Substitute Pacman yeast for Kölsch yeast?

I brewed a [accidental imperial] Northern German Alt beer last night, and in a daze when I woke up this morning pitched the Kölsch starter into the other carboy (simple pale ale). I didn't realize the mistake until the final yeast bits were plopping into the wrong fermenter.

I have a Pacman starter that I built up from the dregs of a Rogue bottle over the past week. My options at this point are to go and buy one or two new packs of Kölsch yeast or to pitch the built-up Pacman starter.

Given, the Alt beer I made is extremely heavy due to an unintended extremely high efficiency result that wasn't detected until it was in the fermenter (1.065 after the first dilution), so I'm not against changing other parts of this brew if it could make for an appealing, and interesting beer.

All other things being equal, does Pacman from Rogue produce similar flavors/qualities as a Kölsch yeast [WLP029]?

Pacman is basically a "dirty" strain of London Ale yeast. (as described to me by one of the brewers at Rogue)

nebben said:

All other things being equal, does Pacman from Rogue produce similar flavors/qualities as a Kölsch yeast [WLP029]?

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Not really, though if you ferment it low enough you can get some exceptionally clean beer. I've made pseudo-lagers with it (fermented 55F) that have even placed in competitions. I say try it out, worst thing that could happen is you get a bit more esters... then you can just call it a blonde ale.

Thanks for the replies! I ended up getting a couple of packages of Wyeast and pitched them instead of the pacman starter. This decision was reaffirmed this morning when the starter developed a scummy white film on the top. The smell has gone south. Pacman will have to happen another day!

nebben said:

Thanks for the replies! I ended up getting a couple of packages of Wyeast and pitched them instead of the pacman starter. This decision was reaffirmed this morning when the starter developed a scummy white film on the top. The smell has gone south. Pacman will have to happen another day!

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That was a close call for sure. You'll like the pale with the Kolsch too. Great yeast.