Anyone grown up Renaud yeast from Mystic Brewery?

[Mer-man]

I was gifted with a bottle of Mystic's Renaud Saison and could not just discard the yeast it contains. The ester profile is fantastic with this beer, and I would like to brew with it.

Has anyone grown up Renaud dregs and if so, what was your experience fermenting with it subsequently?

 

[Cyclman]

Drank it while traveling, so didn't propagate it, but +1 that it is a great beer / worth pursuing.

 

[Mer-man]

My stir plate is now going forward, not backward;
upward, not forward;
and always twirling, twirling to the future!

 

[Mer-man]

Hmm, I wonder if the bottle sat warm for too long. I am not seeing any signs of viability.

I have added more wort and some servomyces and will give it some more time as well.

 

[tagz]

How big of a starter did you do? If you did anything over 1.020 and 200ml it might take a bit to see activity. Many people do the initial step in the bottle, before moving to the stirplate.

 

[hottpeper13]

Does it make your hands turn blue?

 

[Mer-man]

I gave it 24 hours with about 300ml of 1.030 wort

 

[Mer-man]

Ok, decanted it and started again with 2.5L of 1.040 wort. It is showing signs of life!

 

[Mer-man]

Hope it's enough View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1471502767.688337.jpg

 

[Mer-man]

I grew up at least 300b cells and saved 100b, then pitched the rest into a very simple beer (85% Danish pils, 5% WEY Pale Wheat, 10% table sugar).
Mash pH of 5.38, boiled to 1.060, chilled to 18C and aerated/pitched.

17 hours later I had a couple fingers of krausen.

 

[Mer-man]

Yep, it is rockin away! View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1471880640.494510.jpg

 

[Mer-man]

1.060 went down to 1.010View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1472757439.422192.jpg

Sadly, my normal ale ferment schedule is too mild for this yeast.
Sample came out super clean, tasting vaguely Belgian. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1472757525.911286.jpg

I do have a full keg of it but I'm sure it will be ok.

 

[tagz]

Interesting. What temp profile did you go with.

 

[Mer-man]

My usual ale is 18c for two days, then raising 1c ever other day until 21c, and holding it there.
It makes sense for clean ales but clearly this yeast needs some heat to express itself.

 

[mkeckjr]

This post is a little late for you, but I am 99% sure that Renaud uses the standard Dupont strain (WLP565) so there should not be a need to culture it up in the future. The brewers have even experimented with leaving batches in the sun for a day or two to simulate the slightly lightstruck flavor that Dupont Saison sometimes get to simulate the flavor.

 

[Mer-man]

That's good to know, as I am unlikely to rebrew with it anytime soon.

 

[Mer-man]

Oh hey I see this is the one notorious for stalling out. Mine finished inside of a week.

 

[Mer-man]

And I have to say that it is a lovely, light drink. Belgians done cool are also good.

 

[JoesInBoston]

I recently harvested some of this yeast from a bottle as well. My second step up starter formed a pellicle like film on top after leaving it for 2 weeks. Smelled fine and I decanted the stuff off the top and pitched into 4 gallons of wort, anyways. Just wondering if I contaminated it, or if you experienced anything similar?

 

[Mer-man]

Nope, it just took some time to get vitality back into the yeast.

I ended up really enjoying the beer and will probably rebrew at some point. Just needs something like Hallertau Blanc hops