winnph
Well-Known Member
So I know very little about yeast biology, but my understanding is that yeast can undergo both asexual (budding) reproduction and sexual (spores combining) reproduction. My understanding is also that yeast in ordinary brewing is almost exclusively budding asexually, so if you blend more than one strain, they will be competing rather than mating. Eventually one strain dominates, and it basically has the properties that strain would have had if you'd just pitched it alone.
What I'm curious about is sexual reproduction.... Is there any way a homebrewer can get two yeast strains to release spores, combine those spores, and therefore produce a hybrid strain? In other words, is there an easy way to induce sexual reproduction in yeast, and to capture the product of that reproduction and step it up for brewing purposes? Also, does this happen to some extent when you blend yeast, or are the strains exclusively budding at that point?
What I'm curious about is sexual reproduction.... Is there any way a homebrewer can get two yeast strains to release spores, combine those spores, and therefore produce a hybrid strain? In other words, is there an easy way to induce sexual reproduction in yeast, and to capture the product of that reproduction and step it up for brewing purposes? Also, does this happen to some extent when you blend yeast, or are the strains exclusively budding at that point?