'Wild' DFH Egypt Beer

[wonderbread23]

So, last night I watch Brewmasters where they were making a 'wild' beer from Egypt called Ta Henket

When I saw it last night I was a bit confused by the 'wild' yeast they used. Were they actually going to do a pseudo wild brew capturing different yeasts / bacterias?

When watching their procedure it looked to me like they cultured a bunch of different things (most of which likely came from the skins of the fruit they stuck in the media they were using), sent it to a lab, isolated a saccromyces strain, pure cultured it, and then grew it up. They describe the beer as wild, but it seems like they simply cultured a naturally occurring saccro strain and discarded the rest. That being said, it still seems interesting, but not really that wild. I suppose it would probably be too risky to their equipment to risk contamination for a one-off kind of beer.

 

[IrregularPulse]

So, last night I watch Brewmasters where they were making a 'wild' beer from Egypt called Ta Henket

When I saw it last night I was a bit confused by the 'wild' yeast they used. Were they actually going to do a pseudo wild brew capturing different yeasts / bacterias?

When watching their procedure it looked to me like they cultured a bunch of different things (most of which likely came from the skins of the fruit they stuck in the media they were using), sent it to a lab, isolated a saccromyces strain, pure cultured it, and then grew it up. They describe the beer as wild, but it seems like they simply cultured a naturally occurring saccro strain and discarded the rest. That being said, it still seems interesting, but not really that wild. I suppose it would probably be too risky to their equipment to risk contamination for a one-off kind of beer.

I watched it too. I'd still call it wild. They caught several wild yeast strains in open air, then took them to a lab to see which ones would actually work as brewing yeast. They didn't alter any of them. They just picked which one would work. Not all yeast will ferment wort.

 

[gicts]

I watched it too. I'd still call it wild. They caught several wild yeast strains in open air, then took them to a lab to see which ones would actually work as brewing yeast. They didn't alter any of them. They just picked which one would work. Not all yeast will ferment wort.

I was curious what went on in the Belgium lab. I bet they isolated and replicated only the yeast that they wanted, so would it be a tamed wild yeast? A broke bronco of sorts?

 

[davejr]

This is my new favorite show on TV but it does seem they took a few "liberties" on this brew. Still would love to have a pint of it.

 

[ultravista]

Another great episode. I wonder what the cost of flying the two of them to Egypt and then to Belgium to culture the yeast. Gotta be pricey ...

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I was curious what went on in the Belgium lab. I bet they isolated and replicated only the yeast that they wanted, so would it be a tamed wild yeast? A broke bronco of sorts?

It's still a wild yeast because it will ferment the same way it would in the wild. Isolating a strain doesn't change the properties of that strain it just changes what critters make their way into the beer. It's not a spontaneously fermented beer but it does still employ wild yeast.

If they keep the yeast and continue to propagate it by selecting specific cells that have certain attributes (or just brew with it over and over again) then eventually it will be domesticated for performance in brewing and would not have the diverse properties a wild strain will exhibit.