Harvesting wild yeast from a hopped starter.

[steben64]

So I brewed the other day and after siphoning into the fermenter I had about a half gallon of wort left. I decided to take a sanitized mason jar and scoop up a pint of hopped wort to try to harvest yeast. I've observed spontanious fermentation before when accidentally leaving my hydrometer filled overnight.
It's been about 4 days and after seeing initial signs, I covered the jar with foil. It looks like a standard Sach fermentation with co2 bubbling out and a thick krausen layer on top.
As an experiment, I'd like to dump this into my next batch (low risk, I get ingredients free from work.) and see what happens. I just wanted to know if there would be any health-related danger to doing this besides having a crappy beer come out.
I'm well aware that there's definitely more than just yeast fermenting but it seems that the yeast is the dominate organism in the wort.
If this itd help your input, I can post some pictures to see what you guys think.
I'm not worried about having to dump a bad batch because like I said, I get my grains and hops for free from work. I just wanted to make sure I'm not going to make poison from this.

 

[kadozen]

Nothing that can get you sick will be in there as far as I know. Check it with your hydrometer and smell it. It won't hurt you, but if your very sensitive to certain flavors you might hurl, just from the gross end of things, not ill like

 

[steben64]

So far the scent isn't bad, though with the krausen at the top, I'm mostly smelling hops right now. I don't see any mold and the fermentation appears quite typical.
I mainly want to do this as an experiment since I've always been most interested in the yeast itself. I'm mainly here to make sure I'm not hurting myself or others with this experiment lol.

 

[Komocabo]

I'm interested in the results... do it!!

 

[steben64]

Oh I will definitely post results if I go through with this.
How long should I let this wort propagate for before I brew and pitch it? It's been about 6 days since I've started this exbeeriment.

 

[kadozen]

It sounds like you caught some wild yeast. I vote you go through with the experiment. Try a 3 gallon batch with a simple grain bill and just enough hops to bitter. Does it have any smell you can identify? Fruity, clean, anything like that?

 

[steben64]

Smells both fruity and funky. Different, but definitely not stomach churning.

 

[trentm]

Oh I will definitely post results if I go through with this.
How long should I let this wort propagate for before I brew and pitch it? It's been about 6 days since I've started this exbeeriment.

A lot goes on during a wild ferment. First one organism takes hold then another and so on. Deciding when to stop would depend on what organisms you are after or if you want the full gamut. Here is a link to a blog where the blogger attempts to describe what happens and when:http://suigenerisbrewing.blogspot.ca/2013/04/anatomy-of-wild-ferment.html

Good luck and report back.

 

[steben64]

Took a gravity reading. After 7 days it has gone from 1.055 to 1.015. Im wondering if I should brew and pitch this soon while the microorganisms(hopefully mostly yeast) are still very active or if I should just wait for everything to floc out completely after another week.

 

[trentm]

Think about pitching soon but save a portion, feed what's left, keep it a while and see what happens.

 

[Bobcatbrewing42]

You may get something good, maybe not. If you are in your regular brewing area, you may get what you use all of the time. I understand those old breweries in Belgium just have their proprietary (by default ) yeast floating around in the air. I got an awful phenolic taste in a batch that was infected with wild yeast, however it sure was pretty.

 

[steben64]

Yeah I harvested it from my kitchen which is also my brewhouse certain days of the month lol.
Like I said, this is low risk for me since Ill only be spending a couple dollars on hops and thats it.

 

[steben64]

Brewday Bump!
Did a gravity reading of the starter last night and it looks to be about 1.014 from 1.055. I'll be brewing a simple recipe
8lb Marris Otter
4lb Munich
2lb Crystal 30
2oz Fuggles(5.7%) at 60 mins

I've included some photos of the starter.

Sorry for potato quality, not a steady photographer.

The starter.

The yeast/microbe cake at the bottom.

There was a nice krausen on this a few days ago. It has since fallen.


It smells fruity and oxidized. I also did a taste test, it's quite funky and I doubt I'd have more than a sip of it, but it's definitely not rancid.
I've never used a blowoff tube before, but I'm wondering if I should for this batch seeing as how wild microbes can be a bit unpredictable.

EDIT:Sorry for giant pictures, didn't realize my phone would blow them up this big.