roymeo
Member
Hopefully having a hopped medium that the yeast can beat mold to would be enough. That's what I did. But I was taking yeast from the great outdoors, not from my house, hvac, and critters.
Howto: Capture Wild Yeast
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I harvested outdoors too. I used lactic acid instead of hops because I wanted to avoid hop particles in the agar. I might try again with hops maybe. My small starter seems to be working though. Think I managed to avoid selecting mold, but I havd no idea how far that stuff spreads. It smells very belgiany
bobo31
Well-Known Member
My first attempt at harvesting yeast went like this. I made a half liter 1.030 starter with one hop pellet(16.6%AA) in it, boiled 10mins. I then picked a VERY ripe persimmon off the small persimmon tree in my yard and dropped it in the wort. I am at about 6 days now and I am pretty sure I have yeast but could also have some bacteria too. At first it smelled yeasty/fruity kind of like a Belgian now it is starting to smell more like sour fruit. It also seems to be developing a film on the surface. I am thinking I should let it ride for at least another week and then step it up to a 1 liter starter. A few weeks after that I think I will brew a 1 gallon batch and test it out.
Should I be worried about the fruit being left in there too long? Would this pose any problems?
Should I be worried about the fruit being left in there too long? Would this pose any problems?
bobo31
Well-Known Member
So I ended up straining the fruit out of my starter when I stepped it up. The film I started to see on the surface never amounted to anything. It looked like an oil slick sort of but was gone in a about 8 hours. I stepped it up to 1.5 liters. The yeast I have work pretty fast compared to the Brett C. I have had going for almost 2 weeks now.
The wild yeast smells like sour apples. It seems to floc very well. I stepped it up to a 1.040 starter to see how it handles the extra alcohol. I will give it another week or so and then taste it. That way I can figure out what to brew with it.
The wild yeast smells like sour apples. It seems to floc very well. I stepped it up to a 1.040 starter to see how it handles the extra alcohol. I will give it another week or so and then taste it. That way I can figure out what to brew with it.
Mine smells either like marigolds or garbage juice. Can't decide. I had left the collection jars next to a marigold planter.
Mine has improved and smells like bread now. It finally kicked off after about a week of sitting and thinking about it. Had good vigorous fermetation for about 1.5 days, decent krausen, ending up with a pitchable amount of nice whitish yeast. Cold crashing now and I'll decant and test tomorrow. If all goes good, I'll pitch into a 1 gallon batch of beer.
![Craft A Brew - Safale BE-256 Yeast - Fermentis - Belgian Ale Dry Yeast - For Belgian & Strong Ales - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [3 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51bcKEwQmWL._SL500_.jpg)
Well it looks like I have some pretty active wild yeast! 18 hours after pitching into a 1 gallon batch I was greeted with this...
View attachment 1446250773782.jpg
View attachment 1446250773782.jpg
Madmannvan
Well-Known Member
I brewed a 2.5 gallon batch of a farmhouse ale on Sunday using the wild yeast I captured from some grapes. And it's looking good so far
Day2
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1446753033.582072.jpg
And on day4View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1446753067.883183.jpg
Can't wait to try this
Day2
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1446753033.582072.jpg
And on day4View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1446753067.883183.jpg
Can't wait to try this
Madmannvan
Well-Known Member
My test batch with the wild yeast from grapes, was fully carbonated, chilled and tasted today. WOW!!! It's was delicious so happy I have another 2.5 gallon batch all fermented out ready to go in a keg. Can't believe I captured this yeast. Has a great Belgian funk to it and was about 9%. More on the 2.5 gallons when it's carbed up
Well my wild yeast experiment seems to have worked. It went from 1.061 to 1.015 for 74% attenuation and 6% abv. It tastes relatively neutral, with a slight woodsy/sherry flavor that might be down to leaving it in primary entirely too long. I was hoping for some funky lambic tartness, but this will do. I collected this in the back yard, in the city, so I'm lucky it didn't turn into something aweful.
Interestingly, I threw out an earlier attempt that used sugar water and lemon juice for harvesting. I collected that one in the apple orchard out at my parent's acreage. I figured the sugar based approach wasn't the best, but it smelled awesome like some of the nicest commercial lambics I've tried... fruity, funky and very tart. Lesson learned! I'll be back in the orchard next spring with a DME agar plate to see if I can capture that strain again. In the meantime I'll keep playing with my hobo sweat dumpster yeast and consider getting a tetanus shot.
Interestingly, I threw out an earlier attempt that used sugar water and lemon juice for harvesting. I collected that one in the apple orchard out at my parent's acreage. I figured the sugar based approach wasn't the best, but it smelled awesome like some of the nicest commercial lambics I've tried... fruity, funky and very tart. Lesson learned! I'll be back in the orchard next spring with a DME agar plate to see if I can capture that strain again. In the meantime I'll keep playing with my hobo sweat dumpster yeast and consider getting a tetanus shot.
OK, so I've read through (mostly) 50 pages so far and figure it's time to chime in.
I brewed a roggenbrier on Sunday and decided to do a small beer from third runnings. I pulled about 2 gallons and boiled for 30 minutes adding hops at 20 min and at 5 min. I left it to cool in the Kettle and dumped half into one jug and half into another. Shook the hell out of them.
Preboil OG was 1021 ( didn't measure post boil)
Now for the fun part. I have been playing around with sourdoughs and had a raging starter made from wild yeast. Really sour stuff.
I threw a tbsp of sourdough into one jug and left the other one alone. Both received cheese cloth coverings. Next day, the sourdough beer had a good krausen that subsided the day after. It now has little hop islands floating on top. The beer with no starter added took until Wednesday (3 days) to start a krausen. And this things is a beast. Thick and creamy. Today, Friday, it's krausen is still thick and fermentation evident.
Aromas keep changing, but there are deffinate bannana (phynols?? Is that right?) hints in both. The sourdough beer has a slight brown sugar cookie smell. The non sourdough has a fair aroma of pear. Both also have typical Belgium yeasty characters.
I plan on leaving the sourdough beer open for its duration, as that's how I treat the sourdough starter. Just leave it out and open. I'm thinking, once the krausen on the nonsourdough falls, I will put an airlock on it. My goal is to sour these beers if possible.
No mold yet, but the moisture on the jar walls concerns me a bit. But well see.
I also have no idea if these picture's links are going to work. I'll keep trying.
I brewed a roggenbrier on Sunday and decided to do a small beer from third runnings. I pulled about 2 gallons and boiled for 30 minutes adding hops at 20 min and at 5 min. I left it to cool in the Kettle and dumped half into one jug and half into another. Shook the hell out of them.
Preboil OG was 1021 ( didn't measure post boil)
Now for the fun part. I have been playing around with sourdoughs and had a raging starter made from wild yeast. Really sour stuff.
I threw a tbsp of sourdough into one jug and left the other one alone. Both received cheese cloth coverings. Next day, the sourdough beer had a good krausen that subsided the day after. It now has little hop islands floating on top. The beer with no starter added took until Wednesday (3 days) to start a krausen. And this things is a beast. Thick and creamy. Today, Friday, it's krausen is still thick and fermentation evident.
Aromas keep changing, but there are deffinate bannana (phynols?? Is that right?) hints in both. The sourdough beer has a slight brown sugar cookie smell. The non sourdough has a fair aroma of pear. Both also have typical Belgium yeasty characters.
I plan on leaving the sourdough beer open for its duration, as that's how I treat the sourdough starter. Just leave it out and open. I'm thinking, once the krausen on the nonsourdough falls, I will put an airlock on it. My goal is to sour these beers if possible.
No mold yet, but the moisture on the jar walls concerns me a bit. But well see.
I also have no idea if these picture's links are going to work. I'll keep trying.
Thought I'd post an update in case anybody wonders upon this.
Both the spontaneous beer and the sourdough starter beer worked out nicely a month later. The spontaneous beer is very light and pretty one dimensional. OG was probably about 1025 and my SG was 1012. But for a small beer that's about what ya get. It does need some body though. Regardless it tastes good for wild yeast. I would reuse if I thought it could ferment more sugars.
The sourdough beer is becoming just what I wanted. It has notes of bannana, some spice and slight malt aroma and taste. But, best of all, it's sour. Pretty sour for only a month later. Same OG and my SG was 1009. So a bit more active than the above. Again, though, it is lacking in body and character. I'm thinking about throwing some raspberries in there and maybe some more starter to help it along.
Sadly, the roggenbrier that was the primary beer from this batch smells like raw meat. I've had a suspicion about this carboy for a while due to a brown spot inside of it. But my IPA always comes out good. Other beers not so much so I'm thinking it's the carboy harbouring a bug. Any recommendations on how to save it? Maybe my sourdough starter....
Both the spontaneous beer and the sourdough starter beer worked out nicely a month later. The spontaneous beer is very light and pretty one dimensional. OG was probably about 1025 and my SG was 1012. But for a small beer that's about what ya get. It does need some body though. Regardless it tastes good for wild yeast. I would reuse if I thought it could ferment more sugars.
The sourdough beer is becoming just what I wanted. It has notes of bannana, some spice and slight malt aroma and taste. But, best of all, it's sour. Pretty sour for only a month later. Same OG and my SG was 1009. So a bit more active than the above. Again, though, it is lacking in body and character. I'm thinking about throwing some raspberries in there and maybe some more starter to help it along.
Sadly, the roggenbrier that was the primary beer from this batch smells like raw meat. I've had a suspicion about this carboy for a while due to a brown spot inside of it. But my IPA always comes out good. Other beers not so much so I'm thinking it's the carboy harbouring a bug. Any recommendations on how to save it? Maybe my sourdough starter....
505-Brewer
Well-Known Member
Bake at 180 and add ketchup?
Ive had one savory beer from raw rye grain starter. Ive been ignoring it. I doubt it has improved.......if you find a solution let me know.
Assuming its a glass carboy, scrub it out and murder any bugs with bleach water.
Perhaps. Might replace my Lee and Perrins for a time! The thing is I've had other beers with the same odor. Time never helped. I still drank em but only out of stubbornness. The only thing that has helped is at bottling time I like to put a shot of scotch in one bottle to experiment. My last "meat beer" (as I've started calling them) with scotch was awesome. Maybe I'll put a fifth into the carboy and set aside.
As for the fermenter, there looks to be an air bubble in the glass that's holding the crap. I've soaked in bleach and it hasn't helped. I wonder how kombucha will do in it. I'm certainly not using it for beer ever again. Guess I have an excuse to get the Ss Brew Bucket.
I live in the city, but I've got a huge apricot tree growing in the backyard... it's been too hot this month so far, but next week it looks like it'll be in the 70's during the day and 60's at night, so I'm going to test out an agar and DME solution in a mason jar on the window by the tree to see what it picks up.
Probably covering it with some cheesecloth because there's so much junk in the air here.
Wish me luck!
Probably covering it with some cheesecloth because there's so much junk in the air here.
Wish me luck!
Tactical-Brewer
Well-Known Member
Might have some really good luck making your low gravity, low hopped wort and drop some of those apricots in there all from the comfort of your home [emoji6]
I may try this once the tree starts fruiting. Temps just shot up so I brought my jar back inside, agar powder wasn't solidified... never used it before, so I'll try again when the temps go down later in the week. I think I mixed it wrong, probably didn't boil it long enough or something.
If not, I'll just wait for the fruit to show up.
Bisco_Ben
Well-Known Member
Soo I decided to give this a try last week and I am looking for some insight on why mine didn't go too well. I made a 1.5L starter with 150 grams of DME and split it into 3 mason jars filled about halfway covered in sanitized cheese cloth. I set one in the middle of my yard, one on a ledge on our side porch and one underneath a rose bush. After a week, the yard and ledge jars have the most absolutely insane mold I have ever seen growing all over and show no signs of any kind of fermentation, I dumped these and now have them soaking in a strong oxy clean solution
. The jar that was under the bush has some amounts of mold on the sides but far less than the other 2 jars, and now has a white pellicle growing on the surface of the liquid. I left all these jars outside the whole week. Should I try stepping up this bush jar or are all three pretty much shot at this point considering the presence of mold? Also, should I try adding hops and/or lactic acid to adjust pH to 4.5 before trying this next time? I'm confused as to why so many people seem to be successful with this approach yet I wound up with some of the nastiest stuff I've ever seen. Any help with this would be very much appreciated as I am now obsessed with the idea of catching my own brewers yeast!
. The jar that was under the bush has some amounts of mold on the sides but far less than the other 2 jars, and now has a white pellicle growing on the surface of the liquid. I left all these jars outside the whole week. Should I try stepping up this bush jar or are all three pretty much shot at this point considering the presence of mold? Also, should I try adding hops and/or lactic acid to adjust pH to 4.5 before trying this next time? I'm confused as to why so many people seem to be successful with this approach yet I wound up with some of the nastiest stuff I've ever seen. Any help with this would be very much appreciated as I am now obsessed with the idea of catching my own brewers yeast!
Tactical-Brewer
Well-Known Member
Soo I decided to give this a try last week and I am looking for some insight on why mine didn't go too well. I made a 1.5L starter with 150 grams of DME and split it into 3 mason jars filled about halfway covered in sanitized cheese cloth. I set one in the middle of my yard, one on a ledge on our side porch and one underneath a rose bush. After a week, the yard and ledge jars have the most absolutely insane mold I have ever seen growing all over and show no signs of any kind of fermentation, I dumped these and now have them soaking in a strong oxy clean solution
I think you may have left them out too long bud. Most all the articles I've read on the subject, says a few hours at most outside.
I had great luck with taking sweet flowers (ones that produce a lot of nectar or that are visited by bees a lot), cutting a few off and dropping them in my low gravity, low hopped wort.
I didn't end up with any mold and a considerable amount of yeast. Stepped them up and have one in a gallon jug of Irish red for the heck of it and plan on using my other in a batch of wheat-ish beer next weekend.
Keep trying though man, it's an addictive idea once you get rolling.
I will say I can't wait till this fall to try the open air approach though too as I've heard that method requires cooler temps to be successful.
Gave this ago a few weeks back by leaving some agar plates out and all six of them grew a disgusting amount of mold and were pretty useless. So instead I picked a fig, a lemon, and mandarin from trees around my property and let them sit in a jar of wort overnight. I pulled out the fruit and left the lid loosely on the jar. After a few days there was a pretty ugly smell coming from the wort and a bit of clumping of matter at the bottom of the jar, but no mild. It's hard to explain the smell. Almost vinegary, without the sour, if you can imagine that. The smell left me concerned that I was growing something pretty nasty. I was pretty sure it was a fail but I left things alone for about ten days and then finally picked up the jar to smell it and it was remarkably improved. It had a very fruity smell with a bit of lemon and strawberry, but also with some very Belgian phenolics. I was suddenly hopeful that something could be done with this. There was also a thin layer of what looked like yeast settling on top of a trub layer which also made me hopeful.
I have been too nervous to taste it just yet, but I took a PH reading (with strips) and it looks to be down to around 4.5 or so. I took a gravity reading at it's only down to 1.032 from 1.040. Why might it be that it finished out so early? I did move it from a warmer room to a colder room (it;s Winter here in New Zealand) when I was thinking that the experiment was a fail so it's possible the yeast went dormant, but I'm really not sure. Is pour attenuation common with wild yeast strains?
I decided to plate it out regardless but really had no idea the best way to go about this. I tried taking a sample from the middle of the beer, one from the creamy yeast layer (as best as I could access it, and a couple after I poured off the liquid and mixed up the tiny cake. Each approach got it's own plate. I've moved the agar plates into a warmer room and am just waiting to see what happens, in the hope of getting a sample from a pure colony that I can then grow up.
My questions:
Did I go about this the wrong way?
Does that cream layer indicate yeast, or could that also be bacteria?
Should I be concerned that it attenuated so poorly?
What size starter progressions should I use for growing up a single yeast colony?
Not sure if I'll get anything, but it's been a fun experiment so far for sure.
I have been too nervous to taste it just yet, but I took a PH reading (with strips) and it looks to be down to around 4.5 or so. I took a gravity reading at it's only down to 1.032 from 1.040. Why might it be that it finished out so early? I did move it from a warmer room to a colder room (it;s Winter here in New Zealand) when I was thinking that the experiment was a fail so it's possible the yeast went dormant, but I'm really not sure. Is pour attenuation common with wild yeast strains?
I decided to plate it out regardless but really had no idea the best way to go about this. I tried taking a sample from the middle of the beer, one from the creamy yeast layer (as best as I could access it, and a couple after I poured off the liquid and mixed up the tiny cake. Each approach got it's own plate. I've moved the agar plates into a warmer room and am just waiting to see what happens, in the hope of getting a sample from a pure colony that I can then grow up.
My questions:
Did I go about this the wrong way?
Does that cream layer indicate yeast, or could that also be bacteria?
Should I be concerned that it attenuated so poorly?
What size starter progressions should I use for growing up a single yeast colony?
Not sure if I'll get anything, but it's been a fun experiment so far for sure.
drummstikk
Well-Known Member
Yeast and bacteria do not travel very well on wind (though it is possible), but mold spores are specialists in wind travel. If you put out near-sterile jars and prevented insects from entering, your jars likely ended up with a lot of mold spores but little bacteria or yeast.
Most people here are probably not catching wild or feral yeast. It is extremely easy to "catch" domesticated yeast from your own brewery or a mix of yeast and bacteria from your own kitchen. The only way to know for sure you've caught wild yeast is to use unopened controls.
Cheesecloth is commonly used to catch wild yeast, but it makes zero sense. Insects are the primary way Saccharomyces spores will enter your collection jar. Think about it this way: if you wanted to collect pollen, would you open a ziplock and hope for the best, or would you catch a honeybee?
The third option, of course, is to go to a flower. For us, the "flower" is a flux on a hardwood tree that is infected with yeast. Hardwood fluxes are the natural home of yeast (not grapes!), and they're not too hard to find, especially in the spring or early summer. Keep your eye peeled for bubbling fluid draining from hardwood trees in your area.
In the meantime, try your collection again without the cheesecloth. Most importantly, put out two more collection vessels, but don't open them. If either of the unopened jars grows yeast, throw everything out because you're contaminated. If only the opened jar grows yeast, you're in business.
Lukass
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I've currently got 2 wild strains that are really kicking. One was harvested from peach skins that I put on a stir plate the other day for it's third step-up (0.75 mL starter of 1.040 wort) and it had a huge blowoff. The other harvested from backyard flowers is cranking and has some serious krausen. Once both are built up enough, I'm going to do a 10-gallon batch of a low gravity, 5ish IBU blonde ale and split it into 2, 5-gal carboys. Each will get one of the strains.
There's some definite lacto/pedio in the mix, probably brett, and a dominant sacch strain. Both have a sour quality to them, but also a very clean, fruity flavor/smell.
I'm curious... How long should I wait before bottling these? Even if I reach a very low FG within a few weeks I'm probably gonna leave them for 3-4 months to make sure things are stable before priming with sugar.
Also, I've heard that with a lot of sours you can just leave your beer in primary for months at a time on the yeast cake without having to worry about autolysis off-flavors. Is that true? I ask because I'm running out of glass carboys!
Thanks
There's some definite lacto/pedio in the mix, probably brett, and a dominant sacch strain. Both have a sour quality to them, but also a very clean, fruity flavor/smell.
I'm curious... How long should I wait before bottling these? Even if I reach a very low FG within a few weeks I'm probably gonna leave them for 3-4 months to make sure things are stable before priming with sugar.
Also, I've heard that with a lot of sours you can just leave your beer in primary for months at a time on the yeast cake without having to worry about autolysis off-flavors. Is that true? I ask because I'm running out of glass carboys!
Thanks
I'm attempting wild yeast collection this morning. Leaving a pint of 1.040 wort in the apple orchard for 4 hours. Its in an uncovered sterilized jar between apple and pear trees. Ambient temp right now is about 10C and I'll keep it out for 4 hours or until it starts getting warm out. Fun fun.
EDIT: well, I had to scoop a couple flies outta there, but I guess they're part of the whole yeast delivery system right? They probably crawled on cow poo in the neighbours field right before landing in my wort, but I'll just ignore that little detail for now.
EDIT: well, I had to scoop a couple flies outta there, but I guess they're part of the whole yeast delivery system right? They probably crawled on cow poo in the neighbours field right before landing in my wort, but I'll just ignore that little detail for now.
Lukass
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I'm attempting wild yeast collection this morning. Leaving a pint of 1.040 wort in the apple orchard for 4 hours. Its in an uncovered sterilized jar between apple and pear trees. Ambient temp right now is about 10C and I'll keep it out for 4 hours or until it starts getting warm out. Fun fun.
EDIT: well, I had to scoop a couple flies outta there, but I guess they're part of the whole yeast delivery system right? They probably crawled on cow poo in the neighbours field right before landing in my wort, but I'll just ignore that little detail for now.
Buy some cheese cloth or grain sack material, and put it over the top of the jar. Use the threaded 'O' shaped part of the mason jar lid to fasten it down. I'd leave it out overnight (so like 8-10 hours) when the weather's a bit cooler and no rain.
I got a great batch going doing it this way. Left out overnight in my herb garden. Also, peach skins will get you some nice yeast as well. Add the skins from one peach to 400mL or so of standard gravity wort. You'll see good krausen within a few days.
Currently have a 10 gal batch of blonde ale going (split with both wild yeast strains). It's in secondary now but I'll report back with the final product in a month or two! Good luck with it all.
My first try at this developed a layer of mold over the top. I scooped it off and it didn't smell bad. The mold came back and the smell was disgusting so I dumped it.
I just made a small wort and dropped in a rose. It was clean since it rained last nite. Hoping!
I just made a small wort and dropped in a rose. It was clean since it rained last nite. Hoping!
I was going to do the cheesecloth thing, but decided not to after reading comments above. I might try again with it if this batch turns out nasty.
did this successfully two years ago, decided to try it again. I was 100% successful. It seems to be such a simple process that many people over complicate. You do not need to put anything into the water which may contaminate it; yeast naturally floats throughout the air. Here are my very simple steps:
get a clean small jar (one pint maybe, I use a big salsa jar). Get a citrus fruit. I used an orange this time. The citrus fruit is used mainly for the acid; acid prevents mold without harming the yeast, this is very important. Juice it, make sure you filter any solid parts out. Put the juice in the jar. Fill the jar with water, leave some room. Put sugar in the jar. You have to figure out how much on your own, but think maybe a quarter to a half of a soup spoon. Stir the jar up.
Now you put it outside for an hour or two. I put it outside on a beautiful 60 degree day, that happened after a freezing night. This is because there was minimal mold in the air.
Then you simply put it in a warmish place, with the lid on, and give it a stir once a day (or more) to put some oxygen in the water. Yeast needs it to multiply. Put a little bit of sugar in too, once a day, or less after you notice that yeast has colonized the jar. If sustaining a jar you'll have to dump half out once in a while and fill it with water to dilute it. You have to figure out when that is on your own
After a week you should see that there is 'turbulence' in the jar and it will smell bready. The color you want is almost a weak lemonade color; very faded grey/yellow
Spring is coming up and it's the best time of year, imo, to make a wild yeast starter.
Good luck
get a clean small jar (one pint maybe, I use a big salsa jar). Get a citrus fruit. I used an orange this time. The citrus fruit is used mainly for the acid; acid prevents mold without harming the yeast, this is very important. Juice it, make sure you filter any solid parts out. Put the juice in the jar. Fill the jar with water, leave some room. Put sugar in the jar. You have to figure out how much on your own, but think maybe a quarter to a half of a soup spoon. Stir the jar up.
Now you put it outside for an hour or two. I put it outside on a beautiful 60 degree day, that happened after a freezing night. This is because there was minimal mold in the air.
Then you simply put it in a warmish place, with the lid on, and give it a stir once a day (or more) to put some oxygen in the water. Yeast needs it to multiply. Put a little bit of sugar in too, once a day, or less after you notice that yeast has colonized the jar. If sustaining a jar you'll have to dump half out once in a while and fill it with water to dilute it. You have to figure out when that is on your own
After a week you should see that there is 'turbulence' in the jar and it will smell bready. The color you want is almost a weak lemonade color; very faded grey/yellow
Spring is coming up and it's the best time of year, imo, to make a wild yeast starter.
Good luck
