Last chance for the elder yeast, with added ginger.

[Microscopist]

Had a fridge clear out of the old strains and gave this stuff one last chance - it's cooler now and rather than using the isolated colonies I've gone back to the original ferment with its mixed selection. It's also colder so I'm hoping I won't get the ethyl acetate trouble I had over the summer.

It's a using up recipe so a little esoteric in design and I wanted to try ginger -

1.8kg lager malt
300g amber malt
370g light spray malt
Challenger 18g 90min
Northern brewer 10g 90min

As I was busy - basically mashed low for a couple of hours.

Irish moss,
Fresh ginger, peeled, grated 230g - 10 mins
12l OG 1042

Also repeating this with a saison yeast.

 

[Microscopist]

Success! The saison version was OK but a bit thin even for a saison. The wild version took about 5 weeks but was bottled at 1001 with still a trace of fermentation going on. It's dry but has a hint of fruity sweetness about it, I think the yeast would be better suited to something dark and I'm going to give it a chance.

 

[mnick12]

Whats the "elder yeast"? I have no idea what it is, but I am green with envy because because it sounds very mysterious and rare.

 

[Microscopist]

Back on the threads somewhere I took elder flowers, made elder 'champagne' and tried plating out the yeasts and brewing batches, over the summer I made many batches of nail varnish remover! The lower temperatures and going back to the mixed raw sediment has given me something useful again.

 

[Microscopist]

Tried the saison version last night - it's been sat outside in the shed for a couple of month and it's done it the world of good. Matured and and cooled it's come out as a damned good drink - the ginger has mellowed now compliments the bitterness of the hops. One to try some variations on in the spring.