Dead Guy Ale and Pacman yeast?

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So w/ a very thorough search I came up w/ an old stout here in town. I am gonna give it hell and see what happens.
The funny thing is, I don’t even know what or when I am gonna brew next.:D
Cheers
JJ
 
As someone who has harvested a lot of pacman....I can't confirm whether or not DG has it...On ALL their other 22's it lists the yeast on it...but on Dead guy, it doesn't say so on the silk screened label. I haven't risked it, and always have pitched it with the dregs of one confirmed Pacman bottled beer.
 
Well here it is. Tonight its 11:40 and I just put the Pacman on the stirplate I am going to step this up 6x over the next 7-8 days and then wash the yeast and create my starter for my Honey amarillo IIPA or my Big Motor stout, which ever one I do, I am going to split the batch into (2) 6 gallon fermenters and pitch this Pacman into 1 and WLP001 into the other and compair. I will let you all know how this test turns out.
Cheers
JJ
 
im pretty sure that all of rogues ales are fermented and botlled with pacman. i have just had better luck with the shakespere stout. there is always a good amount in every 22.
 
Update? I just drank a bomber of the stout and pitched the hefty yeast layer in a stater... hopefully I'll get some action soon... I also hope to see the yeast ferment! :D
 
As much as I have looked up on the subject, I have seen about a 50/50 result. As many people that say it is pacman, there are just as many that claim it is simply a separate bottling strain. Either way you would probably get some nice usable yeast.
 
To update this thread, my bottle of stout never did start. I took a hydro reading after 3 days and nothing.
I am going to go and find another bottle and try again. I am bound and determined to grow some of this yeast!!!
JJ
 
My first attempt at growing Pacman from a couple of 22 ozs brutal bitters last weekend never seemed to get started. I'm trying it again right now. I'll post back here if it works.
 
I'm trying to do it with a bottle of Double Dead Guy right now. No dice. I'll give it another day or so, then I'm dumping.
 
From what I have been reading around the NET, I am not so sure the dead guy ale is fermented w/ Pacman. I can't say for sure but I am seeing "Pacman Yeast" on a ton of their labels, but not that one.

JJ
 
Wasn't "pacman" just a fun term they JM came up with for their label??

I remember hearing their yeast was a Chico yeast when the brewery started. And now is different just like the McMenamins.
 
That is what I remember from living up in the PNW. Might be an urban legend....might be a Chico mutant.
 
There is a few related threads floating around here. Someone wrote the Rogue brewery and the response was that all Rogue (Newport) beers were brewed with Pacman. There didn't seem to be any sediment in DDG, so not sure whether it's bottle conditioned or not.
 
I just ordered an officially licensed extract kit of the dead guy ale from brewcraft. When ordering the kit, you can order yeast. I ordered 2 packs of the pacman yeast and they sent it no questions asked. I wish I had ordered more so I can play with an AG recipe.

I think this is the first extract clone to be approved by the original brewer of a beer.

Linc
 
Whats so good about the PacMan yeast?
Click to expand...

It's like super yeast! Highly attenuative and very fast acting- not to mention Rogue is one of the only breweries that ferments and bottle-conditions with the same yeast, so you can harvest from the bottle.
 
But it appears they use it for everything so what is the flavor profile? Like a CA Ale clean fomenting?
 
Doog_Si_Reeb said:
I've been wondering the same thing. Is it like 1056, but more resilient to higher alcohol? I enjoy Rogue beers (had a DGA the other night), so I'm interested in catching some Pacman yeast for possible future use.
Click to expand...


Here's what John Maier, Brewmaster, Rogue Ales says about it,

Pacman is really great yeast; everything about it is good. Pacman attenuates well, is alcohol tolerant, and it produces beers with no diacetyl if the beer is well made. It's very flocculent, which makes it a great choice for bottle conditioning. I ferment almost all my beers at 60deg.F; once in a while for certain styles I'll ferment as high as 70deg.F, but never higher. Use lots of oxygen, and a high pitch rate. I never repitch past the 6th generation, and I always use Wyeast Yeast Nutrient."
Click to expand...
 
For the Dead Guy Ale, OG = 1.064 and FG = 1.016 to 1.019 so it isn't a very dry beer but the taste is not overly sweet either.

I just made the extract kit friday night. First extract kit I've done in over a year. The instructions have you do a late extract addition so your only boiling half the DME with hops and such. Recommended ferment temp is 60 degrees F. Mine is in a chest freezer bubbling away like crazy.

It was weird to do extract after so many AG recipes. I have to say. Set up and clean up was so much easier faster etc, but at the same time I didn't get the same feeling after making the beer as I get after a successfull AG day. The best part is adding top up water, stir, take OG, if to high, add water, stir take another reading until you hit your OG dead on.

Linc
 
From the brewmaster's description, Pacman sounds like a good all-around yeast for American Ales (no surprise considering the source). I may have to try "stealing" some to use for my upcoming Red Rye and Cascade APA. Plus, I could always use more yeast in the beer fridge.

I've been curious about that Dead Guy clone kit. I think it's pretty cool that the brewery got involved in developing a kit to homebrew their beer.
 
Well, after reading the unsuccessful stories I was a bit worried, but my starter is finally bubbling away now. I pitch the slurry of a Shakespeare Stout bomber onto the wort Saturday around noon and I finally noticed action just a few hours ago... I'll be stepping it up a few times before I brew with it though...
 
Ah good to see it works... my brutal bitter yeast doesn't appear to be doing much so I'm drinking a couple of Dead Guys now and I'll add the dregs to the flask after flaming the bottles. Interestingly these bottles of dead guy appear to have a little bit of slurry in them. Some others I checked at BevMo didn't appear to have any or not anywhere near as much as the brutal bitter 22ozrs had.
 
The Shakespeare Stout I got from BevMo had a significant slurry!

IMG_2464.JPG
 
I have recently tried culturing from 2 different bottles of Shakespeare with no luck. I purchased a 6-pack of the Mocha Porter that had about a 1/4" of sediment in the bottom. I tried culturing from 2 of the porters with no luck also. Are they pasturizing their bottles to kill the yeast?
 
I have tried 6 times trying to get pacman started from Mocha Porter, Shakespeare, and American Amber with no luck. I then decided to ask my local homebrew store, Austin Homebrew, if they could order it for me. They did and now have it in stock. These guys are the best. I now have Pacman and will definitely keep this in my personal inventory.
 
I started up a slurry from a Shakespeare Stout last week. Here is the result of a week on the stir plate with a 1.020 starter. I'll be stepping it up again this week with a 1.040 starter.

IMG_1081.JPG
 
zachman said:
I have tried 6 times trying to get pacman started from Mocha Porter, Shakespeare, and American Amber with no luck. I then decided to ask my local homebrew store, Austin Homebrew, if they could order it for me. They did and now have it in stock. These guys are the best. I now have Pacman and will definitely keep this in my personal inventory.
Click to expand...

Dang, I wish I would have known this when I made my last order....Since I didn't though, I have a case of dead guy here and I am thinking about trying to harvest some. I am thinking have a buddy over and pitch the slurry from a sixer into a starter.

Anyway, my real question is, what would you guys think of this as the yeast for a Double Bastard clone? That is my next brew and the characteristics of this just seem to scream DB.
 

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