I made a Zombie Dust clone using 2 year old yeast!
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Mike_kever_kombi
Well-Known Member
I just grew a 3yr + old saison blend that I used to use for my house Saisons.
It’s in the fridge now, haven’t brewed with it. Took about a week of steps to get it back, but when I put it in the fridge it was fermenting aggressively.
It’s a blend of many commercial Saisons that I bottled harvested many many moons ago, then took some time off from brewing.
Not knowing how it was going to be, I have started collected dregs from commercial examples again in anticipation of having to start over. My custom yeast blend was dozens and dozens of generations old, so who knows it’s exact composition when it went to storage, or what survived the “rebirth”.
I have 5 gallons going now of saison DuPont from dregs in fermenter that I brewed Friday. Other dregs harvest are in eFlasks now growing up. I will probably brew another dregs batch first, then try my resurrection saison.
It’s in the fridge now, haven’t brewed with it. Took about a week of steps to get it back, but when I put it in the fridge it was fermenting aggressively.
It’s a blend of many commercial Saisons that I bottled harvested many many moons ago, then took some time off from brewing.
Not knowing how it was going to be, I have started collected dregs from commercial examples again in anticipation of having to start over. My custom yeast blend was dozens and dozens of generations old, so who knows it’s exact composition when it went to storage, or what survived the “rebirth”.
I have 5 gallons going now of saison DuPont from dregs in fermenter that I brewed Friday. Other dregs harvest are in eFlasks now growing up. I will probably brew another dregs batch first, then try my resurrection saison.
@Mike_kever_kombi Exciting, I'm thinking it could be a quite different blend from last time you used it.
Mike_kever_kombi
Well-Known Member
I have no doubt that the mixture that came out will be different than the mixture that was put in to storage. My only hope is it is a close approximation. That is part of the reason I am making the “original recipe” from dregs again.
Who knows which of the various yeasts survived that long I’m storage, and what that did to the original ratios. When I cracked the mason jar lid, there was still positive co2 pressure, so I am not worried much about contamination on that end. I cleaned the outside of jar really well and then soaked in star San before opening. The yeast smelled wonderful coming off the stir plate, so I imagine it will still be “usable”.
Who knows which of the various yeasts survived that long I’m storage, and what that did to the original ratios. When I cracked the mason jar lid, there was still positive co2 pressure, so I am not worried much about contamination on that end. I cleaned the outside of jar really well and then soaked in star San before opening. The yeast smelled wonderful coming off the stir plate, so I imagine it will still be “usable”.
