I've gotta say I'm incredibly psyched by what seems to be a movement building an incredible amount of inertia in the US brewing community. Primarily driven by homebrewers and bubbling up (pun intended) to craft brewers. The cultivation of wild American yeasts for brewing is something that I don't think has happened in over a hundred years. And certainly never on this scale. The dawn of a new era, my friends! This has the potential to radically change beer in this country.
I'm interested in learning more about people's techniques: Is a small sample of weak wort most effective for starting the yeast, or has anyone tried a similar approach to mine? Is anyone isolating individual strains with Agar plates, or just using the redneck approach like me? How would you do a honey harvest: throw a glob of honey into a starter?
Also, what kind of fermentation should I expect when I pitch this into a beer? I've heard they tend to run longer and attenuate strongly. The owner of Mystic told me that wild yeasts tend to work, stall, then pick up again. His rationale for this was that wild yeasts go through a sexual reproduction phase first, then switch to asexual when the sugars get low. Brewers yeast strains have bred this characteristic out of them.
Thanks a ton for keeping this going, and for the encouraging info!
BTW, my blueberry liquor is running along beautifully. Fermentation is not vigorous, but steady, and the yeast is a light fluffy cloud at the bottom of the jar. Wonderful sweet blueberry aroma; the sourness has all disappeared.