ECY-01 (Bugfarm) -

[g-star]

So I intended to make a lambic for eventual blending with this simple recipe:

50% Pils
50% Wheat
8oz Maltodextrin

Mash at 154F
OG = 1.048
5 IBU (Hersbrucker)

ECY-01 - Bugfarm (dated 7-30-13)

Everything went well on brew day, pitched the Bugfarm at about 67F and walked away.

Now for the strange part. After 72hrs, there were no signs of fermentation whatsoever. Absolutely zero pressure on the airlock, no signs of CO2 evolution, no krausen or even a hint of foam. The ECY website claims 200-400B cells/jar, and considering the OG and relative freshness, I don't think this is an under-pitching problem.

Anybody have any bad experiences with this strain? I made a similar beer back in March with ECY-01 and it started fermenting within the typical 12-24hrs. I just don't get what could be going on here, except for maybe the sacch yeast wasn't present in this particular bottle???

Finally after 4 days of inactivity, I re-hydrated and pitched the new dry Saison yeast and the fermentation took off within hours. So I am ruling out unfermentable wort as a possibility.

Any ideas?

 

[galttfwo]

In my experience with ECY01, it really helps if you push it a little warmer during the first 24-48 hours. I have seen really long lag with that strain if it it under 70. Pitch at 74/75 and let it start up, then cool to your desired temp.
Over the past few years, my standard is pitch at 75, cool to 65-68 and ferment for a month or so. Then secondary at 58-61 for a year or longer. Almost the same recipe as you though.. 60/40 pils/wheat. Mash at 158. og approx 1.050.

 

[Coff]

Ive had the same experience with all ECY blends, they really like a warmer temp then you would expect just to get going. If you can, warm the fermenter up to 75f and it will take off really quickly. The first time I used Bugfarm I had the same issue as you, I put it on a heating pad and warmed it up from 67f-74f and it had a krausen within 2-3 hours.

I have a beer in bottles exactly 1 year last month almost identical to the one you brewed, 65/35 pils/wheat Styrian Goldings to bitter 1.055 mashed at 156f. I havent had one since February but plan to bring a few to a tasting tomorrow night.

 

[g-star]

Thanks for the replies/insight. Though I pitched at 67F, it warmed up to ambient (71F), and nothing happened. Guess I will have to go for a warmer pitch next time.

 

[TNGabe]

Considering actual lambic can take weeks or even months to show visible signs of fermentation, I consider the lag time a non-issue. I brewed with ECY20 this winter and it took almost two weeks to show visible signs of fermentation at 68˚ and the beer is doing quite nicely, very clean and citric so far. Hopefully it wil funk up a little, if not I'll add some lambic dregs or cantillon brett. I brewed a lamebic with ECY01 (that was packaged in June IIRC) last week and had an active fermentation in about 48 hrs at 66, but I did pitch that one on the mid 70s and allow the wort to cool the last few degrees after pitching.

 

[g-star]

Considering actual lambic can take weeks or even months to show visible signs of fermentation, I consider the lag time a non-issue.

I get that, but this behavior was radically different from what I observed with ECY01 the first time around. Perhaps the blend of bugs had changed since then.

 

[Coff]

This years Bugfarm is actually BugCounty, so it basically has everything in it.

 

[OpenGlobeBrewer]

bumping an old thread but this is available at love2brew right now, just grabbed a vial

 

[masonsjax]

I pitched bugfarm for the first time a few hours ago. Kinda a bummer being this excited about a beer that will take over a year to be ready. I used the ECY Flemish Ale blend last month and it took off within the first day at around 60-63F.

 

[Mr_Pear]

I'm glad this thread is active again, I was starting to stress out because its been 3 days since I pitched ECY01 and still no signs! I pitched pretty cool around 66 and just raised it up to 68, sounds like I might bump it up another couple of degrees!

 

[BzurkoBrews]

A month ago I brewed 10 gallons and split into two 5 gallon carboys. One got ecy01 the other got ecy20. The ecy01 blew off within 6 hours. The ecy20 blew off 24 hours later. Both were the most aggressive ferments I've seen.


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[Coff]

Al's bugs like some warm temps to get started, 70f and it should take off.


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[statseeker]

I just dont see what the problem is. Long lag has been shown to be normal with these strains. Mine took 3 days before anything did anything. Do a proofing/starter if you really need to get the mix active quick. Otherwise be patient or ramp to 72+ until you get the signs. A couple of days is not something i'd be worried about for a beer with a year plus maturation period.

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[FATC1TY]

I'm excited to get a recipe together to use some of this years ECY01 as well..

Looking around for the best way to let it shine!

 

[OpenGlobeBrewer]

I'm going to brew with it this weekend. Never made a Lambic before, but I finally have enough beer on stock that I have the patience for something with extended aging. I'll do a BIAB on this one so I don't have to worry about stuck sparge. I was thinking something like this

5 gallon batch

4 lbs Belgian Pils
4 lbs Torrified wheat (would malted wheat be better? don't really wan't to do a turbid mash this time so I'm not using raw wheat)
1 lbs table sugar

Expected OG 1.048
Expected FG 1.007

Hops will be 8 IBU worth of Strisslespalt unless I can find some aged hops at the LHBS first

Gonna pitch the ECY01 bug farm and let it do it's thing.

Thoughts on the recipe? Should I pitch a neutral dry yeast with the bug farm to get it going faster? It seems like it shouldn't matter too much. Gonna age this for a year in a Better bottle and see where it goes.

Any and all suggestions welcome as I am a total Lambic noob!

 

[masonsjax]

Bugfarm has sacc strains in it so you don't need to pitch additional yeast. I used malted wheat in my batch but of course I won't have results to share for quite some time. With wild beers like this, I'm not sure the recipe is that important. Just make a fairly unfermentable wort and throw the bugs in to do their thing.

I'm looking forward to Mike's book to learn what it really takes.

 

[OpenGlobeBrewer]

thats what i thought too...agreed, have it pre-ordered, cant wait to read it!

 

[sweetcell]

Why are you adding sugar? It will only create alcohol, which will eventually inhibit the bugs.

 

[joshrosborne]

Why are you adding sugar? It will only create alcohol, which will eventually inhibit the bugs.

This. There is no reason to make the wort more fermentable.

 

[OpenGlobeBrewer]

Fair enough, thanks

 

[OpenGlobeBrewer]

Any role for specialty malts then to create a less fermentable wort and give the bugs more to work with, or should I stick with straight pils-wheat?

Anyone else have strong opinions on malted vs torrified vs raw wheat?

 

[g-star]

For a 5 gallon batch, I used 50/50 Pils/malted wheat with 8oz of maltodextrin to add unfermentables. It is just about one year now, and it is coming along nicely. Initial TG after the sacch yeast was done was 1.015. It is down to 1.008 now.