Wild Yeast Curiosity/Concerns

Probably not something I'll plan until next summer at the earliest. I was intrigued by capturing local wild yeast to brew beer, and wanted to see what I could come up with in my area.

From what I understood, the production of alcohol during the fermentation process creates an environment that's not hospitable to pathogens.

...Just a double-check for general health and safety...is that accurate? Even if I brew the foulest, sourest of lambics, no one's gonna get food poisioning, yeast AIDS, beer tumors, etc etc?

no.

eastoak said:

no.

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Good...next year we're going to see what northwestern Wisconsin and St. Paul have to offer.

Try collecting it before summer though. Bacteria tends to be more prominent in warmer temperatures, so if you can grab something at around 40 degrees or so that's supposed to be preferable. I had a good one going last fall that was smelling really nice until the plumber was doing stuff in the basement while I was gone and knocked it off of a shelf. I was really sad.

lowtones84 said:

Try collecting it before summer though. Bacteria tends to be more prominent in warmer temperatures, so if you can grab something at around 40 degrees or so that's supposed to be preferable. I had a good one going last fall that was smelling really nice until the plumber was doing stuff in the basement while I was gone and knocked it off of a shelf. I was really sad.

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+1 Spring and Fall are supposed to be the best time to try this sort of thing.

Check out the Lambic & Wild Brewing section - you'll find a number of posts there about collecting and brewing with wild yeast. If you're interested, I also have a few blog posts about my experience with doing this - http://www.brewbybrew.com/search/label/Wild Yeast