1 gallon DME recipe to test out a wild yeast strain

[TandemTails]

I normally do all grain brews but use DME for starters. I've only done one all extract batch which seemed to turn out pretty well.

A few weeks ago I set out to capture some wild yeast from flowers local to me. I ended up with one good candidate that I've stepped up a few times and feel is ready for a 1 gallon test batch. I got feedback from a pro brewer who recommended making a 1.040 wort with 50% pils and 50% wheat. I don't have any grain on me but have those types of DME.

I want those with more experience to look over my extract recipe and let me know if it looks good or if something should change.

I was planning on using 190g of pilsen DME and 190g of bavarian wheat DME with 1 gallon + extra for boil off. I'm going to do a 30 minute boil with a very light hit of hops for some slight bittering.

I'll cool and rack to a sanitized 1 gallon carboy where i'll pitch a decanted starter of the wild yeast.

Does this sound OK? I got the DME amounts based on using the 100mL water to 10g DME ratio I use when making starters. I've read that gives a wort around 1.040.

If anyone's interested, i have the whole yeast capturing process here: http://www.tandemtails.com/wild-yeast-capture/

 

[Pappers_]

That looks good to me. Am interested on how it turns out - let us know! Are you expecting a barnyard or funky sort of sour, or a more clean sour? Interesting way to get actual terroir into your brewing, very cool.

 

[TandemTails]

That looks good to me. Am interested on how it turns out - let us know! Are you expecting a barnyard or funky sort of sour, or a more clean sour? Interesting way to get actual terroir into your brewing, very cool.

Each step-up (175mL -> 500mL -> 900mL) smelled very fruity and with some ever so slight peppery notes. I wasn't getting any funk at all with it so I'm hoping for more of a clean beer with this yeast.

That being said, I also have some sort of pellicle forming strain from a different flower that's currently sitting in the 500mL jar. It smells very tart and clean. I'm going to brew a separate batch for that one where i'll do a mixed fermentation with that wild souring bacteria plus either a brewers yeast or the wild yeast that I'm making a 1 gallon test batch of (assuming the beer turns out good).

 

[TandemTails]

Just brewed the beer today. Ended up nearly hitting my target OG of 1.040 (got 1.039 actual). With the extremely high ground water temps this time of year I chilled it to 85 and am finishing it off in the fermentation chamber.

I plan on pitching the yeast in the mid 70's and then fermenting at 70'f for 2 weeks.

 

[Slounsberry]

Curious if you have an update on this?
I’ve got a wild yeast fermentation going too, but I had an old 1 gallon german blonde kit from NB that I used. I’d like to hear how this turns out because I’ll probably want to make a few more batches trying different temps and I’m hoping to isolate a few more strains from various flowers/fruits we have growing here.

 

[TandemTails]

Curious if you have an update on this?
I’ve got a wild yeast fermentation going too, but I had an old 1 gallon german blonde kit from NB that I used. I’d like to hear how this turns out because I’ll probably want to make a few more batches trying different temps and I’m hoping to isolate a few more strains from various flowers/fruits we have growing here.

Unfortunately I think I got some cross contamination with a saison yeast in during a gravity reading. I had checked the gravity of the wild yeast after checking the gravity of one of my saisons. I thought i had properly sanitized everything in between but obviously not. I gave it a sample a few weeks ago and it's 100% saison.

I'll probably just dry hop it and then bottle it. It tasted really good with the saison yeast haha.