Pacman Yeast Starter Video

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wedge421

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This is a Pacman yeast starter I harvested from a bottle of Rogues Brutal Bitter. I poured 3/4 of the bottle into a glass and drank it of course. I then made a starter of 16oz of water and 1/2 cup of DME and boiled. I then cooled the wort and sanitized the neck and mouth of the bottle and poured the rest of the Brutal Bitter into the starter and started spinning it. Super easy to do.

[YOUTUBE]<object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PvUnRNT3U0c"> </param> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PvUnRNT3U0c" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="350"> </embed> </object>[/YOUTUBE]
 
movie is not loading for me, could you provide a link for me to youtube of it?
 
let us know if it is a success

When does this yeast usually go on sale and who carries it? i thought it was sold sometime in 2007.
 
Kevin Dean said:
IIRC Wyest is releasing this again shortly, I think I saw an ad in BYO this month.

Well, a few weeks back when someone posted that they thought it was already available, I went to my LHBS, and he did some calling to his distributor...He was told that the pacman WOULD NOT be sold individually that you could now only get it in the Brewcraft Dead Guy Clone kit....

So I really don't know...

Needless to say thanks to wedge's video I have a erlynmeyer flask spinning with some yeast from the bottle of Shakespear's Stout (which had a nice yeasty layer in the bottom of it, AND it was one of the bests stout's I've ever tasted.)

I'm going to boost it later with some more from another bottle...Should I boost it AND add another 2 cups of wort...Or boost what I got with more yeast then build up the volume tomorrow?
 
I now have the starter up to 1000ml and the yeast if flocculating great. I probably have close to 2 starters worth of yeast in this batch. And yes from what I understand you can only get the yeast in the Dead Guy Clone kit. So i figured instead of spending $40 on the kit I would just $4 on the beer and clone it. I just ordered a 2000ml flask so im gonna try to increase it in that and then harvest the yeast off into freezable containers as shown in Yuris vids.
 
I cultured some of this from a bottle of Shakespeare Stout - man does that yeast grow up quick! I used it in my DFH 60 min clone, it went from 1.060 to 1.008. I used a 1.040 starter wort and it worked great.
 
Well I was a little worried about mine, it didn't appear to take off for 48 hours (The temp in my apartment took a nosedive to the low 50's at night the first 2 nights.) Yesterday morning I shut the windows as I was leaving for work and the place got back up into the 60's.

Last night I shut down the stirplate to let it flocculate out, and this morning I was rewarded with a nice quarter inch layer of yeasties at the bottom of my flask.

This was from the sludge from 2 bottles of Shakespeare stout, & 2 cups of water boiled with 1/2 cup DME....

I have 2 more bombers of stout, so the question is/are;

Should just feed the existing yeasties more wort (another 2 cups?)

Should I feed with more wort AND add MORE Yeast Sludge from the other bottles?

Should I just add more yeast sludge and not feed it more wort? (This one doesn't make sense to me.)

Or should I make a second harvest with the other 2 bottles of Stout?
 
Professor Frink said:
I would just give the yeasties more wort, sounds like you've woken them up, that's all you need for them to take off.

Cool! I read what you wrote earlier about the strength of the wort...How much should I make up for this round of feeding?

And I plan on drinking one of the stouts tonight...I'd hate to just rinse out the good stuff....Should I get ready to start a seperate harvest with it? I've got plenty of dme...
 
If you're at 2 cups (16 oz), I would bump it up to at least 1 quart, but you would be fine going up to 1/2 gallon. As far as the other bottle, I would start a separate starter for that, just in case those yeast aren't viable or you get an infection etc. From my days in the lab, I've learned it's always good to have a backup.
 
Professor Frink said:
If you're at 2 cups (16 oz), I would bump it up to at least 1 quart, but you would be fine going up to 1/2 gallon. As far as the other bottle, I would start a separate starter for that, just in case those yeast aren't viable or you get an infection etc. From my days in the lab, I've learned it's always good to have a backup.

Thanks so much! :rockin:

How much Dme per quart of water?

This is my first time harvesting so this is all n00bism to me.:D
 
Can't believe I just made the common mistake of confusing fluid ounces with ounces by weight... In my defense, I hadn't finished my coffee. I've been using a scale for so long I don't even think about measuring out dry ingredients by volume. My usual ratio is the same as Professor Frink's - 1oz (by weight) DME per cup of water.
 
Is it possible to propogate yeast from a bottle without the help of a stirplate? I've got a couple bombers of dead guy with some sediment and i've been wanting to try. Is it even worth it without a stirplate?
 
hal simmons said:
Is it possible to propogate yeast from a bottle without the help of a stirplate? I've got a couple bombers of dead guy with some sediment and i've been wanting to try. Is it even worth it without a stirplate?

Sure, I did mine without a stirplate.
 
Plus remember you have significantly less yeast then is in a starter pack from Wyeast or White Labs. Give it time it will grow.
 
So last night around midnight I pitched the last 1/4 of a dead guy bomber into two cups of wort, stuck an airlock on and went to bed. I wake up this morning and i've got around 1/4" of yeast already in the bottom of the growler and by mid morning the airlock is burping a bit. I'm really surprised how fast it took off.
 
So yesterday I brewed a basic amber ale. While contemplating my yeast choices I decided to go ahead and use one of my batches of harvested pacman (I mean why go through the effort if I was just going to let the precious pacman sit in a mason jar, right?)

I decided to use the batch that was still sitting on my stirplate (It had been off for 24 hours to flocculate) since it was at room temp. Poured off the wort and washed the yeast with some distilled water....

I pitched it into my well oxigentated wort (using my new airstone and regulator).

And less than 12 hours later I have happy bubbling in my airlock!!!! Go baby go!

pacman.gif
 
what is the purpose of the stir plate? do you keep it on the entire first 48 hrs to keep mixing?
 
what is the purpose of the stir plate? do you keep it on the entire first 48 hrs to keep mixing?

You don't need one, but it keeps the yeast in suspension and initially aerates the wort. I usually run mine for about 48 hours or so, usually for a few hours after I see a krausen....then I turn it off to let the yeast flocculate...
 
Yep, supposedly it will double yeast production with a stir plate. Ive noticed a signifigant amount of yeast growth.
 
I just put my third slug of pacman on it...My first 2 batches were successful...so we'll see!

I also laid my hands on some test tuby type things from the med school, so I'll be putting some of it up on slants...(and hopefully sending Yooper some next week.)

I do wish there was as much "technical" information on Pacman as there is on other yeasts. I'd like to add it to beersmith....Plus I'd like to know about it's flavor profile....I may have enough of it soon to use it as my primary yeast....So I'd like to know more about it.

I brewed my basic haus amber ale with some, but I won't be able to compare it to my other amber for several more weeks.
 
Wow, am I a late comer into this conversation! I've been meaning to try my hand at harvesting some pacman from Rogue bottles and, I'll admit, I've been a little intimidated by the process.

Revvy, have you been able to gather any more information regarding the profile of Pacman?
 
... When does this yeast usually go on sale and who carries it? i thought it was sold sometime in 2007.

IIRC Wyest is releasing this again shortly, I think I saw an ad in BYO this month.

Well, a few weeks back when someone posted that they thought it was already available, I went to my LHBS, and he did some calling to his distributor...He was told that the pacman WOULD NOT be sold individually that you could now only get it in the Brewcraft Dead Guy Clone kit....

... And yes from what I understand you can only get the yeast in the Dead Guy Clone kit. ...

Sort of

BrewCraft has not placed any imposition on us to sell the pacman yeast activator packs ONLY with the Dead Guy and Brutal Bitter kits. In fact I have ordered more yeast packs than kits (I work part time at my LHBS and do the ordering), it is just that BrewCraft is the exclusive licensee of Rogue so you can only get it from LHBSs that buy from BrewCraft. Brewcraft has never communicated to us that we could only sell the yeast with the kits, in fact you order them seperatly.
 
I was inquiring about the Pacman yeast last month at my LHBS. The owner made a bunch of calls for me and told me that he wouldn't be able to order it until the middle of September. I'm not sure if that's when it will be made available or just the earliest orders can be taken either through his supplier or through Brewcraft. I'll be sure to ask him again in a few weeks.
 
I was inquiring about the Pacman yeast last month at my LHBS. The owner made a bunch of calls for me and told me that he wouldn't be able to order it until the middle of September. I'm not sure if that's when it will be made available or just the earliest orders can be taken either through his supplier or through Brewcraft. I'll be sure to ask him again in a few weeks.

I've been ordering it through BrewCraft for the store I work for since spring. Maybe they are going to do another general release?
 
Is pacman only available from Rogue beers or are there others? And which Rogue beer would be best to propagate the yeast from?
 
Is pacman only available from Rogue beers or are there others? And which Rogue beer would be best to propagate the yeast from?

Pacman is Rogue's house strain, I don't think any other commercial brewers use it. You can culture it from just about any Rogue beer, I've heard of DeadGuy, Brutle Bitter, and Shakespeare Stout being used.
 
Someone mentioned earlier in the thread that it'd be nice to have some more info on Pacman. I found a snippet:

&#8220;Pacman is really great yeast; everything about it is good. Pacman attenuates well, is alcohol tolerant, and it produces beers with no diacetyl if the beer is well made. It&#8217;s very flocculent, which makes it a great choice for bottle conditioning. I ferment almost all my beers at 60° F; once in a while for certain styles I&#8217;ll ferment as high as 70° F, but never higher. Use lots of oxygen, and a high pitch rate. I never repitch past the 6th generation, and I always use Wyeast Yeast Nutrient.&#8221;
- John Maier, Brewmaster, Rogue Ales
 
Is pacman the yeast they use for bottle conditioning? I read somewhere that many companies save the house strain for fermentaion then add a different yeast for conditioning to protect their proprietary yeast.


Yes...they are one of the few craft breweries that bottle condition with the same strain they ferment with, hence our mania about harvesting it. On the 22 ounce bombers it will actually say that it contains the yeast.

I've had the best results with shakespeare and chocolate stout...
and dead guy alone has been iffy...I can't fine anywhere whether they actually bottle prime the deadguy. Though IIRC , someone had good luck with several bottles of DG.


I have had the best results from using 2-3 bomber dregs. (When I pour the beer into a glass I leave and inch behind, I spray the bottle with iodophor and/or flame the lip, then re-seal with a new sanitize cap. I leave the bombers in my fridge until I usually accumulate 2-3 of them (usually within a couple days when I have planning to harvest.)

I think I programned beersmith to show pacman at between 65-75% attenuation. My rationale is that since it is bottle harvested it is not necessarily as pure a strain as a smack AND it is pretty stressed from being grown from such a small amount..but I know some people here program it at 80-85 percent...But I'd rather under calculate than over and be pleasantly surprised with my numbers.

I also try to ferment it as cool as possible, as close if not below 60% as possible!!


Have fun kids!

pacman.gif
 
I'm probably going to Rogue on Saturday I think I'll take a sanitized vessel with me and see if I can snag some yeast from them.
 
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