Harvesting Rogue Yeast From Bottle

In lieu of using a saved yeast cake (US-05) on my next batch, I decided to try harvesting Pacman yeast from two bombers - 1 Shakespeare Stout and 1 Northwestern Ale.

I don't have any fancy equipment, so I decided to use a 1-liter plastic bottle that was previously used for seltzer water. It's probably about 3/4 of the way full.

Instead of using tin foil, I sanitized the cap and put it on loosely, swirling as much as I can and closing the cap completely to shake it up every so often. Here's what it looks like after settling for about 20 minutes....



I have a few questions to those with more experience:

1) It's been about 48 hours, and I'm thinking of getting a 2-liter or gallon sized bottle to step up the starter. Should I do this soon or wait a couple more days to finish the initial fermentation?

2) How long can you keep a starter at room temperature before going to the fridge for longer-term storage?

3) My next brew should have an OG of around 1.075 so I want a good amount of yeast to pitch - how do I know when the starter is large enough?

Please help me out, this is my first time trying anything besides pitching re-hydrated dry yeast!

Did you know Wyeast sells a Rogue pacman yeast? This seems like too much work when you can just buy it.

1. After 48 hours, you should be fine to start stepping up.
2. 4-5 is all I usually let it sit out for.
3. http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

Also, use a lower gravity wort (1.020) for stepping up, so you don't put too much extra stress on the yeast.

Suthrncomfrt1884 said:

Did you know Wyeast sells a Rogue pacman yeast? This seems like too much work when you can just buy it.

1. After 48 hours, you should be fine to start stepping up.
2. 4-5 is all I usually let it sit out for.
3. http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

Click to expand...

When and where can Pacman yeast be bought? I'd like to brew this weekend.

Suthrncomfrt1884 said:

Did you know Wyeast sells a Rogue pacman yeast? This seems like too much work when you can just buy it.

1. After 48 hours, you should be fine to start stepping up.
2. 4-5 is all I usually let it sit out for.
3. http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

Click to expand...

I did know they sell it, but this way is more FUN! I enjoy DIY whenever it can be done. As someone mentioned on a previous thread, you buy a bomber and you get the yeast for free... :rockin:

Unfortunately I didn't take the OG of the wort when I poured it in, however I used 1/2 cup of DME in about 16 oz of water, and I poured in about 1-inch of the dregs from each bomber bottle, which I'd imagine would be about 4-5 more oz.

I'm going to crash cool and decant since the starter is very dark due to the stout.

Thought Pacman was seasonal/private collection, and currently unavailable?

I just bought some at my LHBS a week ago. They had several packs of it. It's available year round at some shops.

Yes, Pacman is part of the private collection. My LHBS has some available though, so I'm assuming that wyeast still has stock of it.

BigRob said:

Thought Pacman was seasonal/private collection, and currently unavailable?

Click to expand...

Austin Homebrew has it in stock:

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_21_77_327_329&products_id=10839

I just got a pack from Amazon, dated 5/2011 4.99 + shipping

There's one distributor who carries fresh Pacman year-round and sells it to LHBS's. I got some from Rebel Brewer a while back, but they seem to be out of stock at the moment. Fortunately, my LHBS has a reliable supply of it. I use it nearly exclusively for American styles.

Harvesting seems to me the economical route.

I've harvested it before just to see if I could do it and it turned out great. Took it out of 4 Oatmeal Stouts and put it in a Chocolate Stout.

It look like mine is doing well...

Smells a little like the first Mr. Beer batch I did when it was fermenting, but I have it in a gallon Arizona iced tea bottle, about a 1/4 of the way full and there is much more yeast flocculating out when I let it settle now.

I'm thinking about stepping it up to 1/2 gallon, although it's been out at room temp for about 6 days now. Is there any harm in letting it sit another 2-3 if I step up?