Pacman

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johnpreuss

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Ok I've read a little about this yeast and know some one the board absolutely LOVE this strain. Now I just bought a bomber of Mocha Porter and am currently attemepting my first Yeast Wrangling! My plan, assuming all goes wel, is to brew a Dead Guy Clone, followed by havesting and splitting the yeast to save some and then to brew an APA, then a bigger (1.065ish) oatmeal stout. My question is: I know its a very clean strain but how does it act around 70-72?? Will it be nasty or go more estery like an english strain? I'm curious because it could determine my next beer in the run.
 
I'm pretty sure that Rogue ferments their Pacman beers a little high. From what I remember, this yeast thrives at those temps. Good luck in your culturing.

Edit: And by thrives, I mean it tastes perfect. Just what you'd want.
 
Rogue typically ferments Pacman at 60F and over-pitches (by homebrewing standards) to help overcome the lower temperature.

Pacman is a mutant strain of California Ale so it should be drinkable at ~70F, but it likely won't be as "clean" as you would like. The batches I've done with Pacman were fermented in the low 60's and came out super clean.
 
And that's one more reason to never listen to my advice :p

Haha- You actually made me laugh at that one!

I've never gone above 66 degrees with pacman, so I have no idea how estery it could get at higher temperatures. I've done it from 59-65 though, I'm sure.

It's clean and well-attenuating at cool temperatures, that's for sure.
 
Haha- You actually made me laugh at that one!

I've never gone above 66 degrees with pacman, so I have no idea how estery it could get at higher temperatures. I've done it from 59-65 though, I'm sure.

It's clean and well-attenuating at cool temperatures, that's for sure.

Well it's a beast - It took my 1.060 dead guy clone down to 1.010. I mashed at 153 so I didn't think it'd go that low... WOW
 
Well it's a beast - It took my 1.060 dead guy clone down to 1.010. I mashed at 153 so I didn't think it'd go that low... WOW

I just made a pale ale and mashed at 154 degrees. Beersmith predicted a final gravity of 1.015, but I ended up with 1.012! I guess I need to increase the expected attenuation percentage for it on the program. Hopefully the dryness will let the hops shine through. :ban:

EDIT: 75% gives me the correct FG value.
 
I've heard PacMan starts fast and hot...but I am still surprised! I pitched PacMan into a fully cooled wort at midnight last night. The fermometer strip indicated 62 and the temp in the basement overnight was about 60...

7:15 this morning the airlock is ripping.....and the temp has pushed 70...heading for 72. I didn't think I'd need to worry about keeping it cool this time of year...
 
Does anyone have a website with a chartlist of yeast and there characteristics? Kinda like brep s. Com hop chart?
 
PattyM said:
Anyone try this yeast in a cider?

Yes! I recently discovered how well Pacman works for cider. This season I have done 4 back to back gallons of cider with Pacman in my fridge.

I put a bit of Pacman in a gallon jug of cider in my fridge just to see what would happen. About a week later noticed the cider was actually carbing-up! It is a very slow fermentation that continues until the cider looses most of its color, all the sweetness, all the apple aroma, and finally most of the apple taste. I find the cider is very enjoyable from about week 1 to 3 when it is sparkling, semi-sweet, and still apple-ly. It is definitely something to enjoy before it fully ferments!

Eventually it becomes nothing more than yeasty smelling ethanol-water. So definitely drink it up before that point.

I have been using cold pasteurized (uv) local cider and none of my brewing sterilization techniques. I have fermented in the fridge right in the milk jug style containers the cider comes in. Just pour off a cup or so from the new jug and pour in a bit of the dregs from the old jug.

I did try one gallon out of the fridge. It was quite a vigorous fermentation, but it resulted in very bland ethanol-water. It lost almost all the apple characteristics and was not something I am going to bother with repeating.
 
Every time I've let Pacman get into the 70s, I've ended up with a crazy amount of phenols. In the best case, it wasn't bad, just not what I was expecting, but in the worst case, it was like drinking a band-aid milkshake.
 
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