Yeast from a 220-year-old bottle of beer

[ReverendJ]

Very interesting story came out a few days ago about a shipwreck off the coast of Tasmania that crashed in 1797. The ship was carrying 17000 gallons of beer and a few sealed bottles were salvaged about 20 years ago and they were able to (possibly) recover the yeast and re-active it. You can check it out at this link

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/4481385.htm

However you'll need to be in Australia or have a VPN there to watch the streaming video (you can download the MP4 without a VPN) Also, a craft brew store owner was able to get his hands on 2 bottles with different yeast strains and tried them out, which you can see here:

http://www.beercartel.com.au/blog/worlds-oldest-beer

Personally I'd love to try this yeast out when if/when it becomes available!

 

[Michigan_Wolfman]

I wonder how long yeast can actually remain dormant and still be revived. Has anyone ever found an absolute limit?

 

[Dfitz]

I wonder what kind of vessels they were keeping beer in that last 220 years.

 

[ReverendJ]

I wonder what kind of vessels they were keeping beer in that last 220 years.

From the video it looked like a corked glass bottle, the thing that helped keep the cork from rotting was that the ship got buried in sand and silt which helped preserve all the organic matter.

 

[Yeastieboy]

I want to drink that beer.

 

[MaryB]

I want to buy that yeast and try it!

 

[beersk]

I want to drink that beer.

And you'll take one sip and go, "I don't want to drink that beer".

It's probably sour and oxidized.

 

[Newsman]

And you'll take one sip and go, "I don't want to drink that beer".

It's probably sour and oxidized.

True, but I'd like to find out what NEW beer made with the dregs of that yeast tastes like.

 

[Yeastieboy]

I want to drink that beer.

 

[unionrdr]

I have A new HP with Windows 10-build 1511 that plays the 1st video just fine? Really interesting that it's a hybrid of Saccharomyces & Brettanomyces, a Trappist style yeast. Cool that the style is so old, we can still pull out small samples of the original yeast used to brew the likes if Chimay, Duval, etc.
It would be cool if, eventually, one or more of the yeast farmers could reproduce these ancient ale strains for sale as such. Maybe even list the history of the yeast at/for the point of sale to sort of delineate the yeast's parentage.

 

[Rye-guy]

Bet that beer taste like butt. I'd love to get my hands on that historic yeast strain though.