Wild Yeast: Harvested Last Week, Pitched Today

[Brulosopher]

About a week ago, I had some leftover Cream Ale wort. So I took about 500 mL, put it in a pitcher, placed that pitcher under a bush in my yard for 4 hours, then moved that (hopefully) inoculated solution to a flask.

Here are some pics and details. I promise to deliver when the results are in!

http://brulosopher.imgur.com/fresno_goes_wild

 

[JollyIsTheRoger]

Awesome, I've been wanting to do something like this but haven't gotten around to it yet. Interested to see how it comes out for you. Maybe I'll mix up some starter wort and try it this week.

 

[Brulosopher]

Awesome, I've been wanting to do something like this but haven't gotten around to it yet. Interested to see how it comes out for you. Maybe I'll mix up some starter wort and try it this week.

My philosophy was basically, "this is how they did it before they knew there was yeast." I've been reading about all these sophisticated ways of harvesting yeast, plating it, isolating a cell, growing it back up, etc, etc. I just wanted to experiment a bit, and the whole thing has cost me maybe $5 and a couple hours of my time.

 

[mb82]

Looks awesome.

 

[JLem]

Nice. I did a wild yeast fermentation a year ago and got some good results. I thought I had a thread here about it, but can't seem to locate it (though I have some posts on my blog if you're interested in checking them out - http://www.brewbybrew.com/search/label/Wild Yeast).

I think this type of experimentation has a lot of potential. Good luck. Keep us all posted on how things go.

 

[motorneuron]

Great work, and let us know how it goes. I have harvested wild yeast before too--but only for making a sourdough starter! I will have to try it with beer one of these days too.

 

[Brulosopher]

24 hours since pitching and it's fermenting beautifully!! Smells quite nice too.

 

[richbrew99]

This weekend I am brewing a Belgian Pale Ale using wlp550 in primary and then doing an open secondary to capture any wild yeast in my area for a refermentation.

 

[Brulosopher]

Kraeusen:

Odd looking, but it's fermenting.

 

[signpost]

Looks like a bunch of hop gunk.

 

[Brulosopher]

And tonight:


Has a rather pleasant smell, actually

 

[Veedo]

Cool, curious to how it tastes.

 

[signpost]

No gravity reading yet, I suppose.

 

[Brulosopher]

No gravity reading yet, I suppose.

I brewed it last Monday and figure I'll take a SG reading either Sunday or Monday, and taste it. I checked it a few days ago once the airlock stopped bubbling, the kraeusen had dropped and the aroma was rather pleasant actually- sort of like a mix between a Kölsch and Bavarian Hef yeast, no funk whatsoever... yet.

 

[Brulosopher]

Measured the SG, it's right about 1.010... not too bad! The flavor and aroma are, well, interesting. While I made no mineral additions, I picked up what I can best describe as a salty flavor. I think I'll bottle next weekend, assuming the SG hasn't changed and there's no pellicle. My plan is to crash it for 24+ hours then bottles directly from primary, using carb caps to carbonate. I'll be honest, I don't have too high of hopes for this... beer?