Saccharomyces eubayanus

Does anyone know where/ how I could obtain a sample of Saccharomyces eubayanus? Since it is the "other" parent of Saccharomyces pastorianus (along with Saccharomyces cerevisiae), I would be interested to see what type of beer you could brew with it. As an uncultivated yeast, I'm sure there would be some wild funkiness to it, but because it contributes the genes which allow lagers to be dryer than ales, my guess is it would brew a very dry beer.

DailyTech - Lager's Mystery Yeast Discovered in Argentina

Maybe shoot an email to Diego Libkind, of the Institute for Biodiversity and Environment Research in Bariloche, Argentina?

This is a really cool idea, post back if you are ever able to track some down!

Any luck with this quest? I happened to stumble upon this article in an unrelated avenue of the internet and had the same question as you.

Funny this came up, as yesterday I actually brewed with S. eubayanus (first homebrew ever with the yeast?). The research center I work at has the yeast in its culture collection and we have been doing some research on its fermentation properties. I was allowed to culture up some yeast for homebrewing purposes (sorry, I unfortunately can't distribute it so don't bother asking) and will post some updates on the beer as soon as I have them. There is already airlock activity 12 hours after pitching, despite the relatively low fermentation temperature (12 C), so was pleasantly surprised

Definitely update!

http://www.cbs.knaw.nl/

You can buy it here for around 150 euros. The CBS number is 12357 if anyone wants to.

suregork said:

Funny this came up, as yesterday I actually brewed with S. eubayanus (first homebrew ever with the yeast?). The research center I work at has the yeast in its culture collection and we have been doing some research on its fermentation properties. I was allowed to culture up some yeast for homebrewing purposes (sorry, I unfortunately can't distribute it so don't bother asking) and will post some updates on the beer as soon as I have them. There is already airlock activity 12 hours after pitching, despite the relatively low fermentation temperature (12 C), so was pleasantly surprised

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Today I kegged the eubayanus beer. Gravity had fallen to 1.016 (67% AA), which is in line with what we had seen in the lab. Taste was surprisingly good (nothing spectacular, but definitely drinkable), will be interesting to see how this one matures

I'm curious about S. eubayanus. I understand that it is cold-tolerant but is it obligate, that is, does it only grow well in the cold. Do you know whether it throws off a lot of undesirable byproducts when fermented at higher temperatures? Clearly that is a problem with lager yeast.

dbsmith said:

http://www.cbs.knaw.nl/

You can buy it here for around 150 euros. The CBS number is 12357 if anyone wants to.

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restricted. here's the listing from their site. typical bureaucratic crap for a non-pathogen. i'm going to ask around the NL scientific community (i work in said community but not microbiology) to see if it can fall off the back of a truck from somewhere... worth a try? funny that the sample deposited was collected on a mushroom growing on a tree.

Taxonomy
Taxon name :
Saccharomyces eubayanus Samp., Libkind, Hittinger, P. Gonça...

Type of organism : Yeast
Status of the strain : Type of Saccharomyces eubayanus

Collections
Other collections : CRUB 1568;PYCC 6148
Other strain numbers (personal numbers) : CRUB 1568
History : Libkind -> Dr. Sampaio, 2006 -> CBS, 2011
Herbarium number : Not applicable

Biosafety and restrictions
Remarks pathogenicity : This strain should be regarded as non-pathogenic to humans, animals or plants
GMO : not GMO
Precautions and restrictions : RESTRICTED with special Transfer Agreement

Origin
Substrate of isolation : from fruiting body of Cyttaria hariotii
Country :
Argentina

Locality : Nahuel Huapi National Park, Northwestern Patagonia
Collected by : R. Ulloa & D. Libkind
Isolated by : R. Ulloa & D. Libkind, 2006
Identified by : as Saccharomyces eubayanus
Deposited by : P. Sampaio & D. Libkind, June 2011
Substrate (including host) : Fruiting body of Cyttaria hariotii (ascomycete) parasitizing Nothofagus dombeyi

Brewitt said:

I'm curious about S. eubayanus. I understand that it is cold-tolerant but is it obligate, that is, does it only grow well in the cold. Do you know whether it throws off a lot of undesirable byproducts when fermented at higher temperatures? Clearly that is a problem with lager yeast.

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also from the above website (ok it doesn't really tell you that much that you couldn't guess...)

Temperatures growths tests :
at 4ºC no
at 12ºC yes
at 15ºC yes
at 18ºC yes
at 21ºC yes
at 25ºC yes
at 30ºC yes
at 35ºC no
at 37ºC no
at 40ºC no
at 42ºC no
at 45ºC no

You said you kegged it, how does it taste?

Any noticeable weird off gassing during fermentation?

Pictures?

Looks a little heat sensitive but, as you say, without knowing the growth rates across the profile it leaves a lot unknown. I haven't worked with pastorianus so I don't know how it compares to this. Does it grow above 30C?

it just had to have the word anus tacked onto the end...didn't it?!

bb239605 said:

You said you kegged it, how does it taste?

Any noticeable weird off gassing during fermentation?

Pictures?

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I only had a small taste sample as I transferred to the keg, and am now abroad, so will have to taste it again when I get back. The small taste sample I had was surprisingly clean (I was expecting a lot of esters and phenols, as there was a lot of them in the yeast starter (fermented at room temperature on an orbital shaker)), but quite sweet (expected with a gravity of 1.016). Will try to give some more taste notes when I have a proper and matured sample. There was a lot of yeast in suspension as well, so S. eubayanus has very poor flocculation properties (also noticed this in the starter, as there was still yeast in suspension after I had left it two days at 0 degrees C to allow sedimentation). Hoping the gravity drops a couple of points in the keg still (left it at room temperature), so that it reaches 70%+ attenuation. During fermentation, the fermentation fridge was smelling quite sulphury, but there was no hints of it in the taste sample during kegging. From lab trials, S. eubayanus grew better at 10C than 20C and it doesn't seem to be able to take up maltotriose (hence the poor attenuation).

suregork said:

I only had a small taste sample as I transferred to the keg, and am now abroad, so will have to taste it again when I get back. The small taste sample I had was surprisingly clean (I was expecting a lot of esters and phenols, as there was a lot of them in the yeast starter (fermented at room temperature on an orbital shaker)), but quite sweet (expected with a gravity of 1.016). Will try to give some more taste notes when I have a proper and matured sample. There was a lot of yeast in suspension as well, so S. eubayanus has very poor flocculation properties (also noticed this in the starter, as there was still yeast in suspension after I had left it two days at 0 degrees C to allow sedimentation). Hoping the gravity drops a couple of points in the keg still (left it at room temperature), so that it reaches 70%+ attenuation. During fermentation, the fermentation fridge was smelling quite sulphury, but there was no hints of it in the taste sample during kegging. From lab trials, S. eubayanus grew better at 10C than 20C and it doesn't seem to be able to take up maltotriose (hence the poor attenuation).

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Here is a picture of the bottled version of the beer (couldn't fit everything in the 2.5 gallon keg, so bottled three 500 ml bottles). It has only been 13 days since bottling, but was too curious and luckily there was some carbonation. The beer was surprisingly tasty and the aroma and flavor were surprisingly clean (I had expected a funky and undrinkable mess, as this is basically a 'wild yeast', not adapted to brewing environments and purposes). Will be interesting to see how this one develops with time. If you're interested in more tasting notes, you can see my blog.

Very Cool! That beer looks great btw! I would think a lower mash temperature could reduce the maltotriose formation and hopefully drive the attentuation up as well.

Perhaps the use of some enzymes to increase fermentability, much like they use in "light" beers could help.