ECY 20 - Bug County

[Hawkfish]

I was lucky to get a bottle and have a quick question for those who have used this or the other sour yeasts from ECY.

Am I able to split the bottle up in to 2 five gallon batches or would I need to do a starter?

 

[skibb]

I wouldn't make a starter. I'm pretty sure ECY20 would be fine to pitch straight into 10 gallons.

The reason against it, is that there are a ton of different bugs/yeasts in bug county with different growth rates. The starter environment would favor the fast growers (like lacto) and change the overall ratios of the bugs in the blend.

 

[TNGabe]

I haven't split the two vials I've gotten, but I would if I used again. I think less is more with that type of culture. I recently did an all dreg (mostly geuze greg) beer with considerably less cells, and considerably less healthy cells, than ECY and it's going nicely after about a 3-4 day lag.

 

[BootsyFlanootsy]

just brewed a 50/50 pils/wheat 8%AA ( Strisslespalt was the lowest AA hop I could find at 2.3%),

pitched a fresh vial of ECY 20 at 5 am after letting the wort cool w/o chilling, ( took about 10 hours to get it down to 75f.

A word of warning, put a blow-off tube on with this yeast, super out of control fermentation going down right now. blew the stopper out twice after hooking the blow-off up.

not that I'm complaining or anything.

 

[BootsyFlanootsy]

seriously folks, be cautious when using this blend. this is what I woke up to this morning...

((( actually, the stopper blew off again, and was laying a few feet away )))

use a carboy with a good amount of headspace, I only didn't do so b/c I'm so used to lackluster primaries out of souring blends. can't even begin to imagine what would happen if someone were to build a starter out of this...

 

[BootsyFlanootsy]

only gripe I have at this point is that I've easily lost 3 liters worth of beer by now

 

[pDubbel]

only gripe I have at this point is that I've easily lost 3 liters worth of beer by now

Losing a beer, especially one that takes so much invested time, sucks. Throw some Fermcap in there next time.

 

[statseeker]

Thanks for the warning. I might try doing a double recipe. One 5 gallon batch one day, one the next day and hook a racking cane up to the first to act as a blowoff tube and get active yeast in the second 5 gallon batch....hmmm....interesting idea...

 

[pDubbel]

Thanks for the warning. I might try doing a double recipe. One 5 gallon batch one day, one the next day and hook a racking cane up to the first to act as a blowoff tube and get active yeast in the second 5 gallon batch....hmmm....interesting idea...

That would definitely infect the second beer although it might not be in the same ratios of bugs as the first beer. I'm not a sour brew expert but I've done a little research for my own sake and these are the questions I would ask before attempting this:

1. I'm assuming the second fermentor is open meaning that the pressure build up from the first fermentor will blow-off into the second and then escape out of the top of the second. If you cap both fermentors you'd just create two bombs lol

2. Assuming (1) is correct, different bugs behave differently with open fermentation. Some bugs like the extra oxygen and others don't. When you create two different environments (ie one open fermentation and one anaerobic) you'll end up with two different beers, which may not be a bad thing.

This is a good resource: http://www.slideshare.net/bschmaltz/r-rsour-beerpresentation

3. One thing to think about as well, although I have no idea if it would be true, some bugs might be top fermentors and some maybe not. By using your method you would be promoting top fermentor bugs into your second beer which would again create a different character.

 

[statseeker]

Yeah you're correct about my method there of leaving the second fermenter open to release pressure. I'd probably just do foil over the second until fermentation really started taking off. Pull the racking tube off and seal the first. I would think there would be a decent mix of stuff in the krausen. Brett and whatever is carried in the krausen. Maybe different character. But it would be fun to try.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[ne0t0ky0]

Pitched ECY 20 into 11G oak barrel, lambic-style. Blew off in 24 hours. It's calmed down now. Kept the extra wort from the 12 gallon batch that didn't fit, just filled the barrel back up to the top now.

 

[pDubbel]

That's just sexy. Where did you find an oak barrel that size?

 

[ne0t0ky0]

That's just sexy. Where did you find an oak barrel that size?

Got it from FarmhouseBrewingSupply. Vendor is on the used barrel thread. About a year old. I put three beers through it, RIS, Strong Scotch, and a Robust porter. Steam cleaned and hot water was and it smelled great.

I can't believe how much time I spend sniffing that bung hole....

 

[bovineblitz]

I had the Flemish blend fail to start regular fermentation, I actually had a little bit of a pellicle after 6 days without any activity. Pitched some S05 and dregs from a Cantillon and it took off within a day.

Have a couple vials of 20 in the fridge, I assume the sacch in there will take off just fine given info from this thread.