We Have a Project - PACMAN YEAST!

[Klainmeister]

OK, so my LHBS guy told me a while ago he was going to get some of the Pacman yeast from Wyeast soon. They're releasing it for a limited time so of course when i went down there today and saw a pac, i got it: (note the date)

SO, here's our project: Just like the 06.06.06 recipe, i would like it if we could ban together and make a superb beer with this yeast, my thoughts were something strong just like arrogant bastard. Perhaps Amber DME? And great bitterness without much aroma. C'mon, and let's get something great rolling!

 

[EvilTOJ]

Really? Pacman yeast is available? SWEEET! And I had been wondering how to get that for my Rogue I2PA clone I've been working on.

 

[david_42]

Really! They told us about the release back in May at the Oregon Homebrewers Fest, but didn't commit to a date.

 

[Klainmeister]

They are apparently only releasing it for a little while so this will definetely be a yeast i am going to keep for a while. Any suggestions on a recipe? I am clueless.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

OK, as a naive Canadian, what is special about this yeast?

Please explain.

 

[Klainmeister]

Arrogant Bastard Ale. No further explanation needed.

 

[Chairman Cheyco]

There is if you don't get that here...

 

[cha ngo]

Not to highjack your thread, but is the pic in the upper right hand corner intentional?

 

[Chairman Cheyco]

Are you admitting to having Andrew Lloyd-Webber in your conventional thought processes?

 

[cha ngo]

Are you admitting to having Andrew Lloyd-Webber in your conventional thought processes?

HAH!
I edited out the Phantom of the Opera reference.

 

[Chairman Cheyco]

Damn! I should have quoted you!

HAH!
I edited out the Phantom of the Opera reference.

Like that.

 

[Exo]

Let's do this!

Going to be one HELL of a starter...

 

[SwAMi75]

Arrogant Bastard Ale. No further explanation needed.

No, Arrogant Bastard is made by Stone Brewing Co., in CA. Pacman is Rogue Ales, of Newport, Oregon's proprietary yeast strain.

It's a fairly unique strain, so if you like Rogue's beers, you might want to give this a shot. I'd like to try a Brutal Bitter clone with some, but it'll probably be all gone by the time I get to brew again. Good on Rogue for letting some loose, though!

 

[Exo]

Yup, I was just reading about how Pacman is from Rogue...which has some kickin' beer. I just tried their Dead Guy Ale and every time I took a sip I felt like hollerin' "HoooAhhh!!!"

If anyone wants, read on:

Pacman strain to be released by Wyeast
June 22nd, 2006

Wyeast Laboratories, Inc. announces its new VSS (Very Special Strains) program for Homebrew Retailers. Special, new and rare strains of yeast will be made available to homebrewers.


Odell, Oregon — June 21, 2006 — Wyeast Laboratories has begun a new program for the promotion of its ACTIVATORTM Pure Pitchable Yeast packages sold by online suppliers and in homebrew retail shops around the world. The “VSS” program will feature Very Special Strains of beer, wine and distiller’s yeast, otherwise unavailable to homebrewers.


The VSS promotions will run quarterly. The inaugural selection of yeast strains currently being featured, are being made available June 1 through August 31. On this listing are three strains that were previously discontinued from Wyeast’s regular lineup of strains: Wyeast 3763 Roeselare, Wyeast 3725 Biere de Garde, and Wyeast 4366 Distillers M-Strain. The second VSS promotion has a big surprise in its product mix: Wyeast Laboratories Marketing and Sales Manager Jon Graber reports that Rogue Ales has agreed to release its coveted “PacMan” Ale Yeast to homebrewers.

“We’re very appreciative of the generosity of spirit displayed by John Maier at Rogue Ales for allowing the release of PacMan to homebrewers” says Graber. “We hope to have more proprietary strains on future VSS promotions, but this is the one most requested by our homebrewing customers over the past 15 years, so we’re very excited that it is the first to be released in this way.” This second promotion will run four months from September 1 until December 31. Additional strains will include Wyeast 3864 Canadian/Belgian ale yeast and one more, as yet undetermined.

Marketing for the VSS program will consist of 8½ by 5½ inch postcards listing the strains available and their fermentation profiles; plus other information useful to home brewers. Additional marketing support will come from Wyeast’s new website, due to go on-line by midsummer. Strains to be included on each quarterly promotion will be announced one month in advance, to keep up suspense and build anticipation, and also to keep options open to Wyeast when new strains are obtained.

 

[ryser2k]

Has anyone seen this available from one of the online homebrew shops? Austin Homebrew doesn't have it yet...

 

[Klainmeister]

Gah! I was drinking an Arrogant Bastard though i wanted to type dead guy. I guess who's the arrogant bastard now...

 

[Exo]

How bout either Dead Guy clone or maybe Skull Splitter?

 

[the_bird]

I have a Dead Guy Ale that's been sitting in my fridge for a couple weeks, I've been waiting for an appropriate occassion to crack it open ($5.50 bombers aren't my "daily drinkers," you know?)

Thinking tomorrow night's draft will be a good occassion...

 

[dewey316]

From Rogue's website.

Dead Guy is a German-style Maibock made with Rogue's proprietary "PacMan" ale yeast. It is deep honey in color with a malty aroma, rich hearty flavor and a well balanced finish. Dead Guy is created from Northwest Harrington, Klages, Maier Munich and Carastan malts, along with Perle and Saaz Hops.

Measurements: 16 degrees Plato, IBU 40, Apparent Attenuation 78, Lovibond 16

Looks like dead-guy would be a great project for this yeast. Rogue was nice enough to confirm exactly what is in it.

 

[Klainmeister]

well with that description it shouldn't be that hard to do. anyone got promash?

Here's an idear from a maibock on BYO:

8 lb. light DME
1 lb. Munich Malt
10 oz. Cara-pils
.75 oz. Perle Hops
2 oz. Hallertauer
and of course Pacman

I think this would make a killer Bock once aged in the 1-2-3 process.

 

[Pumbaa]

aren't Bock's lagers?

NM, just reread the discription and got a name for it . . . .

Dead Goat Ale?

 

[Bernie Brewer]

aren't Bock's lagers?

NM, just reread the discription and got a name for it . . . .

Dead Goat Ale?

Yes, a Bock is a lager.....

 

[EvilTOJ]

looks like Williams Brewing has pacman for sale online for $6.25

 

[Exo]

Here's a all-grain clone of Dead Guy which I'm pretty sure was pilfered (beer captured) from somewhere else and posted previously and slightly edited by meh:

5.5gal
OG: 1.062 @ 75% eff.
IBU: 40
SRM: 9.5

Grains:
10# 2-row pale malt
.75# Carapils
.75# CaraMunich 40
.75# Munich Malt
.50# Crystal 40L

Hops:
1oz Perle 60min
.5oz Perle 15min
1oz Saaz 15min

Yeast:
Pacman!

Appreciative of some comments on this. My tasting of Dead Guy found much more hop profile than what is above. Certainly had a twang to it...could be the Perle at 15min though...

I sent an email to Midwest Supplies and they expect their Pacman to be in approx Fri. Sept. 8th

 

[Rookie]

Not sure what I would brew with it yet, but I do plan to pick one of these up and stick it in the cooler.

 

[Desert_Sky]

5.5gal
OG: 1.062 @ 75% eff.
IBU: 40
SRM: 9.5

Grains:
10# 2-row pale malt
.75# Carapils
.75# CaraMunich 40
.75# Munich Malt
.50# Crystal 40L

Hops:
1oz Perle 60min
.5oz Perle 15min
1oz Saaz 15min

Yeast:
Pacman!

Looks good, I may give something like that a shot.

Im meeting the guys up in Tucson today, and a buddy of mine is hitting up the LHBS in Pheonix before he comes down. He says they have it up there so hes picking one up for me. Hopefully he wont forget, because I'm not going to chance getting one shipped down here in this heat. And since I have one of Yuri's stirplates now, Im going to make this into one monster of a starter.

 

[Exo]

I have yet to get a real good starter system going. Slowly adding the little stuff. Stirplate...nice!

I did some math since the ABV isn't on their site and I can't find it on the bottle. The numbers are 16 Plato (1.065) with 78% apparent attenuation that that's right around 6.8% ABV...yowsers!

My above recipe goes at 1.062 at 75%. I am going to expect a slightly higher efficiency so at 78% it will be right about at the mark.

Wonder if an email from an admin or mod. to Rogue telling them of our project could result in some tips on a more exact recipe....*poke* *poke* Dude...

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Anyone know what the attenuation is on this yeast? Since it's a high alc tolerant strain I'm thinking of making a barley wine with it. Though I will also make something else as well.

Perhaps an Ale I wil dub "Sanity in Question" or "IQ Test".

For 10ish Gallons (40 Liters)
Sorry, weights in Kilos.

10 KG Munich 10 (Gambrinus)
2 KG Honey Malt (Gambrinus)
2 KG Rye Flake
Mashed at 150F 90 minutes

200 Grams Northern Brewer 60 min
100 Grams Tettnager 15 min
100 Grams tennager 5 min
Yeast: Pacman

SRM 16
IBU 100
ABV (hard to tell but at 75% atten.) at least: 8%

 

[SwAMi75]

Anyone know what the attenuation is on this yeast? Since it's a high alc tolerant strain I'm thinking of making a barley wine with it. Though I will also make something else as well.

According to Rogue's website, they get 83% AA with Pacman in their Old Crustacean barleywine. I have to suspect that they're not just doing a single pitch and getting that kind of AA, but helping it along some. Then again, they're probably pitching huge, so they might be able to do it.

Whatever, sounds like a viable strain for higher ABV brews!

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Hmm. I wonder if thats using just pacman yeast for the barley wine?

Suprised they don't list the AA on wyeast's website.

 

[runhard]

Has anyone seen this available from one of the online homebrew shops? Austin Homebrew doesn't have it yet...

I went by Austin Homebrew yesterday and they have it in stock as of that morning. I got the feeling they expect it to sell quickly so you may want to holler at them and place an order. I didn't notice on their window if their open or not on Monday.

Jeffrey

 

[Desert_Sky]

Well the pheonix LHBS said they wont have it until next Friday, so looks like Im going to have to wait.

 

[Klainmeister]

that's ok, i have mine in my fridge because i am in the midst of moving so brewing a batch isn't really a good idea. but man, i can still dream about recipes right?

 

[Exo]

I'm now re-considering a clone brew using PacMan yeast. Maybe I'll be brewing a series of beers using it. I'm now a fan of Shakespeare Stout. It's everything Guinness lacks, IMHO. Of course, the Guinness we poor f**kers in the US have to drink tastes like toilet water.

Here's another AG consideration. Possibly I'll do both the Dead Guy clone and the Shakespeare Stout clone.

Not a fan of the residual grapefruit taste on my palatte and back of the throat tingle for a stout (fine for an IPA) but I attribute this to the Cascade used for bittering.

So, here is my clone of Shakespeare Stout.


Shakespeare on Crack:

5.5gal recipe with 77% efficiency
OG: 1.061
IBU: 70
60min boil
expected ABV: 6.3%ish


Grains:
7.5# Maris Otter
2# Crystal 90
1# Flaked Oats
1.25# Roasted Barley
.5# Chocolate Malt

Hops:
1.25oz Chinook (AA 12.1) (pellet) 50min remaining
1.5oz Cascade 15min remaining

PacMan yeast

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Since the introduction of PacMan yeast is such a limited offer, does anybody wanna try doing exactly what isn't recommended? I'm thinking about brewing a Dead Guy clone, harvesting the yeast, and repeating the process over and over (assuming the recipe is good...), allowing it mutate a little. Using it in the same recipe each time with excellent sanitation should produce decent results, don't you think?

 

[disaffected]

I wish I was more experienced and knew what I was doing. Dead Guy Ale and Shakespeare Stout are my two favorite Rogue brews. If this yeast is expected to be available for a limited time, I'd sure like to give one of the clone recipes y'all come up with a try.

Yuri_Rage, what do you mean "doing exactly what isn't recommended?"

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Yuri_Rage, what do you mean "doing exactly what isn't recommended?"

For homebrewers, it's usually recommended to only use the same yeast for 2 or 3 brews, with the assumption that mutation and contamination by wild yeast will render the original strain less effective. However, bigger brewhouses perpetuate their yeast strains almost indefinitely by placing tight controls on their brewing process. My suggestion is to mirror the "big guys" with this yeast by brewing a single style with the strain and keeping an extremely sanitary environment.

 

[Exo]

I picked my pack up a few days ago. I had plans on starting with a Dead Guy clone, moving to a Shakespeare Stout then doing some washing of the yeast and trying something new. I have my recipes set for both.

Or do something folks aren't supposed to do and brew both a Dead Guy and a Shakespeare then combine the yeast and wash them, saving them for some other strains.

I guess it all depends on how my brews taste in the end...but I sure like Pacman in the Rogue brews.

 

[Chairman Cheyco]

For homebrewers, it's usually recommended to only use the same yeast for 2 or 3 brews, with the assumption that mutation and contamination by wild yeast will render the original strain less effective. However, bigger brewhouses perpetuate their yeast strains almost indefinitely by placing tight controls on their brewing process. My suggestion is to mirror the "big guys" with this yeast by brewing a single style with the strain and keeping an extremely sanitary environment.

The big guys have labs which grow the yeast from a clean starter strain every time. They don't actually re-pitch. No matter how clean you are at home, I wouldn't risk going more than 3 pitches. If you want to split that Pacman for multiple brews, you can split it and freeze it in glycerin. Then you can use each one of the divisions three times. You should be able to get at least four vials for storage, so that's 12 brews anyway.

 

[disaffected]

You mean propylene glycol? Mix the yeast directly in the glycol? It has a freezing point of -60 F in a 100% solution, about -34 in a 50:50 solution with water. Your yeast won't actually freeze in a typical freezer, but maybe that is the point? I keep my deep freeze at -10 F, which definitely wouldn't freeze either of those two solutions of propylene glycol.