Pro Yeast "Database"

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Lacasse93

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I know some breweries use yeast we can get our hands on (wyeast, whitelabs, etc.) but there are definitely some who have obtained something different, or created their own. I know the Treehouse yeast is much sought after with plenty of people on this forum doing lab analysis on it trying to figure out what it is with. I would love to start propping up various pro yeasts and creating my own pro yeast database/yeast bank.

What I am looking for here is more so a list of breweries we think are NOT using some of the readily accessible brands. Like I said, I intend to start with Treehouse because it is pretty accessible to where I live, but I'd be curious about a lot of the big ones like The Veil, Other Half, Bottle Logic, breweries like these if anyone knows. Even if these big, "hype," breweries are using mainstream yeast I would still like to know so I can cross it off my "ISO" list.

Master List So Far
Treehouse
New Belgium*
Bell's*
Urban Artifact (uses local caught yeast and lacto)
The Veil (uses a yeast blend at least for IPAs)
Lone Pint [TX]
Chuckanut [WA]

*- some disagreement/uncertainty about validity
 
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Bell's (House strain)
Allagash (White/Tripel, same strain)
Brasserie Dupont sprl (possibly 4 distinct strains in Saison Dupont)
 
Eh? Bell's house strain, for example, has been sequenced and found to be different than other "chico" strains.

Edit: Wait. That wasn't Bell's. It was New Belgium.
 
What I am looking for here is more so a list of breweries we think are NOT using some of the readily accessible brands.
In additional to useful things that may follow this reply, consider poking around some of the other homebrewing forums (/r/homebrewing, AHA forums). There are people here as well who like to talk about yeast, some of them have blogs. Blog comments can often contain hidden gems of information as well.
 
Yea I agree this is a fairly big undertaking that I assumed people have looked into before. Ill start poking around and try to build a master list on the original post above from the comments here and what I can find elsewhere. From this alone it looks like the two unique strains so far are Treehouse and New Belgium (not Bell's?)
 
From this alone it looks like the two unique strains so far are Treehouse and New Belgium (not Bell's?)

Actually, I think Bell's is very likely unique. But it's just not the one I was thinking of re: the genetic sequencing.

Regarding New Belgium... although I think it's unique, I'm not sure it's the strain they bottle with. Not too long ago, I brewed a Fat Tire clone and I used a commercially available genetic sibling rather than risk propagating from a "bottle conditioning only" strain.

ETA: You might find some of the work done by @suregork (he has a blog that focusses on yeast genetics), and other information in, for example, this paper useful: PDF.js viewer
 
Bell's yeast is their own variant of BRY96. And New Belgium uses WLP001. Their Belgian strain was apparently cultured from a bottle of Chimay.
 
A lot of breweries (if not most) started with a standard commercial strain, but after years of using and repitching, it's mutated into something else - or at least has adapted to the specific environment that brewery provides.
One exception that I know of off the top of my head was Mystic in Massachusetts (shut down) who had isolated a ton of different wild yeasts for their processes,
 
You'll find plenty of such lists. They're all based on zero evidence, i.e. they are all made up and completely worthless.

This ^^^.

I like to think I know a thing or two about yeast, but one thing I know for dang sure is that nobody really knows where this strain or that came from originally, or whose yeast is unique and whose isn't. I am extremely skeptical of anyone proclaiming their yeast is special or they know where it came from, unless perhaps they have it genomically tested by multiple labs and can thus somehow prove with high confidence that their story holds true. The internet is chock FULL of misinformation, terribly so.
 
And New Belgium uses WLP001.

Do you have evidence of this? I've seen Christian Holbrook (New Belgium brewmaster) "recommend" WLP001 to homebrewers. But once upon a time, Wyeast sold a strain called 1792, which was reportedly the New Belgium strain. And the Dunham Lab study shows 1792 to be pretty close to WLP001.
 
While researching the Chuckanut brewery in Bellingham, WA, I listened to a few podcasts with the owner William Kemper and found that while their Pils uses 34/70, their Kolsch uses a special yeast that they had extreme difficulty getting out of Europe. It is proprietary, and they have it registered with some company. Interestingly, they also use this strain in a few of their other styles. They said it comes down to the simplicity of maintaining only a few strains of yeast at the brewery vs. many strains.
 
Imperial Yeast currently provides the Bell's house strain and you can buy it from the Bell's store: Imperial Yeast A62 Bell's House Yeast

Last I knew, Bell's banks (cryofreezing) their own yeast. Are you saying Imperial now provides it to them? I know you can buy the yeast from the Bell's store, and that yeast is packaged by Imperial, but AFAIK that's just for resale to homebrewers and not how Bell's actually gets their production yeast.
 
You cannot register or patent yeast in Europe. This is just poppycock they were telling to generate interest.
It was not registered in Europe--it was brought here and the brewery registered it in the US. I don't remember the details of why it was difficult to bring it over, but he had to take it in his luggage.

You can listen if interested. Pretty fascinating podcast episodes:
https://cloudutil.player.fm/series/...n-05-13-12-chuckanut-brewery-NrzGm8LHSMy686Dphttps://cloudutil.player.fm/series/...ession/the-session-07-08-15-chuckanut-brewery
 
A lot of breweries (if not most) started with a standard commercial strain, but after years of using and repitching, it's mutated into something else - or at least has adapted to the specific environment that brewery provides.

Through my own looking into this I have also come to find that many breweries create their own blends of accessible yeasts and I think this is important to consider. A blend, in a way, is almost like its own thing. At least in the sense if I expect to do a clone recipe, unless I have that SPECIFIC blend, its not going to be the same, even if what's blended is readily accessible yeast.
 
There is a thread on HBT about cloning Yellow Rose IPA from Lone Pint in Texas. They apparently have a house yeast that came out of the Pacific Northwest a long time ago. It may have mutated to the point that it’s unique now.
 
There may be many reasons that @Lacasse93 's efforts fail. Please continue to bring up what didn't work in the past.

Maybe this time around enough has changed that @Lacasse93 's efforts will be partially (or completely) successful.

I am going to keep adding to the list in the OP above with pretty much any that has brought up until we can prove otherwise. I am using prove pretty loosely since I have no capability to actually go and test any of these strains, my idea is if the list becomes comprehensive enough, maybe more people can start propping up starters from dregs to either use in their own beers or really hammer a near perfect clone
 
I am going to keep adding to the list in the OP above with pretty much any that has brought up until we can prove otherwise. I am using prove pretty loosely since I have no capability to actually go and test any of these strains, my idea is if the list becomes comprehensive enough, maybe more people can start propping up starters from dregs to either use in their own beers or really hammer a near perfect clone
New people and a fresh perspective on a problem can often move a "problem" forward.

Hopefully, you'll find a balance of enthusiasts and skeptics (like @dmtaylor) to participate. And feel free to ignore the "Debbie Downers" who will lecture you as to why their view of what you are doing will never work.

A "pivot" or two along the way can often result in something both unexpected and useful.

:mug:
 
Last I knew, Bell's banks (cryofreezing) their own yeast. Are you saying Imperial now provides it to them? I know you can buy the yeast from the Bell's store, and that yeast is packaged by Imperial, but AFAIK that's just for resale to homebrewers and not how Bell's actually gets their production yeast.
You may be correct. The only evidence I had was the store link and have not looked into it further.
 
Anyone know the current story of the real Killians Irish red yeast these days? France?
 
I know some breweries use yeast we can get our hands on (wyeast, whitelabs, etc.) but there are definitely some who have obtained something different, or created their own. I know the Treehouse yeast is much sought after with plenty of people on this forum doing lab analysis on it trying to figure out what it is with. I would love to start propping up various pro yeasts and creating my own pro yeast database/yeast bank.

What I am looking for here is more so a list of breweries we think are NOT using some of the readily accessible brands. Like I said, I intend to start with Treehouse because it is pretty accessible to where I live, but I'd be curious about a lot of the big ones like The Veil, Other Half, Bottle Logic, breweries like these if anyone knows. Even if these big, "hype," breweries are using mainstream yeast I would still like to know so I can cross it off my "ISO" list.

Master List So Far
Treehouse
New Belgium*
Bell's*
Urban Artifact (uses local caught yeast and lacto)
The Veil (uses a yeast blend at least for IPAs)
Lone Pint [TX]
Chuckanut [WA]

*- some disagreement/uncertainty about validity

Mac & Jack's African Amber (Redmond, WA)
 
I know some breweries use yeast we can get our hands on (wyeast, whitelabs, etc.) but there are definitely some who have obtained something different, or created their own. I know the Treehouse yeast is much sought after with plenty of people on this forum doing lab analysis on it trying to figure out what it is with. I would love to start propping up various pro yeasts and creating my own pro yeast database/yeast bank.

What I am looking for here is more so a list of breweries we think are NOT using some of the readily accessible brands. Like I said, I intend to start with Treehouse because it is pretty accessible to where I live, but I'd be curious about a lot of the big ones like The Veil, Other Half, Bottle Logic, breweries like these if anyone knows. Even if these big, "hype," breweries are using mainstream yeast I would still like to know so I can cross it off my "ISO" list.

Master List So Far
Treehouse
New Belgium*
Bell's*
Urban Artifact (uses local caught yeast and lacto)
The Veil (uses a yeast blend at least for IPAs)
Lone Pint [TX]
Chuckanut [WA]

*- some disagreement/uncertainty about validity


McGuires Irish Pub (Pensacola, FL/Destin, FL) They use a proprietary house yeast in the brewery
 
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