Pacman Yeast

So rifling through all the threads here, it seemed that Pacman yeast was pretty hard to come by.

Well, I walked into my LHBS today and they had several packets just sitting there ready to go.

Did I miss something??? I guess I don't have to worry about trying to salvage some from a bottle now!

I believe Pacman is a seasonal release from their VSS private collection, so it probably won't be available all the time. I got some recently that was made in mid December and they don't show it for Jan-March so it may dry up again for a while. I plan to wash mine and reuse a few times...Love me some Dead Guy ale. You may have even bought it at the same place I got mine

Wyeast Laboratories : VSS : Private Collection of Brewing Yeast for making Beer

There are also a few Rogue "kits" that come with Pacman. It's not as hard to find as it used to be, but it's still not that widespread either. I think we have it a little easier living in Portland and all.

Pacman proprietary to Rogue was a limited release at one point. It has since been re-released and is available through Wyeast IIRC. The only other option at the time was to cultivate it from a bottle of Rogue, hence the scarcity of that yeast for awhile.

tokolosh said:

So rifling through all the threads here, it seemed that Pacman yeast was pretty hard to come by.

Well, I walked into my LHBS today and they had several packets just sitting there ready to go.

Did I miss something??? I guess I don't have to worry about trying to salvage some from a bottle now!

Click to expand...

From what I understand it is hit or miss when/where wyeast distributes. Almost like it's seasonal or something.

I think it is part of the fun with harvesting it from a bottle, plus you get to drink most of the bottle before you do. I wouldn't want to drink part of the smack pack

I just bombed out on my second attempt to culture from a Shakespeare Stout. The first time I got zero growth on a slant. The most recent attemp was from a bottle with a very visible creamy looking layer of yeast. I innocculated my slants and waited. Finally, on the third day, Aha something growing! It was F#cking mold! I'm going to just order some from one of the online retailers who carry it. It's not too tough to find.

I bought Pacman at a LHBS in Portland a couple times last year, then again a couple weeks ago. I've looked at the other LHBS and they stock it too. Doesn't seem like there is any shortage here or maybe I just happen to need it when they have it.