Dead Guy Clone

Ordered my Dead Guy Ale Clone , then received an email that they're backordered on Pacman yeast for a couple weeks

So question is....do i wait it out for the Pacman, or order one of their two suggestions (American West Coast, or Safale Ale Yeast) Both of them dry..

Idk depends on if you're up for waiting. I used US-05 with Yooper's clone recipe posted here on HBT and I thought it was a dead ringer for Dead Guy.

If your willing to drive up to Covina with a 6pak of homebrews I'll trade you for a mason jar of washed Pacman??

Haha can't drive up there, live in south Texas. My question is, is the pacman worth the wait? I want it to taste as close to dead guy as possible, if the yeast is a small factor (as far as between that and the subs) then ill just get the other...

Didn't know there was a Long Beach in Texas!! Anyway it's a clean fermenting yeast that's close to WLP001 (which is a California Ale yeast) but way quicker!! 7-9 days at your at FG probably sooner but that's when I start to check I usually leave it 14 days and it's done cleaning up after itself. If you wash your yeast it'll be worth the wait, I use it in all my ales. Make it your house yeast?

Haha just moved here from Long Beach, CA to El Paso, TX (military move) need to update that. So Pacman would just be faster? Plus I have no clue how to wash/reuse yeast

I'd wait for pacman, especially if you're trying to clone a Rogue beer. Sure, another yeast will get sort of close, but pacman is in a league of it's own IMO.

DixonBeer said:

Haha just moved here from Long Beach, CA to El Paso, TX (military move) need to update that. So Pacman would just be faster? Plus I have no clue how to wash/reuse yeast

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Oh ok .... it's easy just need mason jars the smaller ones are $9 for a dozen at Walmart I used this thread the water is cooling while I'm bottling
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/

DixonBeer said:

Haha just moved here from Long Beach, CA to El Paso, TX (military move) need to update that. So Pacman would just be faster? Plus I have no clue how to wash/reuse yeast

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You could use any "clean" well attenuating ale yeast with good results. I've used most of them with my Dead Guy clone. I liked them all. You just want to make sure to keep the fermentation temperatures at the bottom of the chosen yeast strain's range- 60 degrees or so for pacman, 64 or so for S05. It's the cool temperature "clean" fermentation that makes Dead Guy a maibock-style ale (what Rogue calls it).

Yooper said:

You could use any "clean" well attenuating ale yeast with good results. I've used most of them with my Dead Guy clone. I liked them all. You just want to make sure to keep the fermentation temperatures at the bottom of the chosen yeast strain's range- 60 degrees or so for pacman, 64 or so for S05. It's the cool temperature "clean" fermentation that makes Dead Guy a maibock-style ale (what Rogue calls it).

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Ok so what would be the best way to keep the temp in that range? I live in the desert so it's 90+ degrees outside daily and where my carboy sits, it's fluctuates from 72-78 degrees?

Yooper said:

You just want to make sure to keep the fermentation temperatures at the bottom of the chosen yeast strain's range- 60 degrees or so for pacman, 64 or so for S05. It's the cool temperature "clean" fermentation that makes Dead Guy a maibock-style ale (what Rogue calls it).

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+1.

I kept mine in the 62 to 64 range. (US-05)

@Dixon, you would effectively need a fermentation chamber with those temps. A freezer and temp controller would be a nice option. There are many threads here that involve builds of a similar nature. No matter what, I'd want to get your temps down to a more manageable level.

DixonBeer said:

Ok so what would be the best way to keep the temp in that range? I live in the desert so it's 90+ degrees outside daily and where my carboy sits, it's fluctuates from 72-78 degrees?

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It really depends on how hard it is to maintain cooler temperatures. I live in a cool climate, so I just do a cooler with an ice/water bath and it keeps my fermenting beer just fine at 62 degrees.

Here's a photo of my set up:


That works well in 75 degrees for me, but you may have more trouble in an extreme climate. Some people use little fridges with a temperature controller, or do swamp coolers, and even build a chamber for temperature control. It really depends on how much effort you want to put into it, as well as money.

A fermenting beer may easily be 10 degrees warmer than ambient temperature, as fermentation itself produces heat. Generally, for ales you want to have the beer under 72 degrees and ideally even lower than that.

Ok thanks everyone for your help!