Michigan based yeast company: Craft Cultures Yeast

[TenaCJed]

So being from Michigan, and there being the "Made in Michigan" theme for products made in Michigan, I of course wanted to make a completely "Made in Michigan" beer. Hops and grains are no problem, and my water source is Detroit. The only thing I was not aware of was any Michigan yeast companies. I started looking and actually did find one based in the U.P.!

I have not tried any, just looked around. I am not affiliated with the company at all. I can say that they are quick to respond to questions. I submitted a question on July 4th in the A.M. and received a response back within 15 minutes!

They do have 3 Michigan wild yeast strains, and it looks like they are going for more. They also have some of the standards as well.

Website for the company: http://craftcultures.com/

if you want to purchase at the home brew scale, they are using 2 companies.

Electric Brewing Supply: http://www.ebrewsupply.com/brands/Craft-Cultures.html

Home Brewing: http://www.homebrewing.com/craft-cultures/

 

[Revvy]

Wow, cool.

 

[NTexBrewer]

I have used the Keweenah and German ale yeast. The Keweenah makes a tasty Saison and I used the German ale yeast for a Kolsch style beer.

 

[NTexBrewer]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1467726443.805827.jpg

Here is the Saison

 

[Revvy]

There's a Metro Detroit Malting house that I've been playing around with their stuff along with Michigan Hops... can't wait to do an all Michigan beer.

 

[Brewmasher]

Awsome! I've been looking for a "house" yeast. It would be really cool to have a unique, locally harvested wild yeast! And as luck would have it, most of them produce Belgian- like flavors which just so happens to be my favorite style. There doesn't seem to be a lot of info out there on using their strains. $12 a pop is a bit on the high side, but they claim no starter is needed for a 5 gal batch. Then again, so did White Labs and Wyeast.

 

[Siberian]

Gravel Bottom in Grand Rapids is planning to start stocking this yeast too. Didn't see it the last time I was in there but they expected to have it soon, priced similar to what EBrewSupply is offering it for.

 

[Brewmasher]

View attachment 360859

Here is the Saison

How would you describe the flavor profile? Does this yeast tend to stall, or favor higher fermenting temps like traditional saison yeasts? Attenuation? Alcohol tolerance? What other yeasts/ commercial beers would you compare it too?

Sorry for the barrage of questions. There really isn't much info available.

 

[Michigan_Wolfman]

Yeast produced in Michigan. I'll have to keep this in mind if I ever get bitten by the "Made in Michigan" homebrew bug.

 

[Revvy]

I just heard from Andy at Cap and Cork, that he's trying to get it into his shop.

 

[Revvy]

Some of my friends on FB were saying they wouldn't buy from a company that called Brett a Bacteria on their website.... so I sent them an email, and withing an hour I got this response.

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your note. As I’m sure you can appreciate, the person who does our website is not a brewer or a yeast expert. Thanks for point out this oversight. We will get it fixed ASAP.

Best Regards,

Scott

> On Jul 5, 2016, at 10:35 AM, Craft Cultures Yeast Labs <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>
> Name: Michael F. Copado
> Email: [email protected]
> Telephone: Phone
>
> Comment: I'm excited to find out there's a Michigan based yeast lab, and am looking forward to trying your strains, especially your wild ones. But I happened to notice that you called Brettanomyces a "Bacteria," when in reality it's a yeast. You're getting a wee bit of flack in the online homebrewing community for having that on your website. In fact it's distracting from the excitement Michigan brewers should be feeling. In fact several posts have been of the "why should I buy from a place that doesn't know the difference." Hoping you will address this so I can shut those wankers up.

 

[TenaCJed]

I just heard from Andy at Cap and Cork, that he's trying to get it into his shop.

Awesome, that is nice and close for me!!!

 

[TenaCJed]

Awsome! I've been looking for a "house" yeast. It would be really cool to have a unique, locally harvested wild yeast! And as luck would have it, most of them produce Belgian- like flavors which just so happens to be my favorite style. There doesn't seem to be a lot of info out there on using their strains. $12 a pop is a bit on the high side, but they claim no starter is needed for a 5 gal batch. Then again, so did White Labs and Wyeast.

I would overbuild a starter to collect extra and store for use another time. This helps cut the cost a bit as you can reuse several times. They even claim that the strain can be reused up to 16 times.

 

[NTexBrewer]

How would you describe the flavor profile? Does this yeast tend to stall, or favor higher fermenting temps like traditional saison yeasts? Attenuation? Alcohol tolerance? What other yeasts/ commercial beers would you compare it too?



Sorry for the barrage of questions. There really isn't much info available.

I'm on my phone so I'll post more when I'm on my computer. I brewed a 3 gallon batch. Pitched 1 vial without a starter. There was a one day lag before any activity. No temp control. Fermented at 70. By day 4 krausen had dropped. Moved to a warmer spot in the house to finish. Cod crashed on day 15. Bottled on day 17.

OG 1.047
FG 1.007

I would compare it to 3711.

This year was shipped from Michigan to Texas so I'm not sure how that affected the viability.

 

[NTexBrewer]

How would you describe the flavor profile? Does this yeast tend to stall, or favor higher fermenting temps like traditional saison yeasts? Attenuation? Alcohol tolerance? What other yeasts/ commercial beers would you compare it too?



Sorry for the barrage of questions. There really isn't much info available.

I'm on my phone so I'll post more when I'm on my computer. I brewed a 3 gallon batch. Pitched 1 vial without a starter. There was a one day lag before any activity. No temp control. Fermented at 70. By day 4 krausen had dropped. Moved to a warmer spot in the house to finish. Cod crashed on day 15. Bottled on day 17.

OG 1.047
FG 1.007

I would compare it to 3711.

This yeast was shipped from Michigan to Texas so I'm not sure how that affected the viability.

 

[NTexBrewer]

Here are my brew notes about the German Ale yeast which they described as a Kolsch type yeast.

36 hours before brewing I made a 500ml starter to kickstart the yeast since the saison yeast had such a big lag.

3 gallon recipe

6lb Pilsner
1oz Perle FWH
1oz Perle Flameout

Brewed this in February and the beer just went into a closet with no temperature control.

In 10 hours I had signs of fermentation temp was 68
Day two temp was 70
Day 4 krausen had fallen and temp was 66
Day 11 Cold Crashed
Day 13 bottled

OG 1.057
FG 1.009

The beer turned out slightly bitter but I doubt that was from the yeast. Pretty clean yeast profile.