Transferring and saving cultures

[Feurhund]

Advice please..

I have six (5 gallon) carboys with various bugs and they are now over 24 months old.

I have patiently left them undisturbed, which is easy with two young kids and a basement.

My plan is to transfer all to corny kegs to minimize O2 exposure and then sample and test blends from the cornys. I will then bottle some plain, blended and straight, and some will go back to the cleaned glass carboys on various fruits.

My question is:

If one blend was great, do I have to save the bottom of the carboy after transfer, or would a bottle or two from the corny work to inoculate another batch?

Should I try to preserve the bottom of the carboy in a Mason jar? Or will it transfer bad stuff from the pellicle remnants?

Thanks for the input in advance!


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[sweetcell]

If one blend was great, do I have to save the bottom of the carboy after transfer, or would a bottle or two from the corny work to inoculate another batch?

if the blend is great, it was made great by its component parts - which were created separately for 24 months, then blended. so adding the dregs from the blended result will likely not yield the same thing. for example, part A might have contributed a flavor because a certain bug had the space to express itself, however part B had different bugs that might suppress that flavor-producer in A. so pitching A + B dregs might not yield that same blend.

if you want the same blend, you need to recreate the separate parts... and then blend them.

Should I try to preserve the bottom of the carboy in a Mason jar? Or will it transfer bad stuff from the pellicle remnants?

i've never heard, or experienced, "bad stuff from the pellicle remnants". i would wash (rinse) that stuff at the bottom of the carboy and keep it.

 

[Feurhund]

Thanks for the feedback.

I will just save the cakes in Mason jars for future pitching, understanding no two pitches are the same with sours.


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