Pacman Yeast?

I've been seeing the term "pacman" being used here and elsewhere. To what does the term refer?

a specific strain of yeast, developed by Rogue. Couldn't tell you its characteristics. It's proprietary, but has been released before through wyeast I think.

Yep. I picked up a Wyeast smack pack of Pacman yeast and used it recently. It was fantastic stuff.

It's 1764. You can buy it here and elsewhere, too.

Wyeast no longer lists the yeast on its website, sorry.

I did find this archived description from Wyeast

I have a blonde in the fermenter right now with pacman and a dunkel ready to go to be pitched on the cake...can't wait for them both to be ready. The blonde is crystal clear in the hydrometer test tube after 2 weeks.

It is supposed to be a very clean fermenting, high attenuating strain.

It's called pacman because it gobbles up malt sugars. It's one of the highest attenuating yeasts around. Wyeast maintains cultures for Rogue and occasionally does a special production run.

I've read some people recover pacman from bottles of Dead Guy Ale, which I wish I had known about before I finished off a growler of the stuff a while back.

I can attest to the cool fermenting temps. I harvested from a couple rogue bottles and after stepping it up through a starter I pitched it at 63º. It took off like a shot and finished in 3 days. 1045 to 1018. Cleared nicely after cold crashing too.

It used to be easily harvest-able from the bottle. I do not know if this is still the case.

I washed the yeast from mine so I can get more batches out of it. The pack I picked up at my LHBS was the last one in the fridge and they didn't have more when I went back last week. Have to make this one stretch since I dunno if they'll have more soon.

Wyeast maintains cultures for Rogue and occasionally does a special production run.

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Cool, I didn't know this. I bought mine from Wyeast and when I called them about it and asked for the basic info they give for all their other yeasts (recommended temp range, AA range, floc, etc.) they said to use the same description/numbers as 1056. I've only made 3 brews with it though...my attenuation seemed similar to 1056 (i.e. pretty high).

I have heard others detect a slight 'watermelon' flavor (or perhaps aroma) but I never detected that until my most recent brew with it (Pale Ale). I think I detect something like that although I wouldn't call it 'watermelon' and it seems more flavor than aroma. The aromas have always been quite clean.

I've never had a Rogue beer.

Honestly, the Dead Guy six pack I brought to a friend's seemed okay, but nothing spectacular. I think I was expecting something totally different, so maybe that colored my perception. It definitely wasn't as good (to me) as a lot of people here make it out to be.

My LHBS has been stocking Pacman activator packs regularly, they tell me it is now regular production for Wyeast and is available all of the time. It used to be an occasional special release.

I only have 30 batches under my belt (I think literally) but I've used Pacman on 3 brew and they have been some of my best yet. I don't know if it was the yeast or my recipe tweaking but NOW - I'm in a quandary. Do I continue to use it on an Indian Brown or the recommended British Ale yeast!

Grinder12000 said:

I only have 30 batches under my belt (I think literally) but I've used Pacman on 3 brew and they have been some of my best yet. I don't know if it was the yeast or my recipe tweaking but NOW - I'm in a quandary. Do I continue to use it on an Indian Brown or the recommended British Ale yeast!

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Do a 10 gallon batch and split the fermentation between the 2 yeasts. I love Pacman yeast and use it in a lot of my brews.

i believe the home brew stores that sell the rogue extract kits are allowed to carry the pacman yeast full time.

Grinder12000, only way to tell if it was the yeast or the recipe tweaking is to try with a different yeast. or even better split a batch 50/50 using a different yeast in each.

Check the Wiki: Wyeast - Home Brewing Wiki

1764 Rogue Pacman Yeast

"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'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'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" - John Maier, Brewmaster, Rogue Ales

Both of the brews I currently have on tap were fermented with Pacman. The Rye Pale Ale is great and the IPA is great. I've fermented three beers with Pacman and I love the stuff.

I got mine out of a bottle of Shakespeare stout. I put the dregs in a starter and pitched it in a batch. From there I washed it and stored it in the beer fridge.

I use pacman more than any other yeast these days. What I'll usually do is get 2 22oz bombers of shakespeare stout, build up a starter from the yeast (works every time for me, and only takes about a week) and pitch the starter. I love the stuff.

I can't say for sure that it ferments cleaner than 1056, but it definitely ferments the same, if not cleaner. I regularly get down to 1.010 from ~1.060.

For me, it works great because my poor temperature control (icewater) causes the fermentor to vary between 55 and 65 and the pacman seems to handle that well. With 1056, when I dump more ice into the bath in the morning before work, sometimes it drops the temperature down enough to cause the yeast to stop fermenting. Haven't experienced this with pacman yet.

I've only done one batch with Pacman, and it's still conditioning. However, it should be a good experiment, since it's a split 10 gallon batch, half with pacman and half with S-05. The beer itself is the rye pale in my dropdown that's become my house ale.

The pacman seemed to ferment out faster, and formed a really dense cake. The color of the beer seemed different between the pacman and S-05 while fermenting, but that may have been still-suspended S-05 waiting to fall out.

The kegs need another week to naturally carbonate, and then I will do a side-by-side comparison of the two.

I just did a simple Wit w/ a pacman culture, and i went from about 1.060 to 1.009 in a week and fermented like crazy.