Blending a house Mixed Culture

[inda_bebe]

Ive harvested dregs and bugs from numerous bottles of favorite saisons and sours. I wanted to make my own house culture, so ive fed the yeasts and bugs wort w/out a stirplate. wanted to keep oxygen out and away from the Lacto if there was any.

How would i go about blending my own for a farmhouse? make a starter w/ 50/50 apple juice and wort with 50% Saison brewers yeast and then 25% each Brett and Lacto Dregs? make a starter and throw it all into Primary?

 

[dantheman13]

If I am following you, you say you have a bunch of bottles of commercial beers with the dregs left in the bottles? I would probably just pitch them all into one gallon of low gravity wort, give it a few months, taste it, then put that into a full 5 gallon batch. You could be more methodical if you wanted though and put them all into smaller starters, or maybe combine similar tasting beers into the same starters. That way you don't put all of your eggs in one basket, and you'll get a variety of different tasting beer at the end. Re-use the ones that turn out good in a full 5 gallon batch, and toss the ones that don't (or keep aging them).

Brewing like this isn't an exact science. I find that more variety of bugs in one beer gives better results, generally speaking, but getting a few batches going with different bugs in each gives you the ability to blend and/or select the best batches.

 

[dantheman13]

I wouldn't add any brewer's yeast until you are ready to go to 5 gallons, and even then it is optional if you have a good population going.

 

[inda_bebe]

good info. ive seen your youtube clips here and there. great work and very informative. i have made saisons from building up dregs from anna then pitching into 5 gallons and it was lacking big time. no hint of tartness at all. im thinking it was wine yeast or something that ive harvested. someone also said not to use a stirplate cause the oxygen gave the brewers yeast a head start over the lacto.

so i made a starter again w/out the stirplate and added some pasturized apple juice. i will do another saison and pitch another pure culture of saison bernice and see if i get the tartness that im looking for. Thanks again and i hope Saison Bernice isnt full of wine yeast.