At our small club's meeting in February I asked for idea suggestions for future projects and someone threw out trying to collect wild yeast. After a little research (and inspiration from John Wilson and Brian Wolfe's Brewing Wild seminar at Homebrewcon '16), we decided to go for it.
We pressure cooked 24 quart size mason jars with 1.035, 4.2pH wort and handed them out to various members of the club at the May meeting. I typed up a small document with suggestions on how to culture, borrowing information from Milk The Funk, Bootleg Biology, and Jester King's blog.
Some members chucked flowers into the jars, some left theirs out to collect yeast and bacteria from the air while covered with cheesecloth.
Collecting flowers during a bike ride on a gorgeous Spring day
The first two inoculations: Redbud flowers and Honeysuckle
I chose to inoculate the jars with flowers. Redbud, Honeysuckle, Dogwood, Lilac, and Cherry Blossoms
The plan was to hand these inoculated jars out 2 weeks before Big Brew Day, for which we already had an event planned anyway. We'd bring the jars to the event, then evaluate for aroma and pH drop to see which jars were worth stepping up. More details in the next post...
We pressure cooked 24 quart size mason jars with 1.035, 4.2pH wort and handed them out to various members of the club at the May meeting. I typed up a small document with suggestions on how to culture, borrowing information from Milk The Funk, Bootleg Biology, and Jester King's blog.
Some members chucked flowers into the jars, some left theirs out to collect yeast and bacteria from the air while covered with cheesecloth.
Collecting flowers during a bike ride on a gorgeous Spring day
The first two inoculations: Redbud flowers and Honeysuckle
I chose to inoculate the jars with flowers. Redbud, Honeysuckle, Dogwood, Lilac, and Cherry Blossoms
The plan was to hand these inoculated jars out 2 weeks before Big Brew Day, for which we already had an event planned anyway. We'd bring the jars to the event, then evaluate for aroma and pH drop to see which jars were worth stepping up. More details in the next post...