Premnasbiaculeatus
Well-Known Member
Hello, a few months ago an acquaintance of mine who is a professional brewer gave me a quart of slurry from a beer he had brewed. The beer was a light colored unfiltered Pale Ale that was under-pitched with 'Conan' and then finished off with 'Chico' (WLP001). It was one of the most fantastic brews I've ever had.
I brewed 15 gallons of my own light colored IPA and direct pitched the entire Jar, I got slow steady (almost sluggish) attenuation, that lasted 10ish days or so, and ended up with 63% actual attenuation. Regardless, the beer tasted amazing, notes of peach and fruitiness, lots of esters, but the best possible esters... It was also surprisingly well balanced and not too sweet, probably because I used quite a lot of hops on it.
Subsequently, I brewed another 15 gallons of a strong Belgian dark recipe and racked it on top of the prior beers yeast cake. This time fermentation was vigorous and I had Krausen flowing into the blow-off within minutes and it finished off at 72.4% attenuation. This was a high gravity brew and although I was fairly certain this was completely the wrong yeast for the style, I had one friend tell me that they could not distinguish my brew from Chimay (my friends are ignorant but kind).
After that I jarred another quart of slurry and kept it in my downstairs fridge for about a month or so. Last Thursday I made an 8 liter starter with it and pitched it into a 15 gallon batch of IPA Saturday morning. This times it's off gassing like a freight train; started within minutes and is still bubbling like mad four days later, although not very foamy at all this time (could be due to a really long 148-151 degree alpha rest during the mash) my blow-off tube is crystal clear and my starsan water is milky white.
Any educated guesses as to what this yeast has become? At this point would one wager that it's completely 001? Is it still some mixture of 001 and Conan? Could it maybe even be all or mostly Conan...? I'm a low tech guy, and I think I would be betraying this guys confidence if I sent it to a lab. Anyone here experienced with these two yeasts willing to make an anecdotal estimate as to what I'm playing with at this point?
I brewed 15 gallons of my own light colored IPA and direct pitched the entire Jar, I got slow steady (almost sluggish) attenuation, that lasted 10ish days or so, and ended up with 63% actual attenuation. Regardless, the beer tasted amazing, notes of peach and fruitiness, lots of esters, but the best possible esters... It was also surprisingly well balanced and not too sweet, probably because I used quite a lot of hops on it.
Subsequently, I brewed another 15 gallons of a strong Belgian dark recipe and racked it on top of the prior beers yeast cake. This time fermentation was vigorous and I had Krausen flowing into the blow-off within minutes and it finished off at 72.4% attenuation. This was a high gravity brew and although I was fairly certain this was completely the wrong yeast for the style, I had one friend tell me that they could not distinguish my brew from Chimay (my friends are ignorant but kind).
After that I jarred another quart of slurry and kept it in my downstairs fridge for about a month or so. Last Thursday I made an 8 liter starter with it and pitched it into a 15 gallon batch of IPA Saturday morning. This times it's off gassing like a freight train; started within minutes and is still bubbling like mad four days later, although not very foamy at all this time (could be due to a really long 148-151 degree alpha rest during the mash) my blow-off tube is crystal clear and my starsan water is milky white.
Any educated guesses as to what this yeast has become? At this point would one wager that it's completely 001? Is it still some mixture of 001 and Conan? Could it maybe even be all or mostly Conan...? I'm a low tech guy, and I think I would be betraying this guys confidence if I sent it to a lab. Anyone here experienced with these two yeasts willing to make an anecdotal estimate as to what I'm playing with at this point?
