cracker beer, my first sample tasted absolutely top notch


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## vykuza

Sounds tops! What went in to your saison?


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## BilBrewing

ivars said:


> I'm using the *Wallonian Farmhouse* strain for the first time and I'm flying pretty much blind. On top of that I'm also using new equipment so this is quite a learning experience, if something drinkable comes of it that will be a bonus :unsure: I made a starter assuming a the vial contained 100 billion cells (which seems to be confirmed by Fattox' BeerSmith files) and pitched at 20°C. After 13 hours I had to fit a blow off tube as the brew was going walkies - didn't leave much head space but that's another story). Am now ramping the temp up 1°C per day to reach 23°C. Interesting to see what happens. Any comments / suggestions most welcome. Oh and a huge thanks to Nick for sorting out OZ Post!


ivars, each of their Sacc strain vials contains 80 billion cells. This info is tucked away near the bottom of the Product Info page on their website!


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## fattox

Nick R said:


> Sounds tops! What went in to your saison?


My saison was (20 litre batch @ 85% efficiency) 4kg Dingemans Pils, 540g flaked unmalted rye, 500g malted rye, and approx. 450g of Simplicity Candi Sugar. Mashed at 67, fermented with the Saison Blend (not the Saison Brett, I clearly wasn't paying attention when I ordered it!) and the Beersel Brett blend. It's a shame you're down in Sydney but I might send a bottle each of the BW and the Saison when they finish up, and maybe my version of Heady Topper at the same time. It's cubed at the moment until the sours are OK to come out of the bigger fridge, or until I empty the keg in the small fridge (whichever is first!!)


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## BilBrewing

Bottled the Saison Blend last week which was tasting ok, but smelling awesome after a serious dry hop of Enigma. I stuck to my usual 4g/L ratio and that's one potent hop. Definitely unique like they say it is.

More interesting and exciting though is the Saison Brett blend. This sucker has been in primary for 4 weeks now. Drew a sample off and pow, it's tasting awesome. OG was 1.048 and it's now down to 1.007. This one has me much more excited than the other blend. It's tropical, bretty and finishes quite dry, one of those beers i could've drawn a pint off the fermenter. 

Another vial of Wallonian has arrived and i'm going to dry a bigger grist with some rye.


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## ivars

BilBrewing said:


> Bottled the Saison Blend last week which was tasting ok, but smelling awesome after a serious dry hop of Enigma. I stuck to my usual 4g/L ratio and that's one potent hop. Definitely unique like they say it is.
> 
> More interesting and exciting though is the Saison Brett blend. This sucker has been in primary for 4 weeks now. Drew a sample off and pow, it's tasting awesome. OG was 1.048 and it's now down to 1.007. This one has me much more excited than the other blend. It's tropical, bretty and finishes quite dry, one of those beers i could've drawn a pint off the fermenter.
> 
> Another vial of Wallonian has arrived and i'm going to dry a bigger grist with some rye.


What temperature have you got the Saison Brett brew sitting at BilBrewing?


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## BilBrewing

The Brett blend has all been at ambient in my living room. Fermentation was around 18 and conditioning has been varying from 16-20.


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## BilBrewing

Checked the Saison/Brett Blend yesterday and taadaa, pellicle! This is about 6 weeks into fermentation so far. Kind of mesmerising! Going to put in bottles soon and let them develop in there.


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## djar007

Just about to keg a wallonian farmhouse. Started at 1.055 and down to 1.007. Smells and tastes great out of the fermenter. Fermented at 23.5. Started quickly and finished quickly. I look forward to ordering some more of these as my funk town bells two hearted ipa was the best beer I have made. Shame the first keg went so quick.


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## vykuza

Looks healthy Bil!


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## indica86

Dumped a vial of Saison Blend into... guess what? A saison. Really you say? Yep.
Love Belle Saison yeast and use it a lot so will be very interested to taste this.
Was a gift.


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## indica86

Had a look this morning and fermenting away quite happily. In fact I had a sneaky peak last night and there were signs of the yeast clumping on the surface - that was about 5 hours after pitching. Quick start!


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## fattox

Berliner Weisse - on Wyeast 1007 German Ale, white labs 672 lacto brevis, and the yeast bay Brussels Brett blend and lochristi Brett blend



Same as above, aged on 2kg of puréed strawberries for a summer sour ale 



And finally the Rye Saison - 20% flaked unmalted rye, plus a pound of simplicity candi sugar. Pitched at the same time with Beersel Brett blend and Saison Blend.

Pretty happy with them all, just hoping the strawberry one sours up more


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## azampech

Just ordered Funktown Pale Ale for a Amarillo/Galaxy IPA and WLP500 for a Belgium Imperial Stout. Cant wait to see how they go


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## indica86

Bottled a Saison with the Saison Blend today. Attenuated well, got down the 1006 so should rock in at about 6.5%.
I have saved some for a re pitch, I know it's a blend but am interested to see how it goes.


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## HalfWit

Any tasting notes? Not a lot of feed back on the net about Yeast Bay yet.


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## barls

Kegged my funk town pale yesterday. Bloody tasty


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## indica86

Early taste of my Saison is promising. Minimal funk, nice and dry, will update.


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## indica86

Alright, another taste today, brewed with the saison blend.
Lovely beer, some hop character coming through, dry yet malty, some funk and some fruity flavours floating around.
Good stuff.


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## fattox

First taste if both the Heady Topper clone with their yeast, the Vermont Ale - super fruity, absolutely stunning, th yeast attenuated down from 1.080 to 1.012 in a week.

Rye Saison finished not as dry as I would've liked, at 1.010 but it started quite higher than I expected. I pitched it on the saison blend and Brett Beersel and it's got a great tartness and funk to it. More body from the rye I think but it finishes nicely. Just needs to carb up more.


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## fattox

Some updated notes:

Berliner Weisse: Super thin body, funky/tart/sour, I think super over attenuated but I've never had a true Berliner. Also my turbid mash didn't go as well as expected.
Saison: Vanished. Drank the shit out of it. Super farmhousey, funky, spicy, earthy, delicious. I think that keg vanished in about 2 weeks. This one was in the fridge with the berliner, so it was exposed to mid 20's in order to really funk them both up. The saison blend and brett work well together, i'd be interested to try the saison brett blend for this as well.
Double IPA: **** me. Half a keg of 9% in a night with the neighbour. Absolutely sessionable, for a 9% beer, the yeast brought some super fruity character to the beer. I took Nick's advice and raised fermentation temps up. 4 days at 18 then up to 22 to finish. It attenuated like a ******* rocket, 1.090 - > 1.020 in 4 days. Healthy starter, 2 vials, stepped up once from 2 litres, crashed, decanted, repitched into a 5 litre starter, decanted and pitched. Estimated at about 600bn cells (100bn over).

In the last month or so, I also got a hold of a vial each of Brussels, Lochristi, Beersel, Funktown, and WLP575. Made a 25 litre batch of something dark and belgiany. Pils, munich, wheat, and D90 candi syrup. I used some fruity hops (not sure what I actually can't remember, it was a very last minute beer recipe creation), split it into 5 small 5 litre demi's. let them cool, pitched a different vial into each batch. They're currently bottle conditioning at the moment, have been for about a month.

I've also got a starter going now of the Northeastern Abbey yeast, this is going into the Candi Syrup website's recipe for Westy XII. I've modified it, because my local shop guy tells me that Belgian Pale malt is garbage. I will probably sub in either some of my Pearl malt or 100% dingemans Pils. I won't have taste notes on this for at least another 12 months yet. It'll be going into the State comp in 2016 (Quads baby yeahhh!!)


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## SnakeDoctor

I'm keen to try some vermont ale yeast after the recent brulosophy entry:

http://brulosophy.com/2015/02/02/hippie-heaven-vs-surfer-sanctuary-exbeeriment-results/


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## fattox

I currently have on hand a vial each of hessian pils, Brett amalgamation, farmhouse sour, Franconian dark lager and melange. Going to do a small batch sour in my spare glass fermenter to see how it goes


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## seehuusen

Great read, keen to start doing some experimentation myself 
I've never been keen on that many of the Brett beers I've tried, I always seem to get the sensation of licking the bottom of a horse saddle...
I had a chat to Liam_Snorkel, who, through meeting at case swaps, have presented me with Brett beers which were very very enjoyable.
He explained that there are differences between the strains and I could, with some of the Brett strains, achieve much fruitier phenols - adding only a touch of funk...
He told me to get experimenting, thanks for that mate 

I've gone through some of the literature I could find online and I am contemplating getting some 5L Glass fermenters, which would make future tests easier to do with a single batch brew day...
My thought is to do 4 separate 5L batches of my house IPA, which I know very well, and pitch 

Funktown Pale Ale 
Vermont Ale
West coast IPA yeast (wyeast 1217) (this is my goto strain for straight up IPA/APA)
Wyeast 1217 + WLP645 Brettanomyces Claussenii added together in primary.
I'd probably just do a 50/50 and see where that leaves me.
I mainly want to figure out the flavour differences between 1 & 2 with that of my normal beer yeast.
After reading up a bit on the different Brett strains, I think WLP645 could lend some nice phenols for my IPA.

I'm curious to find out, how have you guys gone with splitting up the yeast packs for future brews/ make it slightly more economical?

As soon as I've got the batch down and have some numbers I'll update with my findings 

_edit: spelling_


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## donald_trub

I'm also keen to move into some funky beers, as I'm a fan of the style but always been too 'lazy' to commit to the process. I think I want to try out the Funktown yeast, but I have some questions:
- this has brett in it, how long are you guys fermenting this for, say a pale ale? Barls, how long did you put your funktown pale down for?
- do I need to invest in a second set of equipment? A new fermenter, tubes, carboy, etc? I'd like to get away with not having to do this if I can, but I guess I could just as easily buy a new fermenting bucket for primary and then use a Better Bottle and closet space for an extended secondary (I've never secondaried any beers before).
- What happens if you bottled/keg a funktown pale ale after 3 - 4 weeks in the fermenter? Are you going to get any of the funky goodness or do you need to keep those bottles for an extra 6 months?


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## hirschb

donald_trub said:


> I'm also keen to move into some funky beers, as I'm a fan of the style but always been too 'lazy' to commit to the process. I think I want to try out the Funktown yeast, but I have some questions:
> - this has brett in it, how long are you guys fermenting this for, say a pale ale? Barls, how long did you put your funktown pale down for?
> - do I need to invest in a second set of equipment? A new fermenter, tubes, carboy, etc? I'd like to get away with not having to do this if I can, but I guess I could just as easily buy a new fermenting bucket for primary and then use a Better Bottle and closet space for an extended secondary (I've never secondaried any beers before).
> - What happens if you bottled/keg a funktown pale ale after 3 - 4 weeks in the fermenter? Are you going to get any of the funky goodness or do you need to keep those bottles for an extra 6 months?


- The "Brett" strain in Funktown is Brett Trois, which has now been reclassified as sacch (due to recent genetic tests). I just had an IPA using this blend, and it was brewed just like a normal IPA (~2 week fermentation).
- Nope, no need for extra equipment.
- Your idea of leaving in the bottle for an extended aging is right on target for most brett strains....... for Funktown, there is no need.


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## mje1980

I just grabbed the lochristi blend. Keen to try it out on a blonde ale.


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## donald_trub

Thanks for that. I can finally brew myself a funky beer!

So when would I need the second lot of equipment? I've heard stories of Brett overtaking your brewery. Are these concerns overblown?



hirschb said:


> - The "Brett" strain in Funktown is Brett Trois, which has now been reclassified as sacch (due to recent genetic tests). I just had an IPA using this blend, and it was brewed just like a normal IPA (~2 week fermentation).
> - Nope, no need for extra equipment.
> - Your idea of leaving in the bottle for an extended aging is right on target for most brett strains....... for Funktown, there is no need.


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## mje1980

I keep seperate funky stuff, but it sits pretty close to my non funky stuff. So far no issues.


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## seehuusen

donald_trub said:


> Thanks for that. I can finally brew myself a funky beer!
> 
> So when would I need the second lot of equipment? I've heard stories of Brett overtaking your brewery. Are these concerns overblown?


Look up "Chad Yakobson Brettanomyces" on YouTube and watch that, it's extremely interesting and informational.

When it comes to Brett, he states that if you sanitize thoroughly there's no issue, exactly like you would for brewers yeast ( Saccharomyces Cerevisiae).
The main difference is that Brett can survive in cracks and hard to get places, e.g. make sure you clean your taps etc out properly.


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## seehuusen

hirschb said:


> - The "Brett" strain in Funktown is Brett Trois, which has now been reclassified as sacch (due to recent genetic tests).


That's very interesting, is love to read a bit more on that, have you got a link?


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## hirschb

seehuusen said:


> That's very interesting, is love to read a bit more on that, have you got a link?


http://www.whitelabs.com/sites/default/files/644_Explanation.pdf
http://www.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/2ooic7/brett_trois_contains_no_brett/
Later pages on this forum: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=326861&highlight=trois
And lots of discussion on the Milk the Funk Facebook group


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## seehuusen

Thanks very much mate, appreciated


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## seehuusen

Very interesting read, goes to show how much we don't know about beer brewing, despite it has been happening for thousands of years!
Lot's more to learn, love it! 

So I looking at that, I think I aught to make a 5th 5L batch, with Vermont and WLP645, as that is a real Brett culture that gives away similar flavours to the funktown yeast (thinking fruity, pineapple like aromas)...


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## vykuza

New combinations are always new data and exciting!

Try it out and report back


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## maaark

Hey everyone, novice brewer here. Today I'm gonna chuck a pale ale wort kit in the fermenter with some extra wheat malt, dex & a vial of Funktown yeast. 19lt batch but it won't be a super high gravity brew. Will dry hop with galaxy & citra.

My question is about bottle priming because I don't have a keg setup yet. I plan to prime half the batch normally in PET tallies and half prime the remainder in glass tallies so I can revisit them a few months down the track.

Would this be the safest option or can anyone suggest a better method?

Thanks guys, I'm really looking forward to this beer.


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## Engibeer

fattox said:


> Worked it out. Follow this to add it to your own library
> 
> [SIZE=11pt]Opening a BeerSmith 2 File (*.BSMX)[/SIZE]
> [SIZE=10pt]o[/SIZE] Select the Open command from the file menu or toolbar.
> [SIZE=10pt]o[/SIZE] Navigate to the file you wish to open - all BeerSmith 2 files use a proprietary XML format with the extension (.bsmx) such as "Recipes.bsmx"
> [SIZE=10pt]o[/SIZE] Press OK to open the file
> [SIZE=10pt]o[/SIZE] The file you just opened will be displayed in a separate tab with the file name as the title for the tab. When you close this tab you will be asked if you want to save the items in this file.
> [SIZE=10pt]o[/SIZE] To permanently keep items in the open file, you need to copy and paste them into your "My Recipes" folder or one of the Ingredients or Profiles folders for future use.



Thanks mate! I assume you mean open the .bsmx, select all, "copy" and then open the "yeast" file under "ingredients" from the menu tab and then "paste" the files there.

This is the method I used from your advice, worked well. Cheers.


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## mje1980

maaark said:


> Hey everyone, novice brewer here. Today I'm gonna chuck a pale ale wort kit in the fermenter with some extra wheat malt, dex & a vial of Funktown yeast. 19lt batch but it won't be a super high gravity brew. Will dry hop with galaxy & citra.
> My question is about bottle priming because I don't have a keg setup yet. I plan to prime half the batch normally in PET tallies and half prime the remainder in glass tallies so I can revisit them a few months down the track.
> Would this be the safest option or can anyone suggest a better method?
> Thanks guys, I'm really looking forward to this beer.


Be aware of final gravity before bottling in glass. Make sure it's under 1.010 at least, closer to 1.005. I use champagne bottles and make sure it's stable over a week at least ( preferably 2 ). Safest is to leave it in primary a good 2 weeks at least ( strain dependant, I haven't used that one ). 

Enjoy the funk


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## antiphile

About a fortnight ago I put together an Oktoberfest which will be too late for this year but should be ideal for Oktoberfest in March. It had quite a bit of vienna and munich in it and, since my last one was just a tad too rich and sweet, I wanted a little more attenuation. So the Yeast Bay Hessian Pilsner yeast was used.

Made a plenty big starter and pitched at 4c and let it climb to 7C. They recommend 7-8C for fermentation, but I found it was only dropping about 2 or 3 brewers points a day @7C, and only got 3 points a day @8C. I'm away for a fortnight, so just to encourage it a bit more it was upped to 9C, so it'll be interesting to see if its finished when I get back. But I've got high hopes for this one and suspect it will turn out to be boodyful.


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## maaark

mje1980 said:


> Enjoy the funk


Thanks MJE. I used belle saison once and I gave that about 3 weeks in the primary to make sure she was all finished up before bottling so I'll take the same care (or more) with Funktown.

Pitched 1 vial (no starter) into a 20lt 1052 wort on Saturday afternoon. After about 28 hours there was a small layer of foam forming. Woke up this morning after giving it another 8 hours or so and there was a 2 inch krausen so it's well on the move. Sitting at about 21 degrees C.


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## sharpcliff

Was a big fan of 100% Amalgamation in a RyeIPA with Motueka and Simcoe. Started super fruity but started to become funky after about a month. Reminded me of a fruity Orval.

Was also a big fan of the saison blend. Vermont and wallonian were also very good. Used the saison Brett blend, but on a fresh wort kit that I was suss about.. I'm thinking that I'll brew up a proper saison and pitch the saison Brett blend dregs into a starter for secondary.


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## fattox

I just pitched a mega bastard culture featuring the farmhouse sour, Brett amalgamation, melange and probably something else too from these guys, as well as a vial of dregs from a 100L lambic batch done on bug county and my own lambic dregs with Belgian sour mix. All into a Flanders red. I did a rye saison on wallonian farmhouse that was pretty tasty as well, did my swap beer recently on franconian dark lager and it's pretty solid, and got a vial of hessian pils to use too lol


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## maaark

maaark said:


> Pitched 1 vial (no starter) into a 20lt 1052 wort on Saturday afternoon. After about 28 hours there was a small layer of foam forming. Woke up this morning after giving it another 8 hours or so and there was a 2 inch krausen so it's well on the move. Sitting at about 21 degrees C.


OK, so the funktown had been sitting at 1006 for 6 days so last night I went to bottle it, took a gravity reading beforehand and now it is down to 1004 :huh:

I will give it until the weekend to see if it moves again before I bottle it, which will make it a total of 4 weeks in the FV. I'll bottle into PET or under-primed glass. It tastes delicious though, heaps of sweet pineapple flavour.


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## mje1980

Nice mate ! I've still got a lochristi sitting there. Debating whether to just use it on a cube of golden ale I've got sitting there. Will make a starter and leave it in the stir plate for a week first though.


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## hirschb

fattox said:


> I just pitched a mega bastard culture featuring the farmhouse sour, Brett amalgamation, melange and probably something else too from these guys, as well as a vial of dregs from a 100L lambic batch done on bug county and my own lambic dregs with Belgian sour mix. All into a Flanders red. I did a rye saison on wallonian farmhouse that was pretty tasty as well, did my swap beer recently on franconian dark lager and it's pretty solid, and got a vial of hessian pils to use too lol


How did you get Bug County in Australia? I'm planning to re-use some Bug County dregs that I'm bringing over from the States (assuming that Customs doesn't force me to dump the keg), but I'd love to be able to source ECY blends in AUS. Those vials are difficult enough to buy in the States, so I'm surprised someone in AUS has been able to get a hold of some.


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## fattox

antiphile said:


> About a fortnight ago I put together an Oktoberfest which will be too late for this year but should be ideal for Oktoberfest in March. It had quite a bit of vienna and munich in it and, since my last one was just a tad too rich and sweet, I wanted a little more attenuation. So the Yeast Bay Hessian Pilsner yeast was used.
> 
> Made a plenty big starter and pitched at 4c and let it climb to 7C. They recommend 7-8C for fermentation, but I found it was only dropping about 2 or 3 brewers points a day @7C, and only got 3 points a day @8C. I'm away for a fortnight, so just to encourage it a bit more it was upped to 9C, so it'll be interesting to see if its finished when I get back. But I've got high hopes for this one and suspect it will turn out to be boodyful.


If memory serves you said this went quite well when I was talking to you at the swap? I've got a vial sitting in the fridge but may source a few more, spin up a monster culture and split it with Ben on a German lager of some sort


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## fattox

hirschb said:


> How did you get Bug County in Australia? I'm planning to re-use some Bug County dregs that I'm bringing over from the States (assuming that Customs doesn't force me to dump the keg), but I'd love to be able to source ECY blends in AUS. Those vials are difficult enough to buy in the States, so I'm surprised someone in AUS has been able to get a hold of some.


Beersuit managed to find it (**** knows how) and get some over to Toowoomba Home brewers.
They did a lambic on it and barrel aged it, I got a vial of that off him. 




This is the Flanders red at 4 months old


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## seehuusen

What temp are you doing the flanders at mate? Im looking to put down a 100l barrel with red, beginning of next year


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## fattox

seehuusen said:


> What temp are you doing the flanders at mate? Im looking to put down a 100l barrel with red, beginning of next year


I see you are also getting one of Martin's barrels!

Hmm low 20's at the moment IIRC, about 22-23. I have a dedicated sour fridge that just has bug beers living in it


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## antiphile

fattox said:


> If memory serves you said this went quite well when I was talking to you at the swap? I've got a vial sitting in the fridge but may source a few more, spin up a monster culture and split it with Ben on a German lager of some sort


Sorry, Big Boy. I missed this one. I was very happy how it turned out except for me slighly overpriming it. It really is a lovely yeast if a little slower than some others. But I'm definately using it again. Included is the recipe (beersmith) and the fermentation profile (excel).

Cheers mate 

View attachment Okt-3-1.1.bsmx


View attachment OKT-AG-03.xlsx


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## kaiserben

I hate to be one of those guys stressing out about whether my yeast has stalled, but ...

Right now I'm using some TYB Franconian Dark Lager, which I'd really been looking forward to using. Building up the starter for it went like clockwork. 

I've got a lager with an OG of 1.057. I pitched roughly 500bn cells. As well as a lot of shaking I also gave it an initial blast of 90 seconds of pure O2 just before I pitched yeast into 8C wort. 
1 day later I let temp rise to 8.9C,
5 more days later I tested gravity (~1.034 but hard to be accurate because of the huge amount of CO2 fizz), 
3 more days later I tested gravity again and it was (less fizzy) about 1.032. So I allowed the temperature to rise to 9.7C. 
2 more days later I tested gravity and it was still at 1.032. So I allowed temperature to rise to 10.5C. 

I'm waiting for it to reach 67% attenuation (~1.018) before I bump temperature for diacetyl rest. 

I'm not worried about how long it's taking (although most lagers I've done - admittedly all at ~11C - have been 67% attenuated within 6 days). What's got me worried is that it seems to have parked itself at ~1.032 for the past 5 days (out of 11 total). 

Should I RDWHAHB? Or should I take some sort of action?


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## dannymars

I'd just start ramping the temp now personally. Dunno if that's right or not. since it's been sitting there doing nothing for 5 days you might wanna give a little rouse too.


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## kaiserben

Following up from post #99: 

After nudging the temp to 10.5C I waited 2 more days and it had finally dropped by 4 points (to 1.028).
So I'm going to leave it another 2 days and see where it is.


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## kaiserben

So ...

Another 2 days later and it had moved 2 more points to 1.026.
Showing a lack of patience I decided to bump the temp up to 11.5C (now higher than the recommended optimum range) AND give it a stir with a sanitised ss paddle (noticed a fairly large coagulated lump of yeast moving around when I disturbed the wort). 

And then 2 more days later and it had dropped 3 points to 1.023. 
Was expecting a bigger drop, so bumped the temp up again to 13C. 

Perhaps I'm not being patient enough. But it's really only crawling slowly downwards - and possibly only because I'm bumping the temps higher all the time (remembering it stalled at ~1.032 for 5 days or so and that kinda spooked me). 

I'm losing a lot of beer to all these gravity measurements :unsure:


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## Reman

I let my lagers get all the way up to 18c+ once they have gone over 50% of the expected gravity drop. So I'd let it warm up a lot more, swirl it up some more, though lager are bottom fermenting and you shouldn't really need to.

If after a week you still aren't getting a gravity drop try a fast ferment test and if that shows it has more to go I would just re-pitch a fresh pack.


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## kaiserben

Reman said:


> I let my lagers get all the way up to 18c+ once they have gone over 50% of the expected gravity drop. So I'd let it warm up a lot more, swirl it up some more, though lager are bottom fermenting and you shouldn't really need to.
> 
> If after a week you still aren't getting a gravity drop try a fast ferment test and if that shows it has more to go I would just re-pitch a fresh pack.


Yep - I usually go to 66% before letting it warm. So if 50% is acceptable then that makes me feel a bit more relaxed about what's happening with my current batch. 

I did manage to get to that 66% mark, but only after a few more days at 13C (so it spent quite a bit of time at a higher than recommended temp for the yeast strain). 
After that I let it free rise up to 18C (which took a few days, reaching 18C yesterday). 
I'll leave it a few more days at 18C then check gravity again (hopefully it'll then be finished fermenting).


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## MichaelM

I have recently bottled a batch of saison in which I used the Farmhouse sour ale yeast. It had been left in the fermenter for 2.5 months. Initially at 20C for two weeks and then at 15 for the remainder. OG 1.045 FG 1.004. It has been bottle carbonated for 3 weeks At 20C. The beer has a nice balance with a slightly tart finish and some fruity aromas coming through. I detect a slight salty taste which is pleasant. The beer is crystal clear in the glass with a good level of carbonation. Has anyone else had similar results with this yeast blend?


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## BPH87

Hey guys,

Just wondering who is stocking the Yeast Bay Strains in Australia these days?

Cheers,

Ben


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## DUANNE

http://www.homemakeit.com.au/collections/home-brew/Yeast-Bay


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## kaiserben

Another update- 

After I raised temp to 18C for a few days it appears to have finished at 1.016. That'll do, I guess. I've now got it bulk lagering (on the yeast) at 1C. Will hold it for 2 weeks before packaging, carbonating and serving (perhaps a little bit young) in time for Oktoberfest. 




BPH87 said:


> Just wondering who is stocking the Yeast Bay Strains in Australia these days?


I've been getting them from The Brew Shop.


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## Reman

kaiserben said:


> Another update-
> 
> After I raised temp to 18C for a few days it appears to have finished at 1.016. That'll do, I guess. I've now got it bulk lagering (on the yeast) at 1C. Will hold it for 2 weeks before packaging, carbonating and serving (perhaps a little bit young) in time for Oktoberfest.
> 
> 
> I've been getting them from The Brew Shop.


1.016 is pretty respectable, I'd be ok with that. How's it tasting before the lager?


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## kaiserben

Reman said:


> 1.016 is pretty respectable, I'd be ok with that. How's it tasting before the lager?


Tasting great. Nice and malty, but not at all too much body with gravity at that level. It'd be very drinkable as is, but should get even better with some lagering and carbonation.


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## kaiserben

Update on that previous Oktoberfest Bier using the Franconian Dark lager strain:

The finished beer was great even though we didn't really leave it to lager for very long. 4 of us got through the keg at a BBQ. We also tasted it alongside a commercial example (can't remember which, but my memory is telling me Hofbrau) and the commercial beer was noticeably clearer and had a stronger/sharper hit of maltiness to it. It also had a bit more sulfur on the nose, which I don't consider a positive. 

I'm now spinning up a starter of the same yeast for a Munich Dunkel. The tweaks I'm going to incorporate this time are: 

1. I'll put in a teaspoon of yeast nutrient (DAP) when boiling my wort. 
2. I'll give it ample O2 when pitching yeast. I might even give it a second blast of O2 about 8 hours after pitching. 
3. I won't stress about how long it's taking.


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