SCORE!!! Hefeweizen Yeast from Blue and Gray Brewery

So I am part of a homebrew club that has connections with Blue and Gray Brewery in Fredericksburg, VA. Just got an email earlier this week that they were giving out there Hefeweizen yeast to club members for free. I stopped by today and got half a gallon of yeast slurry. Now I gotta figure out how much i would need per 5 gallon batch and what brews I will make with it.

WOOHOO!!!

Nice score, do you know if it is an in house strain or a commercial strain?

thats awesome...use it wisely

I believe it's an in house strain. I heard a basic brewing radio podcast last night where a the master brewer and New Belgian was offended by the word "style". He said we as brewers are artists. I am brewing a honey blond ale - 7.5 lbs 2 row, .5 lbs honey malt, 1 lb crystal 15L, and 2 lbs honey at end of boil - and I was going to use the Hefeweizen yeast. I mentioned that to a couple of guys in my club and they said go for it but by the looks on their faces there was no way they would try it. This master brewer said that if they followed style guidelines Fat Tire and Lafali (sp) would never have been made.

devaspawn said:

This master brewer said that if they followed style guidelines Fat Tire and Lafali (sp) would never have been made.

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:fro:That's not always a bad thing!

Laurel said:

:fro:That's not always a bad thing!

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I've never had Fat Tire so I don't know if it's any good. I have heard that it's nothing special. It still gives me hope that I might make something good though even though it's out of style guidelines.

Laurel said:

:fro:That's not always a bad thing!

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Damn, I was going to say that as soon as I read it, but one post later, I was beat.

I've had everything NB has to offer, and I can honestly say they're all very boring beers.

yeah. I'm not impressed with any of New Belgium's beers. Fat Tire is SO biscuity that I'd rather just eat a biscuit and drink a beer!

That said, I've done some level of experimentation with yeasts and beers. I made a wheat blond with kolsch yeast that tasted very promising a couple days after it was done fermenting (3 weeks!).

Just found out that this is Weihenstephan yeast. I wonder if it is the Wyeast yeast.

My wife told me I had to get it out of the fridge immediately. I used some on the brew I made today and then I put the rest in sanitized White Labs yeast containers. I bet that they won't last but I had to do what I could to save as much possible.

Oh well...