Gigayeast Sour Cherry Funk GY150

[peja436]

Okay, a couple a questions here:
What would the main differences between pitching the GY150 at the same time as a regular sacc yeast (US-05), or later in secondary?
Would it (the GY150) take hold a bit sooner if it just went in at primary with the US-05?
Would I lose any potential character/complexity by pitching at the same time as US-05 in primary and then racking off of the yeast into secondary?

 

[Ruckusz28]

I direct pitched the GY150 as indicated by the manufacturer's site. I've read that if you add the bugs in the secondary, it can take much longer to sour. I'd imagine that if you pitched the GY150 with a sacc strain, you'd get a reduced sourness due to the sacc and bugs fighting for the edibles. There's no wrong way to do it, it just depends on what you're looking for in an end result.

My first sour was brewed back in march. Primarily fermented with Wyeast Forbidden Fruit. When I reached FG, I racked it onto 4lb of peach puree and added in some bugs that I cultured up from JP and Framboise dregs. 8 months later and its still not sour. Its complex, but not sour.

Hope that helps.

 

[finsfan]

Okay, a couple a questions here:

What would the main differences between pitching the GY150 at the same time as a regular sacc yeast (US-05), or later in secondary?

Would it (the GY150) take hold a bit sooner if it just went in at primary with the US-05?

Would I lose any potential character/complexity by pitching at the same time as US-05 in primary and then racking off of the yeast into secondary?

The difference in pitching with sacch or secondary is time to sour and flavor. Pitched in primary, it will be able to get ahold of some of the simple sugars as well as the complex sugars, producing a range of flavor or acidity. Secondary will only be complex sugars, which take longer to break down and produce different flavors than simple sugar consumption. So yes, the gy150 would take hold sooner if pitched with us05.

 

[Ruckusz28]

Well I went ahead and bottled my Flanders last night from using the GY SCF.

OG 1.050
FG 1.010
SRM ~12-14
IBU 2.7 (used lambic blend hopes from farmhouse brewing instead of original recipe)
PH ~3.75 (the strips aren't the best)

Primed with 3.5oz dextrose into 2 cups water. Added 1tsp yeast nutrient, 1 tsp yeast energizer. Pitched to bottling bucket, siphoned wort on top.

This brew finished nice. Recipe is post #21. Nice glowing orange/red color. Smells of tart cherry, leather, and acid. The taste isn't overpoweringly lactic. Taste starts as a brett / cherry and then the brett takes over. Light body. Dry finish. I could enjoy this uncarbonated and sip like a wine.

It's still a very young beer at about 6 months of age. I'm going to let this sit in the bottle until easter and then revisit. Once the brett tames, I feel that the cherry will really show through.

 

[Ruckusz28]

Popped my first bottle last weekend and WOW was I taken back. Time was very kind to this flanders. Notes of cherry, leather, dark fruits, combined with a rich texture and mild carbonation make for a very fine flanders red.

The final verdict: As with most wild brews, time prevails. Though the website and marketing imply that you can have a rocking sour beer in 2-3 weeks, don't believe it. I would use this yeast again. Perhaps next time, I would save a few gallons and blend old beer aged on oak with new beer.

Cheers!

 

[Ruckusz28]

Following back up. This brew is excellent. The cherry is very present. Time is this strains best friend

 

[hirschb]

Following back up. This brew is excellent. The cherry is very present. Time is this strains best friend

The above post states that you also threw in JP dregs, which are famous for "taking over" mixed fermentations.
Any opinions on using GY sour cherry funk in the future? I'm planning to use it this weekend. I do have some JP dregs, but was planning to use this GY blend on it's own in primary (while the second part of this split batch will get S-33 and ECY Flanders slurry).

 

[Ruckusz28]

That may have something to do with it. For what it's worth I don't taste the jp style in this brew. It took off like a rocket.

I fermented cool at 62 degrees over 6 months before I even checked in on it. I used yeast nutrient. Basically set it forget it. Don't plan on drinking it until halloween.

I don't recall if I posted my recipe but I used 1/3 2 row, 1/3 munich, 1/3 white wheat. Keep the ibu under 5. I used aged lambic blend hops from farmhouse. No water treatment used.

 

[hirschb]

I'm in a pretty hot climate.... I'll temp control for primary ferm, but ambient temp for long term aging (around 75-82F). Given the high aging temp, I was going to up the IBU's (around 8-9%), and if it's not sour enough I can blend in some overly sour beer later.

 

[Ruckusz28]

I wouldn't go that high in ibu. Mine was in that ballpark and it took 4 months to sour noticeably

 

[rossi46]

I really should sample mine, it was brewed on 11-1-15. I'm curious if it soured enough, it was a straight GY150 pitch.

 

[hirschb]

I wouldn't go that high in ibu. Mine was in that ballpark and it took 4 months to sour noticeably

My general experience is that Flanders style beers need 9-18 months anyway, so I've no problem with waiting over 4 months. I also really worry about over-souring at high storage temps. I think the science on it isn't settled, but I'd prefer to err on the less-sour side, then having to blend in a clean beer if it becomes too sour.

 

[dreamweaver]

I brewed this on 5/6/16:

50% Pilsner
27.3% Bohemian Dark
9% Bohemian Wheat
4% Abbey Malt
4% C120
4% Chocolate Malt
1.7% Carafa III

No hops, just sweet 1.058 wort and pitched GY150 straight. It sat at 72* F and seems to have bottomed out at 1.026. That's right at 51% attenuation which is what Gigayeast claims for a 1.060 sweet wort on their website.

Sampled today and it's definitely tart and beginning to get complex fruity esters.

 

[hirschb]

My packet was DOA. Zero activity after 30+ hours. Shipping mixed yeast cultures to tropical Australia is a pretty dicey proposition, but I expected that there should have been something alive in there. I'm hoping my LHBS gives me a refund on this one.

 

[elburrogrande]

I brewed this in January, just bottled 2 gallons and racked 3 on top of rasperries/hibiscus. FG was 1.002 for the bottled portion. I plan on letting the raspberry portion sit another month then dry hop and bottle.

4 gallons:
4 lbs. white wheat
2.6 lbs. German Pilsner
1.6 lbs. acidulated malt
0.50 lbs rice hulls
1oz hallertau hops (60 min.)
1 Whirlfloc tablet (15 min.)
1.0 oz ground coriander seed (10 min.)
0.75 oz salt (10 min.)
gigayeast sour cherry funk

This was blended about a 2 months later with
1 gallon and aged in oak for 2 months

2lbs – Pilsner Malt
.25lbs – White Wheat
0.15lbs – Vienna Malt
0.15lbs – Acid Malt
0.15lbs – Flake Oats Malt
1/2 packet belle saison yeast
1lbs pinapple added to secondary after 3 weeks

 

[elburrogrande]

I brewed this on 5/6/16:

50% Pilsner
27.3% Bohemian Dark
9% Bohemian Wheat
4% Abbey Malt
4% C120
4% Chocolate Malt
1.7% Carafa III

No hops, just sweet 1.058 wort and pitched GY120 straight. It sat at 72* F and seems to have bottomed out at 1.026. That's right at 51% attenuation which is what Gigayeast claims for a 1.060 sweet wort on their website.

Sampled today and it's definitely tart and beginning to get complex fruity esters.

I would confirm it is done. GY150 is a blend of 3 Brett strains and Lactic Acid Bacteria. My batch got down to 1.002 from 1.046 and I am not convinced it was done yet. I left mine alone for almost 5 months though.

 

[tgif]

Just got some of this, planning on making something along the lines of a mild with it

 

[rossi46]

Finally tried my Tart of Darkness with gy150. Holy cow, it's tart. It was brewed on 11-1-15, I'm going to oak it and package soon.

 

[peja436]

A buddy and I brewed up a flanders red of sorts on 12-19-15. Did a week on US-04 then pitched the Sour Cherry Funk. Sampled it once and it smelled more sour than it tasted, but had great notes of cherry, leather, and of course, funk. Going to pull a sample later this week and will see how it has progressed. OG was 1.068

 

[JoesInBoston]

I had brewed a kellerbier a while back that produced some noticeable acetaldehyde. I tried letting it age out but it didn't improve, so I just racked the 2.5 gallons that were left in the keg and pitched a packet of GY SCF into it. The FG of my Kellerbier was 1.015 and the IBU's were high for sure, so I don't have high hopes for it, but I wanted to try something before dumping the beer. I will keep this post updated of any noticeable progress.

 

[rwing7486]

Questions for those who straight pitched GY150 into their flanders red. What mash temp you use? I was thinking 155 as the beer will be aging for a long time. How long did you let the beer sit in the primary before racking over to the secondary? also what fermentation temp did you use? I was thinking of primary in the mid to high 70's to let that latic acid get started right away on souring the beer.

 

[rossi46]

I did a sour stout, but I mashed at 156. Mine was in primary for 10 months. Mine was at the low 70's in the house.

 

[rwing7486]

I did a sour stout, but I mashed at 156. Mine was in primary for 10 months. Mine was at the low 70's in the house.

how it turn out? and what was your FG?

 

[rossi46]

Oh, it was great. If I remember right, fg was 1.004

 

[rwing7486]

Oh, it was great. If I remember right, fg was 1.004

Awesome! My plan was to ferment mine 2 months on the yeast cake and then rack over to a secondary and age it on some french oak cubes for 6 more months (or until the sourness level is where i like it). Reason being is i want to rack another beer on top of the yeast cake so I can get another sour beer fermenting while the first one ages.

Did you take any gravity readings along the way as you waited? As in taking a reading every month? I was just curious how fast the gravity dropped within the first few months.

 

[rossi46]

No, I just ignored it for 10 months. Only thing I did was top off the air lock.

 

[rwing7486]

No, I just ignored it for 10 months. Only thing I did was top off the air lock.

did you ferment in glass or a bucket? Just curious how "vigorous" the fermentation was. how thick was the krausen on top before falling out? did it rise up allot? Reason I ask is im thinking of using my 6 gallon carboy that i normally use for wine to ferment this sour and want to fill it with 5.5 gallons of wort

 

[rossi46]

I used a speidel that holds 7.9 gallons. I don't think it was a very vigorous fermentation. Maybe an inch of krausen.

 

[rwing7486]

I used a speidel that holds 7.9 gallons. I don't think it was a very vigorous fermentation. Maybe an inch of krausen.

How long after pitching your yeast did it take for you to see signs of fermentation? I pitched my last night in 1.060 wort with a pH of 4.6. (ibu around 7). I noticed that the manufacture date of my pack is from this past May - so roughly 8 months old. This has me worried some with the brett and lacto culture being so old, not sure if it has the same falloff as saccharomyces. If i dont see signs of fermentation after a few days I am tempted to go pick up some wyeast rosselare blend and pitch that.

 

[rossi46]

I don't really remember. 8 months, not sure there, I would pitch some sac, bugs are probably ok.