Another wild yeast fermentation

[Not For Horses]

Had a massive kraussen going over the weekend so I decided to brew tonight.
Pitched a 500ml starter in a 10L batch of Vienna/wheat.

 

[TimT]

Coming up to the week now and I'm getting a small yeast cake at the bottom. I've taken it out to the shed because as it apparently contains a brettanomyces (or something related that formed the pellicle) I may be waiting quite a while for stuff to happen, and also I didn't want it to get into my study (if it hasn't already). Actually it seems likely - considering the development of a cake - that there's other yeast in there too, including a relatively fast-fermenting one too. I hadn't been ready to try my hand at sours and brettanomyces beer but it looks like I'd better get ready.....

We're out of our own apples now but I'm having fun, I think I might try using a few of our rose hips to make further starters.

 

[Kiwifirst]

I'll have a crack at my fejoia starter this weekend.

 

[Kiwifirst]

Ok so I have had a rough go at this wild yeast farming. I have no idea if this is going to work, but I made up a litre of starter with 100g of DME, cooled it and split it into three. Then threw some fejoias of the tree in it. Two of the beakers had scooped out fruit and one had whole fruit. Be interesting to see if anything starts cooking.

 

[Kiwifirst]

Nothing much happening yet. Have bumped the temp up in the cupboard to about 24c and given everything a shake.

 

[TimT]

Could be a while before it gets going, three to five days is often the time frame given in those recipes I've read that require you to get a wild yeast starter (eg, ginger beer bug, sourdough).

 

[Kiwifirst]

I think it will be much happier now the cupboard is warmer. I'll keep you posted late in the week. I think I made the starter a bit big, probably should have started smaller and grew into it.

 

[Kiwifirst]

Have some light activity on the surface of the two jars that had peel only, the jar with the full fruit was still uneventful, I gave it a bit of a shake to oxygenate and one fruit fell to pieces. I'll leave them with the fruit in for another couple of days, until strong activity and then decant off the pulp.

This is fun

 

[Not For Horses]

Mine is still fermenting away nicely. Fairly sure I've got a brettanomyces strain. Got some farty smells but they were slowly replaced with fruity/oaky/earthy smells. The other starter on the stirplate finished and there is a big cake left.

 

[Kiwifirst]

I don't think I have yeast activity, just skunky mold growth. Might need to decant and get the fruit out.

 

[Kiwifirst]

Now we're cooking.

 

[Kiwifirst]

Two out of three of the samples are now ripping through the fresh wort. Developing a nice little cake, probably still only half a teaspoon of yeast at this stage. Had a sniff and risked a taste of one fully under way. Well when I say tast, more like a dab on the lip.

So they don't smell bad or skunky. They smell tart, sharp with a bit of fruit. It does remind me of a sour beer I had in Germany.

Loving this project,

 

[Kiwifirst]

Very interesting, I have one jar now finished with maybe 10ml of yeast cake and a mild beer smell from wort on top. Chilling that for a decant and step up starter.
Two other jars still smelling fruity and sharp.

 

[Kiwifirst]

I am going to make 5l batch of pale ale with one of these just to see the flavour. Then maybe get some Petrie dishes and start seeing what I have in the other two.

 

[Kiwifirst]

I blame you for this Tim.

I now have on order, petri dishes, small vials, little 30ml bottles, not quite sprung for the bunsen burner yet as I hope to find one at the local trash and treasure.

 

[Midnight Brew]

Where did you end up ordering the petri dishes from? Something I've always wanted to try.

 

[Kiwifirst]

On ebay, Hong Kong supplier, got a range of things and then spent an hour admiring and laughing at what else they had.
I have some dental instruments that I will use for scrapping and making your own agar seems easy enough.

But there is a whole load of suppliers for the disposable dishes. Brought an extra pack because I thought I would run some bacteria experiments with the kids before and after washing hands. Good time with a load of gastro going around the school. There is foot and mouth too, be interesting to get a swab of that and see what it looks like. I reckon a Foot'n'Mouth APA wouldn't have the friends hankering to try that.

Decided tonight to step one of the wild cultures out on a 750ml starter with a bit of cascade hops before I throw it in a 5l batch. Hoping that the hops will inhibit some of the more funky strains and allow the better ones through.

 

[Mardoo]

Thanks for the continued posting Kiwifirst. I'm lovin' it!

 

[Kiwifirst]

Oh good, did feel like I hijacked this thread somewhat.

When I get the wild yeast onto the plates I will did out the macro lens and do some shots of the growth.

 

[Kiwifirst]

Ok tonight I pitched the wild fejoia yeast that I have been building into a 5l SMaSH of pale ale and Victoria Secret hop.
Starting OG is around 1.034

Made up a batch from a kg of pale. 6 g at 15mins of VS and then another 6 at 5.

Going to ferment at 20c