dr_bollinger
Active Member
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- Jul 6, 2016
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I was recently considering why every "house strain" of yeast seems to consist of a single strain, rather than multiple co-existing strains. All of the well-known, old, European beers seem to use only a single yeast strain (e.g., Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale, which is a single strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and is understood to be the Guinness strain).
Contrast that with Treehouse, which apparently pitches a blend of S04, T58 and WB06.
It occurred to me today that interbreeding might be the answer. In other words, Guinness may have started with a diversity of strains of S. cerevisiae as their "house strain", which strains interbred over the centuries and became a single strain (possibly with characteristics from all of the founding strains).
Does anyone know the speed at which strains of S. cerevisiae interbreed? If Treehouse were to re-pitch the dregs from earlier batches, would S04, T58 and WB06 eventually interbreed to form a single strain unlike any of the individual founding strains? If so, how long would that take? Is the same true with strains of single species of Brettanomyces yeast and Lactobacillus bacteria?
Contrast that with Treehouse, which apparently pitches a blend of S04, T58 and WB06.
It occurred to me today that interbreeding might be the answer. In other words, Guinness may have started with a diversity of strains of S. cerevisiae as their "house strain", which strains interbred over the centuries and became a single strain (possibly with characteristics from all of the founding strains).
Does anyone know the speed at which strains of S. cerevisiae interbreed? If Treehouse were to re-pitch the dregs from earlier batches, would S04, T58 and WB06 eventually interbreed to form a single strain unlike any of the individual founding strains? If so, how long would that take? Is the same true with strains of single species of Brettanomyces yeast and Lactobacillus bacteria?