Another wild yeast fermentation

[Kiwifirst]

Well I am sitting here supping on a pretty nice APA. So I have to say my wild yeast experiment is an success.

But, I know realise I don't know how describe the yeast, I guess being a hoppy pale ale means it is not completely obvious anyway. But my beer tastes similar to other APA's I have made with a US05.

I guess next step is to make something lighter in hop flavour and see what it does. Not sure what could be. A British mild? I find hem a bit boring to drink though. A steam ale?

I have rinsed the yeast and have at least 100mls for the next brew.

 

[Midnight Brew]

May be boring but:
100% Base
FWH to 20 IBU
Wild Child Yeast

Could always make a smaller batch or even use a lower carbonation level and syringe it. A steam ale or blonde ale would be right on the money I think, just have to dial back the late additions for the first batch.

 

[hijukal]

Well, I've racked my wild yeast experiment into a 5L glass demijohn to leave for 6-12 months:

I also washed the yeast, in two 1L jars, and after a couple of days it still hasn't settled out yet, the bottom 2/3 of the mason jars are still really cloudy. Sure taking its time!

SG is currently 1.004 (from OG of 1.048). I tasted it and it still has the same harsh taste it started with, but hopefully time will fix that up. I'd really like to add some sort of wood stave or spiral to harvest some of the bugs that way too -- anyone got some suggestions on suitable wood in the Melbourne area?

 

[Not For Horses]

My second group of bugs is completely different to the first lot.
This batch went through a slow-ish but still fairly normal ferment and produced some sulfury yeasty smells then that changed to some aceto/lacto type smells and in the last couple of days it has gone mental and started climbing out of the demi.

 

[Kiwifirst]

Well, I've racked my wild yeast experiment into a 5L glass demijohn to leave for 6-12 months:?

Wow! Why so long?

 

[Not For Horses]

Just had a hydro sample of my second batch of bugs. It is currently at 1.030.
It smells really good. Fruity with a definite pineapple note but it tastes like a sweet rubber glove. Very conflicting.

 

[hijukal]

Wow! Why so long?

Well, it'll need some time to (hopefully) scrub off the harsh flavours. But possibly more importantly, if there are any Brett bugs present, I want to give them time to do their thing. I'm not in any rush, though the yeast I've washed will need to be used or properly stored soon.

It smells really good. Fruity with a definite pineapple note but it tastes like a sweet rubber glove. Very conflicting.

So, like Crown Golden Ale?

 

[TimT]

I've been a bit slack on this but I finally sampled my second attempt at a wild yeast starter (the one that I think was/is a Brett).

Stats: the gravity went down from the high 90s to about 28. I think activity had appreciably ceased when we had a run of cold days. To make my starter I used a few tablespoons of malt extract, dissolved them in water with a few unscientific sloshes of vinegar (hoping the acidic environment would kill off bacteria. Er, yeah.... moving on now....)

Anyway, the smells and flavours are all very interesting. Definite alcoholic smells, with a hint of wine-iness, too. I'm also getting a hint of the smells I get from my older meads - a kind of toffee/caramelly/woodsy whiff. I'm assuming this comes mainly because a) the starting gravity in this one was quite high, hence making for a lot of malty aromas, and b) the Brett's been breaking down some of the malt sugars that a Saccharomyces mightn't be able to. I also get an acidity - I think that's probably mostly the vinegar, though I think there is some bacteria in there too - and a slight fruitiness, which would mainly be from the peel.

So all in all not a bad experiment.

I've been afraid of doing something with this one because of the probable presence of bacteria. I don't really have the equipment to isolate the Brett on its own. But maybe I can just run with it. Next time we get some warm days I might make a second starter with the intention of building this yeast up.

 

[TimT]

Rebottled the yeast with some fresh malt. I'm going to attempt to make a few starters to get the yeast numbers up.

 

[mofox1]

I've been afraid of doing something with this one because of the probable presence of bacteria. I don't really have the equipment to isolate the Brett on its own. But maybe I can just run with it. Next time we get some warm days I might make a second starter with the intention of building this yeast up.

Have you tried hitting it with an acid wash, or chlorine dioxide (from sodium chlorite)?

Purportedly the chlorine dioxide will kill off the bacteria leaving the yeast unscathed... I've used it for rinsing fermenter slurry berfore and the yeast have certainly fired up in a starter later on with no issues. HOWEVER - I obviously have no idea if it is actually accomplishing anything, or even if there was anything to accomplish in the first place.

I'm not going to go all evangelical on this. It may work, it may be hokum. Here is the article that inspire my own experiements: http://www.birkocorp.com/brewery/white-papers/coming-clean-a-new-method-of-washing-yeast-with-chlorine-dioxide/

They don't profit directly from the results, so it's not like an oil company doing their own eco impact statements... but it's still from the wild world web of binkini clad deer hunters.

And it might help to isolate your strain(s).

 

[TimT]

Decided to go the gung ho approach. Just let the bacteria have fun with the yeast

To tell the truth on tasting it the other week there weren't noticeable signs of lactic souring. Lots of funk and mustiness and odd winey tastes. But no noticeable souring.

 

[Kiwifirst]

I have now run a AIPA batch through the Newport Wild Yeast. I was finishing off a Hefe in the same cupboard and had just begun warming it up a couple of degrees to finish off. So my wild yeast ran much warmer than I was planning, probably 23-25 (the Hefe was 21). It was pretty done in 3 and finished in 4. It definitely didn't smell that great, more like a light rocket fuel smell. But I left it for two weeks at 18c and it certainly settled.

No conditioning time as the kegs are empty, so tried it last night. I put a lot of hops in this, including dry hopping in that two week rest. But either the high ferment temp of the yeast seems to back those hop aromas considerably.

Washing the yeast again for third gen. Going to petri dish it next weekend and freeze so that I keep a strain.

 

[TimT]

My latest starter - about 1-1.5 L - has had time to age and ferment out.

Similar cidery/winey quality (I like it, it retains some of the original qualities of the apples it came from but it's still got a full bodied beer taste). Apple smell combined with a bit of fungusy funk in the nose. Doesn't have the kind of toffee/woodsy/meady smells that my first starter gave off, but I'm assuming this is because it's much younger than my first ferment. And it's proved to be a strong performer, chewing through about 60 sugar points (SG around 1.080, FG around 1.019).

No idea about other Bretts, but this yeast is bloody weird, so when fermenting a full-blown ale with it I think my plan is just going to be give it LOTS of time.

So now I'm building up the starter to 2L - 2.5 L. When that's started up, I'll build it up a bit more - then maybe I'll have enough over the weekend/early next week to do a 4.5 L ferment. Things are getting fun!

 

[TimT]

Got a 4.5 L mild fermenting away on my Brett at the moment. Very healthy. I've had this damn fermenter sitting in my shed for months now and it's never had an infection (aside from the infection I've been feeding, that is). I haven't bothered to give it any heat source because I pretty much want it to retain that wild vigour and HTFU, as Chopper would say. Besides, the shed can get quite toasty warm in the day. I'm going to drink this mild fairly fresh because partly it's intent is to build the yeast up more; when it's fermented out in a week I want to straight away pitch an IPA base onto the yeast cake and do a fairly long ferment.

As for the previous fermented starter that I'd built up on it (just from a water/malt crystal solution) - it had a strong bready vibe to it! I've had it in some saisons. Very nice.

Meantime, got another wild yeast fermenting a dark ale away in my study. I'm having fun now