Successful wild capture, what to do next?

[eldernut]

So I had some left over wort from my starter I did with commercial yeast this week. About a cups worth, didn't want to pour it down the sink so went outside and grabbed a few coffee berries from my tree. 48hrs later....

Its' hard to tell what's the scent of the yeast and what's the scent of the wort, but it smells not surprisingly like a really hoppy beer. Lots of piney notes, fresh greenery like juniper. This wort has a small amount of First Gold hops in it. But I don't think those notes are from it. When I compared it to the same wort with the commercial yeast it's very different in character. The other one smells estery like nectarines or peaches. I'd like to try and brew a batch with this. What do I need to do to get the yeast colony up to size? I have about 300mls or 1/2 quart here.

Sorry but I'm not geared up for any kind of petrie dish thing, I'm brewing extremely low tech as my interest is in traditional ales.

Thanks for your help.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Using it as a mixed culture is great, but you should assume there are bacteria and slow-but-high-attenuating yeast like Brett.

Just make 1.040 wort starters per your normal procedure up to 500-1000mL. Continue to add hops to the starters if you don't want it sour.

It's safest to monitor FG for a few months before packaging, especially if bottling.

Keep in mind the wild yeast may not flocculate very well and the culture may change over time. A pellicle may also form.

Sounds awesome, good luck!

 

[eldernut]

Using it as a mixed culture is great, but you should assume there are bacteria and slow-but-high-attenuating yeast like Brett.

Just make 1.040 wort starters per your normal procedure up to 500-1000mL. Continue to add hops to the starters if you don't want it sour.

It's safest to monitor FG for a few months before packaging, especially if bottling.

Keep in mind the wild yeast may not flocculate very well and the culture may change over time. A pellicle may also form.

Sounds awesome, good luck!

Okay great. I'll make an extra litre of mash for my other brew tomorrow and just pitch this one into that. The gravity is about the same as I'm making a low ABV ale. I've been making elderflower champagne the last few months and while the wild yeasts here are superior flavourwise, very fruity and light with a tart edge but they take forever to carbonate the bottle and produce very little dryness. I switched over to using commercial wine yeast just to get the sparkling finished more quickly but I really miss the flavour of that wild yeast.

So I should ferment this mini brew for 2-6 months then to find out what I've got?

 

[RPh_Guy]

Yes that's what I would do, at least for the first batch to determine how long it takes to fully attenuate.

I switched over to using commercial wine yeast just to get the sparkling finished more quickly but I really miss the flavour of that wild yeast.

You could just add commercial yeast at bottling to carbonate, right?

 

[eldernut]

Yes that's what I would do, at least for the first batch to determine how long it takes to fully attenuate.


You could just add commercial yeast at bottling to carbonate, right?

Okay. Didn't think about that. I also had some near monsoonal weather the day before I switched over to commercial yeast and two spoiled ferments with mould. Must try that next time. My elderflowers are almost done this year though. I got a bit addicted to the ease of strong commercial strains that are almost no fail. Lots to think about.....thank you.

 

[eldernut]

So I dropped this culture into a litre of wort two days ago, the next morning there was a fair amount of CO2 in there. Had a whiff today.....baked beans anyone? Lol sure hope it improves on that over the next few months.