Howto: Capture Wild Yeast

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From the very first post in this thread:


That should answer how long you can leave something sitting around.

I must just not be saying this right. My question is, what do I do after it has been out for the right period of time? People post in this thread talking about using the same strain of wild thread for many brews. So, if I want Saccharomyces, I leave it out for two weeks. Is there no way to keep the yeast/starter so I don't have to pitch it the next day, once my two weeks is up?

Thanks for trying to help me here. I am not trying to be an idiot about this, promise. :mug:
 
I have tried to collect some wild yeast by taking a 500lm flask with ~1.040 wort made from some DME. I placed this out next to my budding hops which are in pots so they are off the ground and left it outside for about 10 hours while I was at work.

I did this with two flasks, one just got pretty moldy and the other got a little bit of mold and some bubbles. The first one I dumped recently but the other had a good 1-2" of krausen on the top. It has a cheese-esk smell to it. Is there any way to save the yeast in it? Like can I try and transfer it to another flask and try and keep the mold chunks out of that new batch.

I'll try and post a photo later of it.
 
I must just not be saying this right. My question is, what do I do after it has been out for the right period of time? People post in this thread talking about using the same strain of wild thread for many brews. So, if I want Saccharomyces, I leave it out for two weeks.Is there no way to keep the yeast/starter so I don't have to pitch it the next day, once my two weeks is up?

Thanks for trying to help me here. I am not trying to be an idiot about this, promise. :mug:


How long do want to store this sample?

FWIW - I do what maztec posted. I use sterile water for samples that I got from a agar plate. Its tiny though and stored in test tubes

Iowa_Yeast_Capture_-_50327_011.jpg


If I where wanting to save the sample for a week I'd just refrigerate it with it covered. I assume you plan to use it within a few weeks. Right?

If you have a stir plate you could leave it on that too.

I did a yeast washing on the dregs of my first batch and its just sitting in the fridge.

Wild_Wheat_0021.jpg
 
Hey Sacchromyces,

Have you ever made sourdough bread? I think that the problem that you are really having is that since it is too warm where you live, you are not getting the acid production from the yeast. When I make a sourdough starter, essentially you take water and flour and make a slurry, leave it out at room temp for about an hour uncovered and then throw some plastic wrap over the top in order to make it so that you don't get too much contamination. Then you leave it around 50* overnight, take it out the next day, add some more water and flour and uncover for an hour, then back to 50*. After three or four days you can put it into the fridge overnight (the souring begins to happen because at cooler temps the yeast produces acetic acid, warmer is lactic if memory serves me correctly.)

This all leads to capturing the wild yeast. You don't have to have the wort jar outside technically, just place it next to a screened window for 30 minutes and then place it into a cooler area (basement or fridge can work). Then bring it back out during the night and then back into the cool area during the day. I would imagine that in Texas you are looking at 100 degree days now, so during the night you should be getting down a little cooler than during the day. I live where it gets to 100 during the day and 50 at night, so it can be very happy with the schedule above. The fridge will help keep the bacteria at bay while the yeast will still put along at a relatively slower rate.

Try that for #3 and let us know what you think. :mug:
 
This all leads to capturing the wild yeast. You don't have to have the wort jar outside technically, just place it next to a screened window for 30 minutes and then place it into a cooler area (basement or fridge can work). Then bring it back out during the night and then back into the cool area during the day. I would imagine that in Texas you are looking at 100 degree days now, so during the night you should be getting down a little cooler than during the day. I live where it gets to 100 during the day and 50 at night, so it can be very happy with the schedule above. The fridge will help keep the bacteria at bay while the yeast will still put along at a relatively slower rate.

I'll let you know in about six months how that works. Even overnight temps are now too warm for another try. :(

I was thinking next time I will make up some hopped agar plates, I will add some acid to half and no acid to the other half. I'll expose one pair for one hour, another for two hours, the third for three hours, and so on. Then they will all go away to a cool dark place for a few weeks. Hopefully at least one of those plates will have colonies I can harvest for slants. I'll then try to build up a starter from each slant and select the most viable as my 'master copy'. As you said, my problem is that I'm leaving them out too long so they are getting contaminated with mold.
 
I'll let you know in about six months how that works. Even overnight temps are now too warm for another try. :(

I was thinking next time I will make up some hopped agar plates, I will add some acid to half and no acid to the other half. I'll expose one pair for one hour, another for two hours, the third for three hours, and so on. Then they will all go away to a cool dark place for a few weeks. Hopefully at least one of those plates will have colonies I can harvest for slants. I'll then try to build up a starter from each slant and select the most viable as my 'master copy'. As you said, my problem is that I'm leaving them out too long so they are getting contaminated with mold.

Sacch - Are you ever nearby the coast where you might cooler air off the gulf?
 
I'm not sure the warm temps would be such a huge problem. I would still try, just leave the plate out for short amounts of time. Yuo could also try manually ocllecting wild yeast. For instance, you could take a paperclip or bobby pin, or small piece of wire or something, heat it up with a lighter, let it cool, then stick it down into a flower and get some of the nectar, and rub that on the plate. I'm not sure if that would work, but it's worth a try!
 
I'm not sure the warm temps would be such a huge problem. I would still try, just leave the plate out for short amounts of time. Yuo could also try manually ocllecting wild yeast. For instance, you could take a paperclip or bobby pin, or small piece of wire or something, heat it up with a lighter, let it cool, then stick it down into a flower and get some of the nectar, and rub that on the plate. I'm not sure if that would work, but it's worth a try!

KingBrianI has a good idea. Shorter time and the flower idea.
 
What I had read on starting a culture is to do it in cooler months, because the risk of infection from mold and similar is far too high in the summer. Plus, the yeast apparently doesn't do as well in the summer.

Then again, that might vary by region.
 
What I had read on starting a culture is to do it in cooler months, because the risk of infection from mold and similar is far too high in the summer. Plus, the yeast apparently doesn't do as well in the summer.

Then again, that might vary by region.


I think its true, the bacteria can out compete the yeast.

Maybe a , 2-step variation, 1-hour open, let grow. Pull a inoculation sample and replate it in a sterile sample. Of course, try to pick up yeast over mold. One might try to propagate at 68F too.
 
Mine have been in the bottle for over 3 weeks now. I'll go ahead and chill one down to sample later tonight. I sent a bottle of these to each of my 999 recipients so I better find out if it's turned completely nasty or not before any of them crack one open!
 
Take a picture when you have it in the glass so that we can see what it looks like.
 
Thanks to olllllo for putting this up as a sticky.... I thought the data was great so I pm'd him.... This is opening up a whole new world.... I've got samples all over the place to catch the essence of where I placed them.... here's my list of planned brews:

compost pile pale,
panty drawer stout,
living room lager,
patio IPA...

just kidding of course, I've got a test going near the crab apple tree off the patio. I do wonder if I should have some sort of cover to keep out the rain/bugs ect or just let nature take it's course???
 
panty drawer stout,

Might be some viscious yeast in that sample, I would watch out!

I bet it would have fishy,tuna-like esters during fermentation! :cross:

My beer is in the 2ndary still. I had two ferments initially and wondered if I would have a late fermentation to attenuate this beer to 1.000.

I have yet to see anything form, like a pellicle, on top of the beer nor has the airlock budged a bit with CO2 activity. It was at 1.006 almost 4 weeks ago. I should pull another sample to see if its dropped below 1.006

I'm gonna bottle. At this low of a level it shouldn't be an issue. There's not much left for anything to eat and the ABV level is 4.5%

When I started, I had subscribed to the fact that I might have to wait longer for this beer to get done. I'd figured it was better to just play it slow. Watch and learn...

A buddy of mine still thinks in six months this will be infected. I kind of think thats what I started with all along. So yes maybe he's right! :rockin:
 
As I posted a few pages back mold took over my first few attempts so I will try again when the weather cools and the humidity drops.

In the meantime I think I will try to culture yeast from grain. I used a wild grain culture I held overnight around 120*F to innoculate some Berliner Weiss with lacto; it wasn't very sour when I transferred it last week, but it overattenuated, so I am pretty sure I got some brett in there. My plan is to create a grain culture on the stir plate, acid wash it, and then repitch into fresh wort for a few generations. If it's a little sour that is fine by me. I don't think it will develop much lacto on the stir plate, since brett and sacc love oxygen and lacto don't.
 
Well, this experiment is a complete success. I've gotta do this instead of spending 6-10 bucks a bottle on belgians! The bottle wasn't quite carbonated yet, but had a decent amount of carbonation. There was a bit of sweetness from the priming sugar that hasn't fermented yet. But the flavor, OMG! It's uncanny how much this tastes like some of the better belgians I've had. How can a yeast I caught in my kitchen compare so favorably to the yeasts they've selected over hundreds of years at the belgian breweries? I don't know but it is quite a pleasant surprise. All the esters you expect are there. The slight pepperiness of the phenols is there. Even a slight Brett character is hiding in the background, rounding out the flavors and creating quite a pleasant whole. The head became little rafts that are still floating around halfway through the glass. The wheat is really coming through and blending with the little bit of priming sugar sweetness and some of the banana-y esters. The tartness that I was tasting in the gravity sample is now completely gone. It's all quite impressive. Given some time to prime completely and to age a bit, this one will be a real winner.

DSC_0566.jpg
 
So I left out an OG hydrometer sample in my dining room before I pitched the other day. 48hrs later it was bubbling away and smells great. Should I just pitch this into a starter?
 
I'm using the wild yeast I captured back in April (Thanks to this forum, which explained how to do it) in a batch of mead to see how it turns out. I'm so excited! Unfortunetly, mead takes a long time to ferment, so it might be September before I get the results. :(
 
This is a great thread! KingBrianI, that looks phenomenal, plus since you live the next town over, I know you can propagate some good yeast strains around here. Once the weather cools down, I'll definitely be trying this.
 
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