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I have a Dead Guy Ale in the primary right now. I want to attempt my first time to yeast wash. What styles would be good for Pacman Yeast?
So what vendors sell pacman? My LHBS may be out of US-05, which I was going to use for my IPA next week, so since i may have to order yeast anyways, I may as well give pacman a try.
... just pour the dregs into a starter?
I'm interested in using this yeast too. I've heard this is the only yeast they use at Rogue. To those of you using this yeast, are you fermenting at 60F? How is it working out? Think I may try to harvest from a bottle of Shakespeare Stout... just pour the dregs into a starter?
I am curious, has anyone had success using Pacman in british beers? It seems to be best suited to American styles or bigger beers from what I gather.
I ask since I am planning on brewing Hobgoblin right away and I have just harvested some Pacman.
Yes....
When you open your Rogue and pour, be careful not to pour the sediment into your glass. Then once your glass is full, set aside and enjoy your beer (this will give the ounce or so of beer and yeast sediment to warm up to room temperature). Then just pour straight into your starter. If you are worried about contamination, you can flame the mouth of the bottle (take a lighter and run it around the mouth of the bottle). This will kill the germs. Then, just step up a starter over a few days like normal.....
Maybe I'm paranoid, but I spray the bottle opener and bottle cap area with ethanol, open the bottle and immediately flame the mouth, decant the beer, flame again, then cover with sterilized foil until I'm ready to pitch it. When you're working with small amounts of yeast, infection is more of a risk.
Would this benefit from stepping up? I have a 500 ml flask and a 2000 ml flask. I would be a little nervous about putting the dregs from a bottle into a 1000ml or larger starter and getting it to ramp up fast enough. Seems like it would be better to make a 250-300ml starter in my small flask and then pitch that into the larger flask.
Bacteria, wild yeast and other sources of infection have the ability to out grow and out compete 'good' yeast by several orders of magnitude. If you pitch a small amount of yeast into a large amount of wort (bottle dregs into 1L starter for example) you risk a high chance of infection. If you were in a lab-situation and your equipment and wort were actually sterile it may not be so much of an issue, but that does not happen in a home-brew situation.Would this benefit from stepping up? I have a 500 ml flask and a 2000 ml flask. I would be a little nervous about putting the dregs from a bottle into a 1000ml or larger starter and getting it to ramp up fast enough. Seems like it would be better to make a 250-300ml starter in my small flask and then pitch that into the larger flask.
By stepping it up, you're adding another stage where you have the opportunity to screw things up; as long as you're conscientious about sanitation, this should be OK. I've done it both ways without a problem.
Bacteria, wild yeast and other sources of infection have the ability to out grow and out compete 'good' yeast by several orders of magnitude. If you pitch a small amount of yeast into a large amount of wort (bottle dregs into 1L starter for example) you risk a high chance of infection. If you were in a lab-situation and your equipment and wort were actually sterile it may not be so much of an issue, but that does not happen in a home-brew situation.
In addition the yeast pitched into a large volume can easily become 'lazy' since it has an abundance of nutrients it does not really bother to adapt as well as it could. By using a smaller starter and 'stepping up' a few times (usually in 4 to 10x steps) you vastly reduce the risk of infection, keep the yeast growing at a healthy rate and in general you'll produce more healthy and viable yeast.
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