Whoohoo!!! We have propagation!!

This weekend, I drank 2 Dead Guys, boiled a cup of wort, cooled and added it to the bottles. Let them ferment out, boiled and cooled 2 cups of wort, put into my third-world starter bottles. Poured the fermented yeast, plus the dregs from 2 more Dead Guys into them, and put airlocks on them. This morning, noticed some yeasties forming on top, Gave them a swirl and took a pic.



Lots of carbonation going on there. I am excited!! My plan is to let these ferment out, and pour off the wort, boil another cup each of wort and ferment that out.

Question.... after that, I figure I'd pour the wort off, boil and cool some water, put into beer bottles with the yeast and cap to save for my next brew. Does this sound like a good plan?

Allan

Just wondering: are you certain that they bottle condition with pacman, and not some generic strain? Many breweries bottle condition with a different strain than the one they use for primary fermentation.

"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 60deg.F; once in a while for certain styles I’ll ferment as high as 70deg.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

So...yes?

iamjonsharp said:

"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 60deg.F; once in a while for certain styles I’ll ferment as high as 70deg.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

So...yes?

Click to expand...

sounds like it, jon.

Awesome! Hmmm... This gives me an excuse to go buy some Dead Guy...

Evan! said:

Just wondering: are you certain that they bottle condition with pacman, and not some generic strain? Many breweries bottle condition with a different strain than the one they use for primary fermentation.

Click to expand...

I don't know one way or another, but Rogue doesn't seem like that sort of brewery.


TL

I wasn't 100 percent sure, just saw some posts where others had previously propagated it. Thought I'd give it a go. Probably would be better if I had flasks and stirplates, but I didn't, and the wife doesn't want me buying anymore brew toys this year.

I love doing stuff like this.

Allan

Oh boy, I do have some stir plates and Flasks, and a bunch of those plastic vials that White Labs uses, I think I'm gonna start a propagation this weekend.

Would any/all Rogue ales be viable options for this experiment? Would 12oz or bombers be better for this. If I put the beer in my centrifuge first, could I concentrate the yeasties better?

Would there be an optimal style of beer for this experiment? How does Pacman hold up to higher alcohol?

Randy

I thought you were going to say that you got SWMBO pregnant...

howlinowl said:

and the wife doesn't want me buying anymore brew toys this year.

Click to expand...

OUCH! isn't it a little early in the year for that kind of talk!!

howlinowl said:

Question.... after that, I figure I'd pour the wort off, boil and cool some water, put into beer bottles with the yeast and cap to save for my next brew. Does this sound like a good plan?

Allan

Click to expand...

No it don't.
Never cap yeast. Just a bit of sanitized tinfoil will do to seal it.
With the water replacing the wort, it may never get to the point
of causing a bursting problem, but ya never know what harm to
the yeast it will do over time. Pressure AFAIK is bad for yeast
when it is in the extreme.

SenorWanderer said:

OUCH! isn't it a little early in the year for that kind of talk!!

Click to expand...

It wasn't at the time of that post....back late last november. Thankfully, we're on the other side of Christmas and we're good to go again.

Allan

boo boo said:

No it don't.
Never cap yeast. Just a bit of sanitized tinfoil will do to seal it.
With the water replacing the wort, it may never get to the point
of causing a bursting problem, but ya never know what harm to
the yeast it will do over time. Pressure AFAIK is bad for yeast
when it is in the extreme.

Click to expand...

Well, I just brewed a batch of pale yesterday. I had 2 bottles of yeast, one had some pressure, the other didn't. I didn't know if the one without the pressure was because the cap didn't seal, or the yeast was dead, so I tossed that one down the drain. Used the other to make a couple starters and they took right off. Checked my fermenters this morning and got a good healthy krausen on both. Maybe I was lucky.

Allan