Question about Pacman Yeast

[AnOldUR]

Today's brew will be a SMaSH with MO, Amarillo and Pacman yeast. Shooting for an OG of 1.060, pitching at 65 degrees and fermenting in the 60 to 65 range.

I've read that Pacman can be an aggressive yeast. Thinking about head space and a blow-off, should I expect the need to give extra consideration with this gravity and temperature combination?

 

[Yooper]

In my experience, no. Yes, it's an aggressive attenuator, but at 60 degrees it is more just slow and steady.

 

[Grinder12000]

Wish I could find pacman - I tried to pull the trigger too late.

 

[mmb]

Wish I could find pacman - I tried to pull the trigger too late.

You can always try bottle harvesting the Pacman yeast.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/pacman-yeast-starter-video-63855/

 

[Kugster]

I'm on 3rd gen PacMan yeast (that I've washed) and it has been a nice, mellow fermentation...very clean and clear

 

[AnOldUR]

In my experience, no. Yes, it's an aggressive attenuator, but at 60 degrees it is more just slow and steady.

That would have been my guess, but had doubts. Thanks for the reassurance.

Wish I could find pacman - I tried to pull the trigger too late.

I bought this early in the month, but work got in the way until now. Guess I’m lucky to have it.

I'm on 3rd gen PacMan yeast (that I've washed) and it has been a nice, mellow fermentation...very clean and clear

Exactly my plan. I hope to get a lot of use out of this yeast.

 

[Brewmasters Warehouse]

Wish I could find pacman - I tried to pull the trigger too late.

You can find Pacman if you try. I have lots of Pacman.

 

[Grinder12000]

Thanks - I knew AHS had it but it's gone I think

 

[AnOldUR]

In my experience, no. Yes, it's an aggressive attenuator, but at 60 degrees it is more just slow and steady.

Resurrecting my own thread. Creeping up on 8 weeks since pitched and one week in the bottle. The fermentation went as you said, slow and steady. The sample at bottling was tasty, so waiting two more weeks will be a challenge.

Pitched a new batch (Black Ale) using the unwashed Pacman slurry on Sunday. Was shooting for a higher gravity, but got stupid and over sparged to the tune of 1½ gallons. Ended up at 1.071. After listening to the Basic Brewing pod cast, I decided to not stone oxygenate, and instead went with a lot of carboy shaking. Pitched at 65 degrees and stuck it in the fermenator set at 58 where it dropped to 62. Even so, there was airlock activity in about an hour and this morning I woke up to a blow off. So much for “slow and steady”!

That was 5½ gallons in a 6½ gallon carboy. I put the other 1½ gallons in a 3 gallon carboy and pitched with US-05. For comparison, the 05 took about 5 hours to start and is chugging along at 68 degrees at a much slower pace with the exact same wort. Should be an interesting experiment, but if the aroma from the Pacman blow off is any indication, it will be the hands down winner. The Chinook, Simcoe, Centennial combination smelled great!

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

I just brewed an ale with Pacman this past Saturday...my first time using it. I'm not fermenting quite as cool as you...I'm closer to 66-67 F...I had heard that Pacman can go a little cooler than most. Mine is 5.25 gallon in a 6 gallon carboy and the krausen got real close to the neck but didn't quite get there so no blow-off. It was still chuggin' away pretty well this morning.

I e-mailed Wyeast about this strain and they said use the same numbers as the American Ale (1056) yeast for temps, AA%, flocc, etc.

 

[AnOldUR]

I'm not fermenting quite as cool as you...I'm closer to 66-67 F...I had heard that Pacman can go a little cooler than most.

The only reason I went so cool is this quote:

". . . I ferment almost all my beers at 60° F; once in a while for certain styles I’ll ferment as high as 70° F, but never higher. Use lots of oxygen, and a high pitch rate. I never repitch past the 6th generation, and I always use Wyeast Yeast Nutrient.” - John Maier, Brewmaster, Rogue Ales

I'd be interested to hear what style you used the Pacman for and how it turns out.

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

I'd be interested to hear what style you used the Pacman for and how it turns out.

This is the Begian Pale Ale in my sig (I know the Pacman is supposed to be fairly clean and Belgians not so much but whatever )...it's a bunch of leftover Belgian malts...mostly Pils. This was my first go with a tighter grain crush and my efficiency was significantly higher...don't know how that will affect attenuation (if at all). I actually didn't want this beer to be quite this big because I wanted the harvested yeast to be as healthy as possible. Oh well.

 

[AnOldUR]

. . . I know the Pacman is supposed to be fairly clean and Belgians not so much but whatever.

A Belgian Pale with Pacman sounds exciting. My position is similar, but not nearly to the extent. I built my recipe along the lines of Stone XI Anniversary Ale. Most of the clones of this don’t use yeast with as much attenuation as Pacman, but I don’t see it as a problem. Wasn’t going for an exact match anyway.








Glad we could find common ground after the efficiency debate.

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

Glad we could find common ground after the efficiency debate.

I hope you didn't sense any sort of hostility or bad feelings there...just a good discussion imo. Sometimes I'm lacking on the smilies. I think I just assumed everybody used BHE more than ME but it looks like it's just the opposite. Kaiser shed some light on it and the lightbulb went off over my head that we both are doing something very similar.

I'll let you know how it attenuates/etc. when I get there.

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

Snuck a gravity reading last night (8 days after pitching). I got 1.009 from an OG of 1.054. I didn't expect it to go that far...I was expecting maybe 1.012-1.013. I used one of those yeast nutrient capsules from AHS...I think it's BrewVint...dunno how much of a factor that played.