Need help - anyone ?

[ChatNick]

I think it's going to be more a malt issue if you can't source some reasonably locally.

Malt is not an issue as I can make my own malt. Barley here has high quality, and I have even try to dry germ smoking them on beech wood few times. Taste (with this malt) should be great, but it feels like baking yeast either if I use baking, wild, or wine yeast (all the same- only shades off baking yeast).

 

[ChatNick]

You actually might want to try the local fruit in your area. They are generally covered with wild yeast and will provide an interesting local flavor. Really this is how it all started anyway. Now identified genetically that lager yeast are a hybrid wild yeast from south America crossed with a European ale strain. Most wine makers use the yeast colonized on the grapes. So if all else fails, I'd take a few pounds of fresh fruit you can find, mash it with skins and add to the wort you made. You might just be the start of of the newest white labs Serbian yeast strain.

Tried it all. You have to be very, very lucky to get the "good" wild yeast. Once you get it - you can use it "forever". Yeast is naturaly in crust of grapes and plum (but as I said - for beer you have to be very, very lucky). I am making my own wine and plum-brandy and it's even better with wild yeast than with commercial wine yeast, but for beer - it's all not doing the work.

 

[ChatNick]

I seriously want to try this now, and didn't even know that about fruit. Thanks for sharing. Worst case is a bad batch. Any idea on what a typical lag time would be with that?

Edit: My mash I take it you mean crush and add to the fermenter rather than to mash it with the grain.

Put only crust of grapes in the fermenter (yeast is in the crust). Be sure that wild yeast is unpredictable and usually stops fermentation before it's time to stop, so aerate your worth very good (before adding grapes) and expect that fermentation shall stop after 2-3 days.
Do this with a lots of "small" fermenters - hope that one of them shall work. - I had no luck.
Wild yeast is a group of many diferent yeasts in which one dominates over time and suppress the others, and usually that's not the one you gonna need.
Even if you manage to end your fermentation succesfully, you might not like the taste of your result.
I don't guarantee you anything, because wild yeast is different combination of groups of yeasts from region to region - so you might have luck.
In region which I live in - wild yeast is damn good for a lot of alcohol drinks, except beer

 

[fillmore]

Hello
I am in belgrade and having trouble to find a primary fermenter (25 or 30L plastic bucket) made of suitable food grade hpde or pp. all of the plastika stores are selling ldpe (for kisela kupus). Any adivice chatnick? I brought with me some yeasts and hops from the outside but doing a primary fermentation in a carboy is messy and I am not satisfied with it.
Hvala,
fillmore